How Do I Find the Right Virtual Assistant?

Posted June 25, 2023

Hiring a virtual assistant offers many benefits to businesses of all kinds, including solo entrepreneurs to small business owners. They can help you save time and money by taking on a wide variety of tasks, from admin work to more technical duties that require specialized skills. However, it’s important to remember that the success of outsourcing largely depends on who you hire. That’s why finding the right person for the job is so critical.

There are plenty of reasons why businesses work with virtual assistants. Maybe you need someone to take on routine tasks or provide expert help with a new project. But to help you get the best out of this excellent cost-effective staffing solution, you need to invest energy in getting it right. This means taking time in hiring the right virtual assistant for the role instead of rushing through the recruitment process.

Benefits of Hiring the Right Virtual Assistants

When you hire virtual assistant services, you can save time while building a more productive and profitable business. Here are the numerous benefits hiring the right virtual assistant or VA can give you:

Save on Costs

Hiring virtual assistants is a cost-effective staffing solution that can benefit any business. The right VA can offer the same quality of work you’d expect from in-office staff but at a fraction of the price. This is especially valuable for small businesses that want to scale up their operations without bloating labor costs.

VAs don’t need to take up office space, nor would they need their clients to supply them with their tools, such as a laptop and internet connection. VA work is done in the comfort of their own home or remote office, so you won’t need to set aside valuable resources for transportation allowances, office equipment, and other government-mandated benefits.

Do you need more information on just how much money you can save when you hire a virtual assistant? Book a free consultation with our 20four7VA Growth Experts to learn more.

Save Time

If you’re a business owner, you know how routine and time-consuming tasks can easily take up your day. It makes sense to get virtual assistance to help you check for tasks that can be easily delegated. Instead of spending hours upon hours of your busy week on desk work and other time-consuming tasks, you can focus your time and energy on the more core functions of your job.

Avoid Burnout

Many business owners tend to be too hands-on, even with mundane tasks. These essential yet time-consuming tasks can cause business owners like you to lose a sustainable balance between work and personal life which could cause burnout. The solution? Start delegating tasks to focus on your core responsibilities and, more importantly, safeguard your well-being.

Remember: checking off tasks on your to-do list in a timely manner shouldn’t mean pushing yourself to the brink of burnout or losing time for the most important things in life.

Increase Productivity

When you hire the right virtual assistant, you won’t just save time but also increase business productivity. Your VA can provide the support you need, so you can feel more at ease focusing on making high-level decisions and strategies. You’ll be able to free up more of your energy and time to take your business to even greater heights.

Gain Access to Global Talent

When you decide to find VAs, you also open up your business to a broader, more global talent pool. You can select from a huge number of remote professionals to find one that’s the most suitable for your business needs. Whether you need help with administrative tasks or more specialized functions like project management or bookkeeping, you’ll surely find professional VAs to support you.

Want to know more about how virtual assistants can help take your business to the next level? Claim your free consultation with our Growth Experts for more information.

How Do I Find the Right Virtual Assistant? Helpful Tips for Hiring and Recruitment

Finding the right virtual assistant is crucial in making the most of this alternative staffing solution. Getting it right the first time can help you avoid spending time, money, and energy on repeating the process again due to poor job fit or mismatched expectations.

Make Sure Your Business is Ready to Hire a Virtual Assistant

To make the most of hiring a virtual assistant, make sure your business is ready for remote and distributed teams. Apps for synchronous and synchronous communication and project management tools can help create a more collaborative working relationship despite the time zone and geographical differences.

It’s best to have these systems up and running as early as possible, so you and your local team can have time to learn how to navigate them. This way, when your actual virtual assistants are onboarded, you and your business are ready for them.

Identify the Tasks You Will Delegate

Deciding on your virtual assistant’s specific tasks will help determine how many hours they need to work, the skills they need to have, and whether they need considerable work experience.

Virtual assistants can work on a wide variety of tasks, from basic admin tasks to more specialized functions like marketing or Telehealth. This means you need to be more specific in your virtual assistant service needs if you want to hire the most suitable VA for you.

Administrative Assistant Duties

Important yet tedious administrative tasks can hinder you from making important decisions and business strategies. Instead of spending your most productive hours on routine tasks like data entry, why not delegate it to a VA? Below are examples of administrative tasks your admin virtual assistant can work on:

Scheduling appointments
Data entry
Calendar management
Transcription
Email management
File management
Scheduling travel arrangements
Form digitization
Call routing
And other admin duties

Marketing Support

Whether marketing is not your forte or you need help executing your marketing campaigns, hiring a marketing virtual assistant is the way to go. Marketing VAs can help you reach out to and engage with your target audience through various marketing channels. They can take over time-consuming marketing tasks so you can focus on the big picture. Here are some of the tasks marketing VAs can check off your to-do list:

Digital marketing
Social media marketing
Email marketing
Content writing
Marketing collateral design
Blog management
Proofreading and editing
And other marketing VA tasks

Business Support

No matter what industry you’re in, desk work is unavoidable. But that doesn’t mean you need to spend extra hours out of your day behind the desk instead of running your business. A business support virtual assistant can help you spend less time on time-consuming back-office tasks and more time executing your more high-level duties.

