7 Questions to Ask Before You Accept a Remote Job

A remote offer is a schedule and a way of getting paid, wearing a job title. Accept it for the life it creates: school pickup, a salary in your currency of account, nights that are actually nights. Decline it when the listing was a mood and the contract is a night shift.

Ask these before you say yes. Write the answers down. "We're like a family" is not an answer.

1. What are the overlap hours, in your time zone, on a normal week? A standing meeting at 10pm is the job.
2. Are you hiring me as an employee in my country, as a contractor, or through a payroll partner? If they need you authorized to work in the US and you are not, this ends here.
3. What is the pay, in which currency, and on which date? Silence until the final round is a choice. How to talk about remote pay is the wording. If saying yes means living in another country, sketch that month in the cost of living comparison before you decide the number is enough.
4. What does the first 90 days look like, in tasks, not adjectives?
5. Who was in this role last, and did they stay, get promoted, or leave?
6. What is on call, and who covers hours outside the overlap? Parents are not the only people allowed to have a life, and you should not be the default for every late incident.
7. Will you provide the laptop, or am I expected to buy one from a vendor they name? Buying equipment from the "employer" before you start is a scam pattern. See how to identify remote job scams.

What a trustworthy post already said

You should not have to discover the work in the interview. A strong post names the weekly tasks, the tools, the overlap, and which skills would actually cause a rejection. Long required lists are where strong candidates talk themselves out of applying. The employer version of this is how to write a remote job post.

If you are the hiring manager, sit in one loop as the candidate and time it. Count the hours of unpaid homework. A team that wants people in Latin America, Turkey, or anywhere outside the office has to write a role they can evaluate at 10pm after the kids are down, not a slogan under the logo.

Browse open roles with the seven questions beside you. The ones that can answer are the ones that can change your month.