8 Mistakes to avoid while hiring a virtual assistant

Author - IsabelleIsabelle
Jun 13, 2021
8 Mistakes to avoid while hiring a virtual assistant

The decision of hiring a virtual assistant is really important because not only will you be saving time and money but it will also improve the productivity of your business.

 

The best reason to hire a virtual assistant is if you know that it will save you a great amount of time that will result in bigger returns.

 

Once you’ve decided that a virtual assistant is the right route for you, you must find the best person for your needs.

 

Hiring a virtual assistant is easy, but some startups tend to make a mistake that affects the pace at which they are growing.

 

So, before hitting the “hire” button, be aware of common mistakes clients make when hiring a virtual assistant. Avoid the common pitfalls to be able to make the most of your decision to hire a virtual assistant. Here are eight mistakes to avoid when hiring a virtual assistant.

 

1) Hiring a virtual assistant for the wrong reasons

Outsourcing is very beneficial for small businesses, but this doesn't mean that it's also the best option for your business. Don't hire a virtual assistant just because you read a great article about virtual assistants or someone suggests you hire a virtual assistant. You should understand your business well to know whether working with a virtual assistant will benefit you.

 

The biggest reason to hire a virtual assistant is that it will save your precious time and offer returns on the money you invest.

 

So what’s the bad reason? Thinking you have to hire a virtual assistant because somebody else told you so. Bringing a virtual assistant when you don’t have a business case for doing so is simply a waste of money.

 

 

2) Failure to identify what you need

It’s a classic mistake to go looking for help without any real idea of what you need. So before start recruiting candidate for the virtual assistant position, you must identify what you need.

 

To find someone with the right skills, number of hours, and cost to know why you are hiring a virtual assistant and you will use their time and services.

 

 

3) Don’t consider language barriers

While there is the economic benefit to hiring an overseas virtual assistant, you need to make sure your virtual assistant speaks your language, whether US English or Catalan Spanish.

 

Always hire a skilled and linguistically proficient virtual assistant because it directly impacts your business success.

 

 

4) Not clarifying your task well enough

The job description needs to be clear, for any professional to be able to do the job. Without a clear job description that includes your needs, it will be very difficult to find the one that has the skills you need and meshes well with your personality.

 

Start with a clear description and your virtual worker are going to be perfect for your work demands.

 

Until you're clear about how you'll have the benefit of a virtual assistant benefit from and have clarity on the tasks the virtual assistant will do, don’t expect your virtual worker to have concrete ideas either. 

 

Before you start recruiting candidates for the virtual assistant position, listing all tasks you would like him/her to do for you. If you are a marketing agency, your task list may be researching content for a blog, researching content for social media, graphic design, customer support, and other related tasks. Describe your task list as detailed and accurate as possible, and make sure that you hire a virtual assistant to do those tasks and that you clearly instruct them.

5) Expecting too much

It’s ideal to have a good job description. But keep in mind that there may not be one single person out there who can handle all of your business’s needs. You can’t hire someone to help you manage your social media accounts, keep all transactional records, and set appointments on your calendar at the same time. If you add more areas of focus in the job description, the less likely you’ll find the right fit.

 

Avoiding this pitfall requires the proactive efforts of two parts. First, evaluate the job description and task list to make sure your job scope won’t exceed your virtual assistant’s capabilities. Second, communicate your expectations to the candidates you interview and likewise, be considerate about their limitations. 

 

Prevent your virtual assistant from exceeding his or her abilities because, in the ultimate analysis, a bad hire costs more than just cash.

6) Lack of qualifying system

It’s not enough to hire the best virtual assistant based on curriculum vitae or preliminary interviews alone. The curriculum vitae is an important reference to qualify a candidate but it should not be the criteria.

 

To find the best virtual assistant, you must define the qualifying system first. Your qualifying system may look something like this:

 

* Review curriculum vitae

* Fundamental skills test (phone support, email handling, file management)

* Communication skills test

* Behavioral profiling (social media account, situational test, reasoning test)

* Paid test task

* Final interview

 

 

7) Skipping on the training period

Many business owners are too busy. They think virtual assistants know how to get started, so they don’t focus on the training period but the truth is that virtual assistants are not minded readers and even for them.

The training that you will give them is an investment, so make sure that you don’t skip the training period.

 

 

8) Failure to review work

Every entrepreneur hires a virtual assistant and forgets to review the outcome of the task. A virtual assistant may have queries and issues to be resolved. You must put a regular monitoring mechanism in place to offer timely amendments and suggestions for increase the success rate of that task.

 



Last Modified: Jun 13, 2021
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