What to think when hiring a Virtual Assistant

Hiring a Virtual Assistant for your business needs is more complicated than searching on the web and just getting along with signing the first VA that pop up in your web search. A professionally sound VA can help you grow your business where as on the other hand a wrong VA could do irreparable harm. So how do you know which VA is right for you? The post tries to detail on some of the cross check points you should look forward before hiring a virtual assistant.

1. What skills are you looking for in a VA? Do you need someone to help with appointment scheduling, calendar management, travel management, spreadsheet and crm management, blog management? Knowing what you want will help you to determine the best fit for your needs.
2. How much do you plan to spend each month? Thinking over the tasks you want done, try to estimate or have the VA’s you are considering estimate how much time it will take them to complete the tasks each month. Be wary of VA’s that charge significantly less than the market standard. Most likely they are from a country where English is a second language and they most times will need more instruction on each project than native speaking VA’s. You will also find that their grammar is not up to the standards that most people find acceptable for businesses.
3. How do you plan to communicate with a VA? Communication for most VA practices is done via email. If you hope to have phone conferences with your VA, keep in mind that these will have to be schedule ahead of time and you will be paying for that time. If you hope to meet in person with your VA, you will need to find someone local.
4. How long has the VA been in business? There are new VA’s on the market today than ever before. Newer VA’s come in with more varied skills and experience, but it might take them a little to adjust to the virtual work environment.
5. Is there any information on the VA available on the web? If you do a quick web search and find nothing about a VA, you should know right away they are not someone you want to deal with. There are only two reasons why a VA would not be on the web.

>> They opened their practice yesterday.
>> They aren’t Virtual.

A VA without a web presence of some kind is like a soda company without a can of pop on store shelves. VA’s network on the web. 80% of VA’s today have their own website. 98% have their own blog. If a VA isn’t coming up, it should send up a big red warning flag.

The more you know about the VA you are planning to hire, the better. Talk to them on the phone and ensure your personalities and goals mesh. Are they confident in what they do? Like fingerprints, no two Virtual Assistants are alike. There is no universal training to become a VA like there is for other professions. Virtual Assistant’s, more often than not, have studied at the school of hard knocks. The clients they have, the tasks they take on, and their own drive to know and understand the business world are all the training most Virtual Assistants will have or need. This training helps to build a variable set of skills, making each VA unique not only in how they work but the type of work they take on.