How to Interview Applicants on oDesk / Elance or other freelancing sites.

If you are a first time employer starting up a virtual office or team via oDesk / Elance, you are probably wondering how you can approach interviews with the many applicants you will get on your job post. How to interview applicants on oDesk or Elance will have the basic procedures you will most likely do on a regular, face-to-face interview in an office setting. The only difference is, you will either be just chatting via Skype, sending email messages back and forth, or maybe using mobile Apps to be able to talk to your applicant via video and voice chat.

 

 

How to Interview Applicants on oDesk

 

 

Whatever approach you use, you will only need a simple and clear structure on how to interview applicants on oDesk.

 

After you have shortlisted applicants that have met the job qualifications and you think may be a great addition to your team, it is now time to head on to the interview process.

 

How to Interview Applicants on oDesk

 

Ask follow-up questions that are not included on the job post. If you did not ask questions on your job post for applicants to give you a better insight on their skill/knowledge/experience, this would be the perfect time to ask some initial questions. This will cut you some loss in time and effort in setting up interview schedules with applicants who really aren’t fit for the job. This can be another phase of shortlisting your applicants.

Write down your questions for the actual interview. It would help if you create set questions per stage of the interview, such as questions for the beginning of the interview that may include asking the applicant to give you a brief introduction of him/herself and work experience. Next, you can ask the applicant to further talk about the work experience and skills set that can contribute to the company. As you go deeper into the interview, your questions can get harder and more situational to see how the applicant will act when already in your team.

Schedule an Interview. Use a calendar to remind you of interview times so you can keep track of your applicants. Make sure you take note of those who show up on time, who are late, and who didn’t show up at all as this is a big basis on how they may perform when already hired on your virtual team. Since oDesk contractors are from all over the world, you can set interviews on a time that is mid-way for both parties as much as possible so you are not hassled in staying up late or waking up early for your schedules.

Create an Applicant Evaluation Form. With categories of qualities that you will fill up during or after the interview that will help you decide on which applicant is better with each person’s pros and cons. These categories may include professionalism, experience, availability, etc.

Have a trial period or test for the applicant to perform. As for a trial period that may be paid or not paid depending on your discretion, you will be able to get a feel of how the applicant may work together with you and your team. The applicant in turn will have to perform well in order for him to reach the next level, which is the formal hiring.

These are 5 simple strategies you can use on how to interview applicants on oDesk, and follow the same process with other freelancing sites.