In this blog, we will discuss:
- Introduction
- 5 Essential Tips for Hiring the Best Virtual Assistant for Your Business
- Identify Your Needs
- Choose a Professional VA Company
- Evaluate Applicants
- Build a Good Working Relationship
- Use Online Tools and Applications
- Final Thoughts
Many entrepreneurs and business owners often find themselves engulfed with countless tasks, leading to excessive overload and low efficiency.
Hiring a virtual assistant is one of the best ways to reduce your workload and make your schedule manageable. These remote workers are a blessing in disguise for business owners who need to outsource but can’t afford to onboard a full-time resource.
Virtual assistants are usually based outside of the US and provide a wide range of services. They help you execute your day-to-day operations so you can focus on your core and creative business tasks.
But how do you Hire the Best Virtual Assistant for Your Business?
If you are hiring a VA for the first time, here are the top five tips to help you get started:
Identify Your Needs
The first step to ensure you hire the best VA for your business is determining the tasks you need to fulfill. The best way to do that is to list the job role, including the platforms and applications you want the VA to be an expert at.
We recommend mentioning a small introduction about your business so potential prospects understand its nature.
Having a job description will greatly increase your chances of finding the perfect virtual assistant because you will know exactly what skills and qualities you are looking for in an individual.
In short, you need to list the following things in your job description to attract the right kind of talent for your job role:
- The nature of your work
- Language preferences
- Skill set required for the job
- The day-to-day job responsibilities
Choose a Professional VA Company
Getting help from reputable virtual assistant companies can increase your chances of onboarding qualified VAs.
Recruiting a virtual assistant is no easy task; it requires ample time to select, train, and manage the onboarding process. On the other hand, a VA company can make the entire hiring process a breeze for you.
By leveraging the expertise of these professional agencies, you get access to their pre-vetted list of virtual assistants, which means:
- Smooth hiring process
- Getting highly skilled prospects
- Background and reference check
Moreover, outsourcing agencies have a significant global pool of candidates who are already experienced individuals with years of industry experience. They require minimal training because they are already equipped with your required skills.
Evaluate Applicants
Once you have received relevant profiles from the agency, it’s time to start the review process and shortlist candidates best suited for your needs.
This is the most important process in the hiring stage, and we recommend selecting the profiles that really match your hiring criteria. If you feel that the profiles are not up to your expectations, feel free to reach out to your hiring company with your feedback, and they will continue the search.
As a rule of thumb, prioritize all prospects who have decent experience in the same industry or have a proven track record of handling responsibilities similar to those you require.
In addition, you can also assess your prospect by:
- Conducting a thorough interview and asking relevant questions about their experience, skill set, and ability to complete the tasks.
- Asking for references from previous employers for more clarity and insights
- Hiring them for a trial period will help assess their skills and ability to perform better in your company setting.
Build a Good Working Relationship
Fostering a strong, trustworthy, and respectful working relationship with your virtual assistant will always yield better results for your business.
Always encourage open communication because it is the key to building a long-lasting relationship with your remote employees. Establishing clear communication can help you communicate your expectations and share your business values, ensuring that your VAs share the same path and goals as you.
Here are three things you can do to ensure a strong working bond with your VAs:
- Choose a reliable online communication channel, such as Skype, Zoom, or any other application that works best for both of you.
- Put your trust in your VAs and make them feel confident enough so they can put their expertise and knowledge to use.
- Set up weekly check-ins with your VAs to discuss progress, provide feedback, and acknowledge good work. These regular meetings will ensure that you both are on the same page.
- Always respect their time and never engage with them outside their working hours. Remember, they are human beings and have a life outside of work. Moreover, give them realistic deadlines, considering they already handle multiple tasks.
Also read: Mastering Remote Delegation: 5 Proven Strategies for a Stress-Free Workflow
Use Online Tools and Applications
Hiring global talent remotely is one of the best ways to increase employee satisfaction and smooth business operations. However, it comes with its own set of challenges, one of which is not being able to monitor your team.
But you don’t have to worry, as there are many online tools that allow you to monitor or communicate with your virtual assistant.
Here are three online software that will help you communicate, monitor, and manage your VAs from any corner of the world:
Zoom:
A perfect video conferencing software for reliable online meetings. Zoom is key online software that you need to have in your arsenal if you work with remote employees. Its ability to help you seamlessly connect with your team enables you to provide a more cohesive and connected work environment for your virtual assistants.
Some of the primary key features include:
- The option to share your screen with the participants while presenting.
- Breakout rooms for small, separate sessions.
- Record all the meetings on the cloud or locally for later review.
- You can schedule meetings directly from your calendar application.
- You can also create virtual backgrounds to look more professional in corporate meetings.
- You can gather valuable feedback from the participants during meetings by conducting polls and surveys.
- You can leverage features like Q&A, attendee registration, and analytics during hosting online events.
Slack:
Slack is one of the most popular feature-packed communication software for remote teams. It provides text, audio, and video chat features.
The software allows you to keep your work-related conversations secure and organized. In addition, you can create as many channels as you need for separate projects and teams.
Some of the features include:
- Create dedicated channels for specific topics, projects, and teams. This will allow you to have focused conversations with only relevant team members.
- You can have one-on-one private conversations and exchange quick information with your team members.
- Slack lets you integrate with different applications to have all the software you need on one platform.
- Audio and video recordings let you convey your messages more clearly and quickly without the need for video meetings.
- Slack has a built-in video conference option, which allows you to have ad hoc meetings and quick discussions within the platform.
Hubstaff:
Hubstaff is a comprehensive workforce management platform that allows you to track time, measure productivity, and automate payroll processes.
Some of the key features that make this workforce management software a must for your business include:
- The multi-device time tracking feature gives you the power to track your team members’ daily activities. You can also convert the data into automated timesheets.
- You can easily measure employee productivity by leveraging key metrics that allow you to monitor the working hours of your remote employees. This feature gives error-free insights and enables you to detect false activity, manage employee workloads, and track the time spent in business meetings.
- With Hubstaff, you can now automate your payroll processes with accurate time data. Using time tracking data, you can pay your employees automatically on their preferred payment platform.
- With Hubstaff, you can integrate more than 30 applications, such as ClickUp, Asana, PayPal, FreshBooks, Gusto, and more, and streamline your remote operations.
- Hubstaff also offers attendance and leave management options. The app allows you to easily manage your employees’ schedules and customize their shifts.
- You can also get an idea of project costs and budgeting with Hubstaff, which will help you maximize your profits.
Also read: Top 5 Tools Every Remote Team Needs for Effective Communication and Productivity
Final Thoughts
As the world becomes increasingly digital, the role of a virtual assistant is becoming increasingly important.
Whether you are a business owner who needs a professional for administrative tasks or a busy healthcare specialist who requires a resource to schedule appointments, you need a virtual assistant to help you streamline your operations, manage your tasks better, and focus on your core competencies.
If you find the process of hiring a VA daunting, we are here to help!
You can reach out to us, and we will ensure that we connect you with a resource perfect for your beads and your budget.