Here’s a short list of some back-office duties a Business Support VA can help you with:

Email and chat support
Lead generation
Lead nurturing
Cold calling
Bookkeeping
CRM data management
Market research
Onboarding assistance
Report generation
Invoicing and reconciliation
And more back-office functions

IT Services

Building and maintaining a strong online presence is key to thriving in this highly-digital world. Businesses must be where their target customers are: online. To help your company stay competitive and engage with its target audience, you can outsource your IT needs such as:

Web Design
Website Management
Search Engine Optimization
Pay-per-Click (PPC) Advertising
Mobile App Design
Software Development
API Integrations
And other IT-related requirements

Specialized or Niche VAs

There are also VAs who have specific niches like real estate or eCommerce. These specialist VAs can be a great help to clients who require someone with more specific skills or work experience. Here are some examples of such VAs:

Of course, the final task list of a VA will highly depend on the client’s business needs and goals. If you need more help narrowing down your new VA’s list of duties, check out our virtual staffing tips or schedule a free consultation for more expert advice.

Set a Budget

Once you decide to hire a virtual assistant (or virtual assistants), you need to set a realistic budget. Having a realistic budget for any expense can help a business, especially a small business, keep costs in check. It can also help you reassess your staffing needs and prioritize better. For example, if you initially set out to hire two administrative virtual assistants for two departments, consider consolidating the admin tasks for the different departments. Being more mindful of your budget allows you to really think about your business and, perhaps, streamline similar processes.

To help you with budgeting, you need to consider the type of tasks you will be delegating, the number of work hours per week, and the non-negotiable skills your new VAs need to possess. Or you can work backwards by setting the budget first and then adjusting your staffing requirements as needed.

Create a List of the Essential Skills and Qualities

Once you have your list of responsibilities to be delegated, it will be easier to decide on the skill set your new VA should have. For example, hiring someone with excellent communication and copywriting skills would be best if you are looking for a Marketing VA for social media management. They may also need a background in managing social media accounts and ads. But if you’re looking to hire a VA for admin work, they might not need any social media background but soft skills like time management and organization.

As mentioned, the list of skills and qualities you must look for in your new VA will highly depend on their scope of work. But here are some must-have VA skills you need to look out for:

Computer Proficiency

A VA’s main tools in supporting their clients are a computer and a stable internet connection. This means they have to be tech-savvy or at least comfortable navigating the internet and their laptops.
It would be best to have a VA who knows their way around the typical remote work programs and tools like Google Workspace, Microsoft Office, and other project management applications.

Communication Skills

No matter their role, you need a VA with excellent communication skills. They must know how to converse in a professional and clear manner. They should also be active listeners who are able to take in instructions well. Additionally, it would help if they knew the best ways to reach the people they work with from synchronous communication apps like Zoom or asynchronous ones like Slack.

Relevant Experience or Education

A proven track record of success in previous roles or formal education is a plus for any VA. Hiring a virtual assistant with relevant work experience can help cut down time for training and onboarding. They’ll also be able to pick up business processes and jargon related to the industry.

However, don’t discount someone just because they are fresh out of college and have no working experience yet. College students or recent graduates might also be worthy candidates if their educational background pertains to the job you’re offering. It still pays to consider hiring entry-level VAs who are quick and willing learners.

Languages Spoken

Another thing you may want to think about is whether or not you need a multilingual VA. Most VAs from Asia have excellent English-speaking skills on top of their local language. This means you’ll have no problem conversing with them and relaying instructions.

And if you’re looking to expand to other regions, such as Latin America, hiring a Latino VA could be a cost-effective staffing solution for you. You can work with someone with a good grasp of both the local language and culture. Their skills can help your company create localized communication and marketing strategies that fit the region.

Create Clear Job Ads

Creating a detailed job ad is essential for hiring the right virtual assistant. A clear, concise, and accurate job description can help to ensure that a VA is qualified for the role and has the qualities and knowledge needed to effectively carry out their duties. It also helps to set expectations for both parties.

A clear job ad can also help you shorten your virtual assistant screening process.

Have Thorough Recruitment and Onboarding Processes

A solid recruitment and onboarding plan is a great way to set your new assistant up for success. It’s an opportunity to introduce your business and culture, set expectations, and get them up to speed with processes.

When you have a comprehensive onboarding program, you can ensure that your new VA can hit the ground running as soon as possible. A good onboarding process also helps with employee retention since it signals to your VAs that you are invested in their growth and success.

Work with a VA Company

Perfecting the recruitment process can also take time. So you can expect that you may need to be meticulous and invest more time to successfully hire the right candidate.

If you want to make searching for the right virtual assistant that much more simple and convenient, it’s best to work with a virtual assistant company. Reputable remote staffing companies like 20four7VA can use their wide network and expertise to help you find the right VA for the job.

Why Work with 20four7VA?

20four7VA is a multi-awarded remote staffing company with a decade of experience. We’ve helped over 2,800 clients grow with cost-effective virtual assistant staffing solutions. We have a meticulous 8-step vetting process to get only the best virtual assistants for our talent pool.

When you work with us to find your VA, our services won’t stop at the recruitment stage. All 20four7VA clients have access to our end-to-end VA staffing services, which include:

1. Free Client-VA Pairing Service
2. Onboarding Assistance
3. In-house Training and Upskilling
4. Human Resources Support
5. Time tracking
6. Payroll Processing
7. VA Performance Management
8. Dedicated Client Services
9. IT Helpdesk And more!

Hiring the right person is crucial in helping your business grow. We at 20four7VA can help you do just that. We have virtual staffing experts ready to share their great insights and a support team who will make working with a VA much more simple and effective.

Download our free downloadable copy of our VA Hiring Checklist. And to learn more about 20four7VA’s top-notch virtual assistant services, schedule a free consultation with our Growth Experts today!