[Finbarr]

Our team is entirely remote (mostly contractors currently). Here are the things I look for:

1) Productivity. Is this person working and getting things done? Can I rely on them and trust them?

2) Quality. Is the work being done to a satisfactory standard?

3) Communication. Can this person speak English well enough?

For number 1, do you have a github profile with private contributions showing? It's the first thing I look at when talking to anyone. If you have a wall of blank, I'm immediately less interested. Obviously there are false negatives here, but there are so many candidates that it's easier to just move on to people who look productive. Other things I look for here are positive reviews on sites like Upwork or good tenure at previous positions.

For number 2, we typically hire very quickly and just give people test tasks. If they are completed well, we keep on giving more test tasks. Eventually the tasks become much larger.

For number 3, this is really simple. If the writing is good, then I'd look to have a video call and see how good the verbal English is.