How to Hire Top Virtual Assistants For Your Business

Hiring online can often be daunting and room for mistakes is huge. Check out these 5 tips to make sure you hire top virtual assistants for your business.

How to Hire Top Virtual Assistants For Your Business

Ever thought how big shots of the business world skyrocket with profits without injuring their cash flow? Well, not a secret topping but a simple formula that they’ve managed to crack.

A formula with its core on utilising time and effort effectively, one that involves leveraging outsourcing and using that unlost time to work on the bigger picture.

For several entrepreneurs, hiring a virtual assistant is something that rests low on their “to-do” list for days. No, not because they believe it's a low priority task, in fact, they highly believe in the power of virtual assistants, but somehow make a list of excuses to explain why they haven’t got one yet.

Now you may wonder why is that? Well even in a tech-driven world we live in currently, the concept of hiring virtual employees frightens many that are used to sitting and interviewing potential candidates. But before acknowledging the main question of “how to hire a virtual assistant for your business”, the question of do we really need a virtual assistant, needs to be addressed.

Here are some ways to tell it’s time for you to hire one:

  • When you have a list of repetitive and non-core tasks you do regularly
  • When you’ve performed a cost-benefit analysis and if hiring one creates more value than cost
  • When you don’t require full-time assistance
  • When you wish to imply cost cutting practices (Check out how much does it cost to hire a VA in 2020)

Once you have those ticked off, it’s finally time to start your hunting process. The “virtual” is often synonymous to things being full of holes, from the fear of VAs bailing out when the deadline approaches, or being afraid of telling them private information. These types of  questions often pop up in a business owner’s head when deciding to invest in one. But Wishup.co is here to give you some secrets to help you hire top notch virtual assistants other than the obvious “create a job description according to your preferred tasks”.

  1. Probe The Internet

The first yet the most significant step is to thoroughly examine the internet and learn everything about your options. There are several companies that provide for virtual assistants but not all of them are credible and trustworthy. So delve and research well to ensure the services align with what you precisely want and figure out if your choice would provide value to your business or not. Instead of a company, don’t forget to do the same with freelance virtual assistants as well, make it a point to stalk their profiles and portfolio meticulously before coming upon a decision. (Check out Freelancers vs Virtual Assistant companies)

2. Ask Them To Take Tests

To fully prepare your VA for tasks, conduct an online proficiency assignment to assess what you’ll need them to work on or to test certain pre-requisite skills that your job demands. For eg: If your VA will require typing, tests that check their speed or if your VA will require editing and proofreading, then making sure their linguistic skills and attention to detail are high, is an extremely important preliminary step. PS: While many don’t offer payment, it's ethical to pay the VA candidate for the test, a small flat fee would do! Don’t stress about the potentially lost money, remember if you hit the jackpot and find your ideal VA, your business would save up to 78% costs per year!

3. Ask For References

When it comes to finding a good employee, asking for recommendations is the way to go, even for a VA! If you’re nervous about random selection, ask around your trusted network first. If not, then reviews and testimonials online can always come to your rescue to help you get insights into the company and its reliability. Apart from that, you can always ask your candidates to provide some references to check for their personality and work ethic, don’t miss out on asking for their previous employer’s reference too!

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4. Commence On A Trial Basis

A job application and interview while does help in predicting the accuracy of their skills but might not always be a firm predictor up until the job begins. After landing jobs, some people get into a stew and begin performing poorly. For which offering a free trial task month before fully committing can help you know if they’d be fit for the task, if you can work together and if they can handle the workload. If they work well, you can extend the contract, if not you have no obligation that would restrict you from bidding them farewell.

5. Speak On The Phone

Working with them would call for several phone calls for which making sure they have great communication skills, language fluency and are easily approachable is essential. An advantage of hiring virtual assistants from anywhere around the world also follows with the disadvantage of time zone differences, so make sure you’re able to set a time convenient for the both of you beforehand.

Final note: Hiring a virtual assistant is like hiring any other employee, but make it a point to look for certain skills that virtual workers require. Proficiency with communication channels and social media and an eye of someone who asks questions, gives suggestions, takes feedback are a few major ones.

Keep your main agenda to seek for someone who anticipates your business needs and you’ll surely find your ideal top virtual assistant. Being an entrepreneur, hiring a virtual assistant should be on the top of your mind, if not consider this blog your disguised hint.