“I wish I could commute to work by roller coaster.”  -Unknown.

Recently I was having a conversation with a colleague. He was getting ready to hire a new team who would be traveling a lot on the job. How could he best ascertain whether they’d be suited for that kind of rigorous and increasingly-stressful kind of assignment, and do it well?

In a quick brainstorm, we came up with the following list, which may be of use to you, too.

• Start with your company’s standard interviewing procedures and discover not only their experience working on the road but how they have “traveled for work” in the past.
• What was their best work travel experience/worst travel experience; and what did they learn from those experiences?
• What were some of the challenges they faced with maintaining work/life balance and how did they deal with it?
• Ask for examples of their contingency planning skills; what was the situation, what happened, and how did they resolve emergent issues?
• How did they maintain healthy routines on the road; and what did they do during their down-time?
• What are ten things they never leave home without, and what are their best packing strategies?
• How adept and comfortable are they with the most up-to-date technology and apps for living on the road?
• Include a “field trip” as part of the hiring process. Create a realistic scenario and task that will allow you to see if s/he can do the job, will do the job, and complete the job satisfactorily. 

Working on the road is not for everyone; still, you need to do your own due diligence to great the best-case scenario for your colleagues and team to succeed. Finally, let us know how we can help.