Virtual teams rarely stay the same for a long time, leaders of these teams should therefore be able to choose the right people for this type of work. Reading resumes is not enough, it is necessayr to talk with the candidates. Conducting interviews with the candidates may be very difficult as the interview may be done remotely. You must rely on the candidates' answers and therefore the questions you ask will play a key role.
Keep in mind that the candidates will tend to respond the way you think you want them to answer. Asking if they had ever worked remotely is therefore unnecessary - you would mostly hear yes. Prefer to ask the following open questions summarized on management-issues.com.
What experience do you have with working in a virtual team?
Let the candidates talk about their experience with the technical aspect of virtual work as well as about managing relationships with other team members.
What technologies have you used for virtual work?
A new team member do not have to come up empty-handed, he can help you learn to work with tools that you have not used yet.
What problems that you encountered in the past would you like to avoid when working in our team?
This question will help you to further reveal the experience of the candidates and also to define their priorities for training and onboarding.
How does your working environment look like?
Determine what environment the candidates work in and what possibilities the environment offers. The term "home office" can mean many things.
What is your working style?
The purpose of this question is to determine how it will be like to work with a candidate. Is he a loner? How frequent contact with others is comfortable for him? Can he be proactive?
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