How To Hire A Virtual Assistant (VA) To Accomplish More

 

Virtual assistants complete various business tasks from remote locations. Their primary duties include digital marketing, scheduling appointments and managing events. Startups hire virtual assistants for a variety of reasons. Typically, an entrepreneur searches for the perfect virtual assistant (VA) to hand off some of their daily tasks. By offloading some of your work onto another professional, you gain more time to complete crucial business tasks. Hiring a VA not only shortens your check-list, but also provides a different perspective and expertise to your work. If you are searching for ways to delegate some of your work, read ahead to learn how to hire a virtual assistant to accomplish more.

Outline Tasks You Wish To Delegate

In order to hire the perfect virtual assistant for your startup, you need to determine the tasks you want to delegate. Consider the amount of control you want to maintain over specific areas. More so, keep your startup budget in mind. When entrepreneurs hand off too much work to virtual assistants, they exceed their payroll budgets. Avoid this outcome by starting off small. Ask a VA to complete just one or two tasks at first. Choose tasks that you are not particularly good at. Select duties that require little trust to complete as well. That way, you can keep your new company’s assets safe and free up your schedule simultaneously. Accomplish more by delegating the right tasks to your new VA hire.

Determine Realistic Hours And Pay

Decide on realistic work hours, pay, and payment methods to hire the right virtual assistant as well. Their hours would depend on how many activities you assign to them. Initially, you can start part-time, with fewer hours. This way you do not delegate too many tasks immediately and also get an idea of their working capacities. If you plan to hire a VA for general administrative purposes, a good starting pay falls within a $18-28 range. Keep in mind that this rate rises as you offload more responsibilities. Assess your startup’s current financial status to determine the proper compensation for a VA hire. Then, you can hire a virtual assistant without putting yourself in financial danger.

Set VA Expectations

Next, set realistic expectations for your virtual assistant hire to meet. Often times, entrepreneurs struggle to hold employees accountable. While management is new to you, it is crucial that you hold your virtual assistant accountable. Their main duty is to decrease your workload, not increase it. By setting expectations ahead of time, you establish a clear playing ground. Common requirements for virtual assistants include email management skills and basic customer service. Several entrepreneurs also search for professionals with great project management skills. Candidates who cannot meet your initial expectations are not right for the job. Use this advice to select the best virtual assistant to hire.

Post Job Listings

After you set expectations, post your detailed job listing for a virtual assistant. To receive the best results, expand your horizons. Rather than just publishing a job listing on one freelance marketplace, select a few. Virtual assistants searching for jobs do not all use the same platforms to find work. By using an array of marketplaces, you increase your chances of finding the perfect VA for your startup. Search for platforms that provide screening processes. With this feature, you can avoid wasting your time on unqualified candidates. Take this step to hire a virtual assistant and accomplish more in a day.

Begin The Interview Process

Based on the number of responses you receive to your job posting, select a handful of candidates who meet requirements. Then, begin the interview process with a detailed questionnaire. Include a variety of questions to get to know your prospective hires. Test their relevant educational and work experiences. More importantly, diagnose the fit of their personality for your business. Ask them directly how they manage criticisms and take feedback. Inquire about their values and cultural dynamic as well. A phone or video interview is an excellent method to get to know the person behind the application. When hiring a VA, conduct thorough interviews to get to know your prospective assistants.

Conduct Candidate Testing

Once the interview process is over, you will have a fairly clear idea of who your top 5 candidates will be. An interview might help you get a peek at their communication and interpersonal skills. However, many candidates who do well on the interview do not perform as well on tasks. Fortunately, conducting tests during the interview process provides you with insight ahead of time. Develop various employment tests to measure prospective hires’ abilities to conduct job-related tasks. Include email management, content strategy and other common tasks in your tests. When hiring a VA for your business, narrow the candidate pool through various tests.

Set A Trial Session

The interview and the assessment should help you pick the one, perfect candidate as your Virtual Assistant. By now, you know them enough to delegate important tasks to them. If you need more reassurance, you can assign a two-week trial period. Explain that you can offer a permanent position after the trail period. Provide your new hire with a set of clear guidelines before they start working as well. This reduces the need for you to micromanage a remote employee during your startup phase. The VA will be able to deliver the assigned tasks with utmost efficiency if you start out by giving bite-sized tasks, lay out clear directions to do them and specify your goals. Thus, completing this step offers several benefits when hiring a virtual assistant.

Owning a small business comes with its own set of risks and challenges. If you are a solopreneur who wishes to acquire more help for the increasing volume of tasks, hiring a virtual assistant would help. There are several websites that are specifically dedicated to hiring VAs. Before you post the job, ascertain your requirements from the VA, the number of hours you need them every week, and the pay you are willing to give. Then, establish a set of expectations and create a job posting. Next, interview the shortlisted candidates. Pick the best ones and give them a test in order to choose the final candidate who you will hire as your VA. In case you need to determine their eligibility further, start out with a short trial period. Use this information to understand how to hire a Virtual Assistant (VA) to accomplish more.