A new trend in the business world is using a Virtual Assistant (or VA) to ease your workload. Ask anyone with a virtual administrative assistant, and they’ll probably rave about how much their life has improved. It’s not surprising that many business owners are jumping on this trend to get more done in less time. That being said, hiring a virtual assistant isn’t as simple as it sounds. For the relationship to be mutually beneficial, you need to have an organized checklist of tasks when interviewing potential candidates and know what tasks you want them to do once they are hired. Hiring the wrong person can be extremely draining and time-consuming; interviewing the right person, on the other hand, requires little more than an organized list of tasks and maybe 10-15 minutes of your time.
Be wary of scams when hiring a virtual assistant
Trust me; hiring a virtual administrative assistant is exciting, but you must be wary of scammers. Some scammers will use flashy websites, promises of high pay, and/or pressure you to make a quick decision. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Most scammers will tell you they have their team of VAs and will want you to hire them so they can work for you. This is a scam because they will find someone (probably in a country with no labor laws), pay them peanuts, and then try to profit off you by charging you top dollar.
You’re not clear on what you want your VA to do
Not being clear on what you want your VA to do is one of the biggest mistakes you can make. If you aren’t specific about what tasks you want your VA to do, they will either assume (which is a recipe for disaster) or you will hire someone who isn’t a great fit for your business. In order to avoid this, write down what tasks you want your VA to do. Maybe you want them to book flights, create social media content, write emails, etc. Be as specific as possible. If you want them to write emails, write down what kind of emails. This will make it easier for you to screen candidates and your potential VA to know exactly what tasks they are expected to do.
You have unrealistic expectations
Let’s imagine you hire a VA to write emails for you. That’s one thing you want them to do. However, they find other ways to “help” you. This can happen with any employee, virtual or not. If you have unrealistic expectations, they will be unmet, and you will be unhappy. You need to be specific about what you want them to do and what tasks you want them not to do; otherwise, you’re setting yourself up to be unhappy.
You don’t have a job description ready
If you want to hire someone on Upwork or a similar platform, you’ll need to write a job description. You can’t just post an ad like you would if hiring someone in-house. You’ll need to state exactly what you want the person to do, the level of experience required, the hours you want them to work (if you want them to work full-time), and, if you are hiring a remote VA, what time zone you want them to be in. You also need to think about what benefits you’ll offer your VA. Will they get paid vacation? Health insurance? Will they have paid sick days?
Lack of a Screening Process
You’ll probably get hundreds of applicants for your virtual administrative assistant position if you post it on Upwork, Craigslist, etc. Screening your applicants will make the process much quicker and easier for both you and your potential VA. Unfortunately, most people don’t know how to screen applicants, so they don’t even try. If you don’t screen applicants, you’ll end up with many unqualified people or people looking for a free ride because they can’t find a paid job. You can screen applicants in a few ways, but the easiest way is to have them write an essay for you. This will weed out the people who don’t care enough to put effort into it.
Not Defining Tasks Beforehand
If you want to hire a virtual administrative assistant to write emails for you, but you don’t tell them that upfront, then they will either assume they should do something else or do something else. This can be very frustrating for both parties involved and wastes a lot of time. So before you start interviewing candidates, you need to make sure you have a list of tasks you want them to do. You also need to ensure that you have a way of grading them, so you know what level of quality you will get from them.
Not Finalizing Details During The Interview Process
If you hire a virtual administrative assistant and don’t discuss details before they start working for you, you’re setting yourself up for failure. You need to discuss the terms of their employment (hours worked, pay rate, benefits, etc.), and you need to confirm that they understand what tasks they will be doing for you. This is the only way to ensure you don’t end up disappointed and/or paying them for things they don’t do.
The Bottom line
Following these tips will maximize your chances of finding someone great to work for you. Hiring a virtual administrative assistant can be the key to achieving more in less time, but only if you follow these tips. Yes, it is an exciting new trend in the business world, but it requires a bit of preparation to ensure you hire the right person. It takes a bit of work to ensure that you hire the right person for the job, but it will be worth it in the end.