How to pick your perfect Virtual Assistant
Picking the perfect VA for you is a stressful process, as it is not the same as choosing your “in-house” Assistant. You basically, most probably won’t ever “meet” your VA.
Here are a few tips to help you through the process.
Before you can start with “advertising” the position, you need to have the following information ready – maybe write it down.
1. First things first, what do you want your VA to do?
What tasks do you need the VA to do? In this list include everything, from sending emails to bigger projects such as bookkeeping.
Also prioritise the tasks. Number these projects, what is most important to less important.
Are these tasks time sensitive? Are they ongoing or once-off projects?
2. How many hours are you looking for?
This can depend on your budget, so make sure you know what that is. Does the VA work full-time or part-time? Is he available evenings and weekends (if that’s when you work)? What time zone is the VA located in? While I have nothing against part-time VAs, I found I needed someone who was available during my full-time working hours.
What type of person should the Virtual Assistant be? This is something big to think about. Do you want the VA to be organized, should the VA be super friendly…al these things will influence your decision. If you are not sure, think about the type of work the VA will be doing for you. If the VA is going to call your clients the VA needs to be super friendly. If the VA has to do some bookkeeping, being thorough would be important.
3. What kind of experience does the Virtual Assistant need?
Experience… one of the GREAT thing about VA’s are that they usually a lot of experience. VA’s mostly have more than one client and does various things for these clients. So when thinking of experience, you need to determine how long the VA has been doing this type of work. While it’s helpful to know how long she has been a VA or an administrative assistant, it’s more important to learn how long she has done the tasks that you want her to do. She may have done them for a previous employer for many years. There’s always a bit of a learning curve as a VA learns your particular business, but you shouldn’t be paying for her to learn new skills unless they’re unique to you and your business.
4. Tech skills required
A very important thing to think about is Tech skills because you are hiring a VA – everything is Virtual. The VA you are looking for will either know the software you are working on OR be a quick learner on tech.
Once you have figured out,
What the VA will be doing
What the required skills are
How many hours the VA will be working
…you then can start searching for the perfect VA. Virtual Assistant Companies are perfect, absolutely perfect.
WHY? They have Virtual Assistant lined up for you and they usually have a full list of what their VA’s can do, what skills they currently have. SO you will have a variety to choose from, and they will speed up the process.
