Hiring your own Virtual Assistant (VA) needs proper preparation and candidate selection. Making the decision to hire a VA and posting the job position online are the easiest parts of the process. The crucial parts are; choosing the right candidate, and managing the Virtual Assistant that you eventually hire. In this post, I will present to you the first part – Choosing the right candidate.
What job or tasks do you need the VA to do?
Before posting the job online, it is wise to determine the specific tasks the VA will be doing on your behalf. Knowing what task you will be asking the VA to be responsible for will give you a clear idea on the specific skill sets the job requires. List the task and the skills needed to carry out the task, and then ask yourself how many hours will be needed to carry out the task, and how much you are willing to pay for the number of hours that the job will require.
You then will have to determine if this task is a one time task, such that once the job is done, then there will be no need to repeat the job, in the future. If this is the case, then this job can be posted as a fixed price job. But if this task is part of a repetitive process within your business, then this job is classified as a weekly task that will need a fixed amount of time each week. Jobs of this type will require you to set a budget on a weekly basis to compensate the VA for doing the job.
Posting the job
There are several good websites to post your job such as oDesk.com, Elance.com. Most sites all you to post your job based on its category or type. You will be required to set up your account including entering in your credit card details. Before posting a job on any site, make sure that you have complete understanding of their terms and conditions. Pay particular attention on their charges. Some sites add 10% on top of what you are offering to pay the VA, while there are others who deduct 10% from the amount you pay the VA. Also take note of their dispute resolution process should you need to resolve an issue with the VA your eventually hire.
The hiring process
After posting the job online, you need to keep track of applicants or job candidates.
There are two types of job candidates you need to be aware of:
The newbie
These are applicants who are new to the online job posting site. And there are two types of newbies.
i. The newbie who is a veteran. This job candidate is a new user of the job posting site, but has extensive offline experience.
ii. The newbie who is just starting off. This job candidate is a new user of the job posting site, and has relatively short off line experience with jobs requiring a similar skill set.
The 2nd type of applicant you will encounter is the veteran. This applicant has been a member of the job posting site and has logged quite a number of hours and jobs over three months. This type of applicant can and will ask for a higher fee owing to the track record the applicant has established over time. Hiring this type of applicant MAY ensure successful delivery of tasks. But you have to take note of the fee that the candidate indicates.
There are veteran applicants who have already logged on quite a number of hours and jobs, but are new to the task that you want done. You will find this out in the job applicant’s profile.
Always look at the job candidates posted profile. This profile paints a more or less accurate picture of the candidate. Before doing the interview, take particular attention to the application letter that the candidate sent. This letter will reveal to you the communication skill of the prospect. A letter that appears to be a standard format letter can be a red flag. A letter that is written in a flowing manner, referring to details found in your job post is a good indicator.
The Interview
When doing the interview, ask for the candidates’ views on the job you posted and how the candidate intends to carry out the task. Emphasize to the candidate the number of hours you will be requiring for the task and your preferred work schedule. Take note of the time zone difference in other to synchronize real time communications across time zones can become a hassle.
Hiring a candidate due to low fee considerations sets you up for a trap. Low fees do not necessarily mean savings on your part. In most cases, this is a red flag for a frustrating relationship with a possible hire.
In the world of online outsourcing, the reality is – you get what you pay for.
In doing the interview, see to it that you are able to come up with a decision within a short time frame. The best candidates do not wait. They are always on the hunt for other jobs. You could miss out on a good candidate. Job Candidates who linger on are those who have no current work, or are not online often to keep track of their job candidacies.
Once you find the right candidate, hire that candidate immediately and prepare the virtual workspace where you and your VA will be interacting in.
VIDEO
MP3 Audio
How to hire your Virtual Assistant – Choosing the right CandidatePlay Now
Owen:How to hire your virtual assistant. Choosing the right candidate. Choosing the right candidate you have the easy part of that. Well first easy decision it will be making the decision that you wanna hire someone to help with your business, and the other easy part would be the job posting itself where you find websites online and post your need for the virtual assistants to apply for your job. Well the not so easy parts that would be the actual interview process where you have a bunch of qualified candidates show up and you know maybe bid for the job and go through your interview process and you choose who you think will be the best candidate.
And another not so easy step will be once you hire the VA the actual managing of that particular VA that you hired. So I’m gonna try and focus on the beginning stages of the process which will be the interview process and finding the right VA and the next installment of this I would focus on this which will be the managing the VA. But for now, let’s go ahead and talked about the interview process. So part of finding the right Virtual Assistant involves you basically determining what you need the Virtual Assistant to do for you, so you need to spend time and determine the specific tasks that you want the VA to take over and handle for you.
And also, you need to also find in that process you need to also know the specific skill sets that you require the VA to have. As well as you know determining how many hours are needed for the job to get done, as well as what you’re willing to pay the VA once you finally find the right VA.
