We do something similar if we are hiring a remote freelancer. Although first thing we look for is github code, then we do a short call, and then if that all loo

We do something similar if we are hiring a remote freelancer. Although first thing we look for is github code, then we do a short call, and then if that all looks good we do a 10 hour paid task. We then scale the work up from there with larger and larger tasks as our trust in them grows, because, as we've found, the hardest part of hiring freelancers is getting people that can reliably deliver. You don't want to give someone a too large task initially because the risk of them not delivering is too high and you need to know that you can cover the work if necessary.