The COVID-19 Curveball: COVID-19 Questions To Ask in an Interview

Interviewing people used to have a standard set of questions you would ask a candidate. “Name a challenge you have overcome in your life?” or “What is your greatest weakness.” These questions were the typical way you would get to know the candidate to see if they would be a good fit for your company. Then, COVID-19 happened. As we all know, the pandemic upended the way people work. People traded in cubicles for home offices and in-person meetings became virtual. As restrictions are slowly being lifted, many companies are beginning to have remote work as a permanent option for employees within their company. This is where the questions in interviews are beginning to change.

To ensure a potential candidate can be a good fit in and out of the office, hiring managers must begin to ask questions relating to COVID-19. These types of questions can help gauge if a candidate can handle your company’s new operations when working remotely and have the means to work remotely. To see some of the questions you should ask someone you are interviewing, read our examples below!

Ask questions about how candidates spent their time during lockdown.

This type of question can tell you a lot about a candidate. If they mention how they began to explore new hobbies or dedicated time to improve some of the ones that they already have is a good sign. This shows you that this candidate is motivated and isn’t afraid to strive for progress or try new things. 

• “During quarantine, how did you spend your time differently than you have before lockdown measures were put in place?”
• “How would you describe the way you spent your time during quarantine?”

Ask questions about how candidates adjusted to quarantine.

This is very important! This can give an insight to how a candidate handled the changes associated with quarantine and how they handled adjusting to different responsibilities. For example, you can ask a new grad how they handled school being remote or ask someone who has been in the workforce about how they dealt with working from home.

• “What challenges did you encounter working remotely/learning remotely and how did you navigate these obstacles.”
• “What was the greatest challenge you had during quarantine and how did you overcome this obstacle?”

Ask questions about their feelings towards their work location

This might sound weird, but it is a very important question to ask a candidate. With many people not feeling completely comfortable with going into a physical office or not into the idea of working remotely, gauging where they feel that they will be the most productive is vital. 

• “How do you feel about working in an office setting?”
• “How comfortable do you feel working remotely?”

To keep up with how COVID-19 has changed the way we interview and more, Contact Us now to stay up to date in the game of hiring!