What it’s really like to work remotely

Your job interview is your one chance to make a good impression, share your skills and strengths, and show the hiring manager that you’re a good fit for the job. This is another example of a situational interview question and a great opportunity to leverage the STAR method. Describe the situation you were in, the goals you were working toward, the actions you took, and the result. “Even better if you can explain that you’re willing first to seek answers…on your own before asking others,” he says.

• Overall, make sure you touch on a few other things about the job that excites you.
• The truth is that all of my years as a remote worker have been fairly collaborative, working within tight-knit teams to develop and ship features.
• A construction project manager may want to talk about keeping the project organized and on track throughout the month or year.
• This schedule is not universal to remote workers, and that’s kind of the point—the idea with remote work is that it’s flexible.
• If your favorite part of your job is interacting with people and hosting in-person events, and your least favorite parts are working heads down, the interviewer may decide that you’re not a good fit for a remote role.

Is the relative solitude of remote work a natural fit for your work style because it allows you to get into deep focus? Overall, make sure you touch on a few other things about the job that excites you. Even though you’re being asked why you want to work remotely, you can still branch out describe your experience working remotely to mention other aspects that don’t directly deal with working from home. When interviewing for employment to work from a home-based office, you will be asked a few questions about why you want to work from home and what you like best about working remotely (also known as telecommuting).

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Pursuing remote work is competitive and these positions are highly sought-after. This article has numerous examples of challenges you may have overcome. In reality, it was a huge factor, and I specifically wanted to find remote work so that I wouldn’t have to commute.

Keep pets and children out of the room, and shut windows to limit noise. Most remote employers don’t require you to have worked remotely before. Some employers will give preference to remote job seekers or those who have already proven themselves on a remote team. Of the articles and Twitter threads I’ve read from people who have actually tried remote work, this is the most common issue. In an office, it’s easy to spend twenty minutes by the watercooler, just hanging out with your peers.

How do you stay organized?

And hiring managers need to be able to trust you to handle challenges in a remote role, since you’re not working in-office where immediate help is available. I remember during a particularly contentious period, hearing from an in-office friend that a member of the senior leadership team had come up to them, bewildered to learn that remote workers were unhappy with recent policy shifts. This member of the exec team went to an in-office IC for clarification about how remote folks were feeling, because that’s who they knew. “Employers are going to be evaluating you based on your behavior,” Leech says. Do you answer challenging questions clearly and forthrightly, and disclose your flaws?

This ensures a level playing field, and makes it much easier for remote participants to participate. Two of the biggest challenges of working remotely are communicating and collaborating across time zones. Since you can’t jump into a quick call or tap a person on the shoulder, you need to be more intentional about your interactions with others. One of the benefits and challenges of remote work is having more control over your time. There’s no one sitting next to you to make sure you’re working, so it’s crucial that you’re organized and able to prioritize your tasks. Do you prefer to be in constant communication with your coworkers via Slack?

Answering “Why Do You Want to Work Remotely?”

When you don’t have the benefit of working at the same time as your colleagues, you need to learn to be communicate async. Transitioning from an in-office role to a distributed team can be difficult, so hiring managers want to know whether you’ve done it before. It’s not a deal breaker if you haven’t, but you’ll need to demonstrate that you have the ability to work remotely in other ways, such as freelancing experience or working on side projects. You’ll often get some variation of this question during the interview process—whether for a remote job or not. That doesn’t mean you can’t support one another, but even that takes a bit more initiative when you’re working remotely. According to Jones, the key here is to have a detailed, thoughtful answer (complete with specific examples) prepared.

It grants me the perfect level of in-person social interaction; there are always people around I can talk about hockey or the weather with. This schedule is not universal to remote workers, and that’s kind of the point—the idea with remote work is that it’s flexible. Plenty of remote workers do work from home (though none that I’ve met have been the unshaven recluse so often depicted in remote-work discussions), but they do it because that’s the situation that works best for them. If the company is newly remote, you might ask about how the transition is going, what tools and practices they’ve put in place, and how its affected the company culture.

Why are you job searching right now?

A response like the sample answer above will satisfy the interviewer. If you haven’t done any remote work, say, “No, but…” and then briefly explain why you feel it would suit you well and/or why it excites you. I talk about remote work quite a bit on Twitter, so be sure to follow me there if this kind of stuff is your jam. I’ve had the privilege of working remotely for several different organizations now, and I’ve seen how different structures can lead to different cultures. If you already live in a high-pay, high-cost-of-living area like San Francisco or New York City, working remotely can grant you the freedom to move wherever you’d like. While not everyone can uproot their family and move, it’s still better to have the option than not.

• While you’re acknowledging that working remotely is a great part of this job, it’s still the actual job itself that you’re most concerned with,” Reynolds continues.
• Being able to set my own hours allows me to work when I am most alert.
• There’s no one sitting next to you to make sure you’re working on this or almost done with that.

“The remote nature of the job should be a secondary reason for wanting the job. Employers want to hear that your primary interest is the job itself,” said Brie Reynolds, FlexJobs’ former Career Development Manager and Career Coach.

In his spare time, he runs a YouTube channel, podcast, and blog focused on strategy and management. As good as no commute and no open office is, remote work can also be distracting. Roommates watching Netflix, laundry to be done, kids wanting to play. Save time and find higher-quality jobs than on other sites, guaranteed. With jobs posted in over 50 categories, our jobs board has something for everyone. Take the tour and discover all of the ways we can help you build the career and work-life balance you’ve been hoping for.