You have to hire someone fast.
The new employee must be reliable and know their stuff.
You are fed up with hiring the wrong people because you missed inquiring about essential job elements during the hiring interview.
So now you don’t want to repeat the same mistakes. You want to go full speed ahead. Projects are rolling out and clients are waiting.
Naturally, you mull over the issue over and over again: Which are good questions to ask in an interview?
Below is the compilation you need.
But first and foremost, let us see what you should leave in the past. Those are the irrelevant questions that don’t bring value when working online.
“Hornet’s Nest” Interview Questions to Avoid
If you employ freelancers, the answer to the above query is different from that for a conventional job interview. The job interview questions are not the same if you hire a senior-level manager or need someone to complete a quick, easy side gig.
While some questions are inadequate in some contexts, others will be inadequate in all contexts. You may yourself remember interviews in which you got inappropriate, even horrible questions.
Here is what not to do if you want to be an effective freelance interviewer:
- Avoid classic unprofessional or downright discriminatory question mistakes: “What salary did you have with your previous boss?” or” Where do you live? “How old are you”? Some of these questions are not only unprincipled or unrelated to remote work but also illegal to ask during an interview.
- Skip unnecessary cliche questions employees hate, such as: “What is your greatest weakness?” or “Where do you see yourself in five years?”
- Eliminate basic limited-value questions such as: “Tell me about yourself”. You can get plenty of surplus information that doesn’t relate to the job at hand.
- Minimize short questions, including yes/no questions, choice questions, and tag questions. They can hint or imply the answer and prevent you from learning valuable information about the interviewee, above all, whether they can and will do the job professionally and up to the quality standard.
When you are hiring freelancers, you genuinely need to maximize the time you spend doing so. Furthermore, most of the questions are already on display on the freelancer’s profile.
What you need to ask are situational, behavioral, and competency-based questions relevant to a specific project. Open-ended questions will deliver more about the interviewee’s skills to do the particular job in the specific team for the specific company.
Top 10 Interview Questions for New Freelancers
By asking the following uncommon interview questions, you ensure you hire not only excellent candidates but also the ideal ones for every project:
1. Describe your working process.
The working process of a new hire will provide a well of information about their level of expertise, knowledge, experience, dedication, and motivation. This one simple interview question has a triple value because it is competency-based, situational, and behavioral. Moreover, when you compare different answers among interviewed freelancers, you learn more about the job and get more honest, transparent rates representing the market value of a talent.
2. Refer me to a previous piece of work or provide client references.
Nothing speaks about the quality standard of a job you are not skilled at as a previous success. Portfolio examples and job teasers visibly demonstrate what a hire can and cannot do for you. Referential indicators such as previous job feedback from professional networking or freelance platforms will provide evidence of someone’s personality and skills.
3. What is your availability?
It may look all too obvious, but many forget to ask this essential interview question. Troubles arise when you discover that you are short-handed because the freelancer is not available according to your expectations.
4. How do you prioritize client requests?
This question can also be rephrased as: “How do you handle client conflicts?” Because most freelancers work with multiple clients, it is best to clarify their prioritization skills at the start. The insights will help you learn how high (or low) you are positioned on the freelancer’s scale.
Being a top priority is often challenging if you are a new client for freelancers with a lot on their hands. As a new client, the least you need to expect from a freelancer is to get an honest estimation of the time and the cost to complete a certain project. The follow-through of that estimation is another indicator of transparency and reliability. If you need someone available for long hours of work, either split the job in two or choose a less busy freelancer.
5. How will what you do benefit this project?
Many projects start with the best intentions but have a poor finish because goals and expectations haven’t been specified on both sides. Remember to check if the value the freelancer brings contributes to the project. This approach is especially helpful in complex projects. For example, when you develop a website with many features, it is vital to keep track of the benefits you get with the freelance services and don’t hire someone who won’t provide tangible results.
6. What will I get as a final delivery?
This common interview question simplifies the difference between traditional employment and freelance work. In the former, you are more included in managing employees and strict in your requirements.
While you need to be clear about the goal you want to accomplish with a job, the answer will deliver how the goal will be accomplished.
Freelance experts have many different ways of doing things and may even suggest a better way of doing things than your way – in fact, many should offer improvements in the first place. That’s why you hire them.
7. Tell me about your top three skills for this particular job.
You make an even deeper dive into the previous question and hone the selection of interviewees to the top three, four, or five you will consider for your final choice. You may even reveal a skill that can add an extra advantage to your project.
8. Do you have the means (tools) to perform the job?
By asking this fair and square interview question, you get straightforward information about technical challenges and obstacles.
It’s not wrong to assume that the freelancer has the tools – otherwise, they wouldn’t have applied to this job. However, if you require specific subscription services, CMS system licenses, or you already have mountains of data that need to be used and reused, it is crucial to clarify this point.
Communication tools are also part of this question. Let the freelancer know what your preferred tools for communication.
9. What is your dream project?
If you include the dream project inquiry among your top 10 interview questions, the potential for choosing the right person grows exponentially. The freelancer who enjoys the job is super motivated because it aligns with their values. Unsurprisingly, they will do a better job than the competition.
10. Do you have any questions for me?
Openness to questions shows that you don’t expect to have it all sorted out. Take it as a chance for backup to the information you have stacked with the previous nine questions.
Let’s assume that you know where to look for freelancers. You posted a job application, got dozens of replies, and found the shortlisted candidates. Next, you can:
- Include all in the online application.
- Include some of them in the application and leave the rest for the job interview.
If you prefer reading long applications, go for number one. If you like to talk to a person face-to-face, ask more questions in the initial video interview.
When you ask the top 10 common interview questions and complete these steps, you can confidently say that you have found the perfect freelancer for the job you just posted.
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(Featured images by VIN JD)
