How to Prepare Your Business to Hire a VA in Seven Easy Steps

Did you know that the virtual assistant industry has been around since 1996?

According toVA4REI, Anastacia Brice had a simple phone conversation with Thomas Leonard. Leonard dubbed the assistance from Anastacia as “Virtual Assistance”. Brice later took the term and started her new career. The very first virtual assistant company was called “AssistU”.

Companies of all sizes can use virtual assistants in various ways. The plus side is you don’t have to provide them with office space or benefits. The downside is, you’ll wonder why you didn’t hire one sooner!

Here are seven ways to set your business up for success when hiring a VA.

1. Be clear about expectations

Do you want your VA to book travel, write emails, keep track of your daily calendar? How about accounting, managing your social media, or contacting clients for follow-ups?

Create a list to determine exactly what it is you want a VA to do for you. Even though you may have a shortlist in the beginning, it will grow with time as you become more comfortable with your VA and realize they can do a lot more than what you initially thought.

There are tasks that you perform daily. And some of them can eat away at your day because they’re so repetitive. Trying to learn a new process takes away from earning money. Add these to your list.

2.What is your budget for a new hire?

First, decide how much you’re willing to pay a VA to help with your daily tasks. Remember, you don’t have to pay for their benefits, office space, office supplies, or retirement fund.

Do you want to pay someone hourly? How about a package deal? Package deals are usually a good way to go because you can have them perform X number of hours for a certain price.

3. Include an applicant test

Create a task that is consistent with the potential work. Here are some ideas:

• Find ten national parks in the United States and list them by state.

• Proof the following paragraph using standard proofreading marks.

• Write a blog post listing ten ways to power up your breakfast choices.

4. Add an ‘Easter Egg’ in your job posting

It’s easy nowadays to blindly fill out applications, send them in and forget them. Do people even READ job descriptions? A great way to ensure that you get the right type of person interviewing, throw an Easter Egg or two into your application. It can be as simple as “If you could be any superhero, who would you be and why?”, to asking them to use the word vintage in an answer to a question.

5. Conduct an interview

As with any potential employee, you want to know their skills, knowledge, eagerness to learn, or take on projects.

Ask questions such as “tell me about a time you faced a stressful situation. How did you handle it?”, “How do you structure your daily tasks?”, “How do you manage shifting priorities?” Remember, if you are hiring a VA for 20 hours a month, there’s a good chance they’re working for someone else during the other hours. You need to know where your work stands and how they prioritize it.

6. Have realistic expectations

You may like to think that your VA is available 24/7, but in most cases, they won’t be. Unless you’re willing to shell out a lot of dough for someone to become your personal assistant, you will get what you pay for. If you’ve arranged to hire a VA for 20 hours a month, don’t expect them to do 40 hours of work. Unless you’re willing to pay for it.

7. Create a communication standard

There’s a difference between hiring a full-time employee and a virtual assistant. Full-time employees are physically in the same office and communication can be quick and instantaneous. Make sure you set up a process that works for both you and your VA. Do you use Skype or Zoom? Is Slack part of your daily routine or do you prefer emails? Establish a routine in the beginning and it will help to ensure future success with your VA.

Even though Virtual Assistants aren’t new, there are right and wrong ways to hire one. Chances are, someone you already know has used one in the past and could give you some names or do your research on Google to find reputable VA companies at reasonable rates.