In addition to that you need to determine if you gonna need the VA one time only or if you gonna need the VA over a period of a time. So when I say one time only I mean, okay you have a job that is specific set of requirements and you just want them to go ahead execute the task and that’s the job over with and you most likely wouldn’t need their services anymore, or you need a VA that’s gonna do set of tasks for a renewable period of time like say continuously come in and call all your contacts and set appointments for you and follow up with your contacts. So you basically have to determine is this a one time only or continuous job.
So when posting a job online there are a few things that you have to consider. One of the first things you have to consider is what category or type of job are you going be posting online because the sites that you have for instance, you have odesk, elance and all that, they have, the way the sites are built they have it so that you, for instance if you need to post a job that is gonna be web based then you would post it under that specific category if you need graphic design you gonna post the job under that category. So that way you can get the best qualified candidate. So think about on the website that you’re posting your job, what category your job qualifies under and post your job underneath that specific category.
The next thing you have to pay attention to is on that specific site that you’re going to be posting your job you definitely need to enter in your payment information because they need to make sure that you know you are capable of being able to make the payment once your job is completed by the assistant. And the next thing too is pay attention to the terms and conditions on that website, because each website has its own different terms and conditions and you just read through them to make sure that you understand them and then you are in agreement with them.
And also need to make sure that you pay attention to the fee structure that they have on the website. The reason I say this is some websites they charge you ten percent, for instance now, on top of what you’re paying to the person who is helping you with your job or some websites might also decide to take ten percent from the fee you’re paying to the person who is helping you with your job.
So the fact that I’m saying ten percent doesn’t mean that’s not what all websites are charging what I’m just trying make a point that they either charge a fee on top of what you’re paying to the person who’s helping you with your job or take the fee from what you’re paying to the person who’s helping you with the job so pay attention to that. The last thing you also wanna pay attention to is dispute resolution because it is not a perfect world and you may have a situation where you may have to have a dispute resolved. Especially if it’s a case where the VA does not do the work that this was not do correctly, so you need to make sure you are able to resolve situation that might arise.
Now let’s get into the hiring process proper, the type of job candidates available to you. You have the newbie, basically has not, maybe a newbie to the website or a newbie to the job entirely, has never done any kind of task that is similar to what you’re looking for. Usually the newbie either to the website or newbie to the task usually charge lower and you also have the person’s who’s a veteran who’s on the website has a lot of hours and usually the fees are a lot higher that they would charge. Always do this when you hiring a VA. Hiring someone to work for you on this websites, make sure that you review the profile because reviewing the profile will tell you a lot about the person. And also check out what testimonials from other people who’ve hired them. And also make sure that you review the letter that they sent to you in regards to getting to apply for your job because that would tell you if they understood the requirements of your job and it will give you insights on how to think.
So the interview process, here you have to make sure that you when interview a client you get their views and opinions on how they’re going to handle your task coz you wanna know how they, how they think. Make sure that they understand the hours required, because they need to know what kind of time commitment that they going to have to put into your job. Make sure that they have a work schedule that you understand the work schedule and that they can, it can be something that they will be able to handle.
Another thing that you want to pay attention to is the time zone because they might be in a different time zone. Maybe you definitely need to figure out how the both of you will synchronize your time so that even though the time zone that might be, maybe some minutes ahead of you I mean some hours ahead of yours they can essentially work at a time that is, basically synchronize the time and then both of you work at the same time. Also pay attention to the fees because the lower fees doesn’t mean, I mean getting someone who basically you get what you pay for, that’s what I’m try to say. And also make your decision quickly, because the best people to get they don’t waste that much time.
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So what do you think?
This is the first part of the process in hiring your VA online. I am sure you have your questions and ideas. Take time to share them with me. So we can enrich each others ideas and views on hiring a Virtual Assistant. You may have questions. Post your questions / suggestions in the comment box below.
In my next post, I will show to you how to manage your VA and set up the virtual work space so you and your VA can interact in a more efficient and effective manner.
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Tim
I enjoyed reading this post, it was very informative. Thanks for posting
@Tim, I am glad you enjoyed reading my blog post. Please can you tell me what you liked the most or if you have any more suggestions? I appreciate your feedback
Tim
I enjoyed reading this post, it was very informative. Thanks for posting
@Tim, I am glad you enjoyed reading my blog post. Please can you tell me what you liked the most or if you have any more suggestions? I appreciate your feedback
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My cousin recommended this blog and she was totally right keep up the fantastic work!
@Russia, Thanks for your comments. What specific virtual assistant / outsourcing topics do you want me to blog about?
http://www.catchfriday.com/ Bob
A Virtual Assistant bring reliability, competence, creativity and other great characteristics to your business without the insane costs.
http://www.catchfriday.com Bob
A Virtual Assistant bring reliability, competence, creativity and other great characteristics to your business without the insane costs.
forexrobot
A whole new profession of virtual assistants (VAs) has opened up in the last several years, thanks to technology – and it’s a benefit to everyone. I have worked with VAs since I started working full time through my company in 2003 and I have learned a few things along the way (some the hard way, of course).
I am glad you personally have experience working with VAs, do you want to come on my show and share your experience; the successes and challenges with the entire process?
