How to find a good virtual assistant?

In the first days after starting a business, you dream about finding enough customers/clients to earn some money and reap the rewards. Lack of time caused by much work is desirable. However, when the company starts to develop and the work seems to be endless, lack of time becomes a huge problem, which should be quickly resolved. You don’t mind sacrificing your time for providing services/products for your clients/customers and it’s a source of satisfaction for you, but you are fed up with tedious tasks such as answering emails. Somebody has to do it but nobody wants to be detracted from the most important things by them. In such a case the best solution is finding a virtual assistant. A virtual assistant will take care of such tedious tasks and you won’t worry about providing a place of work for her and other things connected with hiring somebody for a full-time job. How to find a good virtual assistant?

 

Think out what you need

 

A virtual assistant doesn’t have a fixed scope of responsibilities. Many people think that this position is for a person who performs the same tasks as a personal assistant in an office and her responsibilities are mainly fixing the dates of meetings and remembering them as well as answering calls and emails. Virtual assistants are frequently responsible for these tasks but not always. They can edit texts, deal with social media or design graphics. In order to find a good virtual assistant, you should consider what tasks would you like to delegate and search for a person who specialises in them. Someone who is great at customer service can be terrible at e.g. engaging in social media.

 

Establish clear, measurable goals and tasks to do

 

During the interview with a virtual assistant, you should focus not only on her experience but also on her method of settlement. For a commissioning party the biggest disadvantage of remote working is the problem with assessment of an actual amount of work done by a commissioned party. The method of establishing an hourly rate, which is typical for full-time jobs can be ineffective in such a case. Propose specific, measurable goals and tasks for a virtual assistant, for which she would be paid. If the method of settlement based on finishing specific tasks suits her, you don’t have to worry about your money.

 

Start from probation or a trial project

 

If a candidate specialises in the field you are interested in, has extensive experience and uses the method of settlement which is fair for both parties, perhaps you have already found a perfect virtual assistant for you. However, in order to be sure that your choice is good it’s recommended to start from probation or a trial project to perform. Thanks to it you will assess the skills of the candidate and make sure if you are on the same wavelength.