The virtual manpower industry has been gaining popularity for quite some time now. Many businesses have been embracing the fact that employing a virtual assistant can be a vital component of a business in order to be more efficient and productive.
However, many business owners are still unaware of how beneficial hiring a virtual assistant can be or even how to hire one in the first place. For starters, hiring a virtual assistant is rather simple as it has the same nature in hiring an in-house employee. There are several factors to be taken into account in order to successfully hire one. As easy as it looks, hiring a VA can also involve issues in establishing connections and relationships.
That being said, here is a short overview of some of the most common factors that you need to consider when hiring a virtual assistant.
1. HIRE THE RIGHT SKILL SET DEPENDING ON THE BUSINESS NEEDS
Although virtual assistants are flexible, they also come with varying skill sets or forte. Some VAs can be delegated to do admin tasks and some can be assigned to do more technical tasks.
The point is, figuring out which tasks should be assigned to a virtual assistant should be paramount as this will determine efficiency and cost-effectiveness.
It is important to distinguish which business activities the VA should be focusing on. To make this as organized as possible, creating a task list and calendar will do the trick. This list can be sorted by the complexity of tasks.
And remember, as flexible as they may, VAs also have their limitations, they are still human beings after all. Do not assign them to tasks that they are having a hard time doing or tasks that they couldn’t do.
2. HAVE AN IN-DEPTH UNDERSTANDING OF THE ADVANTAGE AND DISADVANTAGES OF HIRING A VIRTUAL ASSISTANT
There are two types of virtual assistants. Freelance VAs and agency VAs. And choosing them can be crucial especially that the company’s money is at stake.
These 2 types of VAs both have their own corresponding pros and cons. The most common for freelancers is that they can work with a more personalized focus on a given task, whereas a VA agency can deploy a significant amount of manpower to ensure that all the gaps in a particular project are filled in.
Freelancers can provide services that a VA agency can’t provide and vice versa. But then again, knowing these given pros and cons will enable business owners to easily get a firm grasp on what they are bound to work with.
To know more about this you can likewise check this article out: WHY SHOULD YOU INVEST IN HIRING A VIRTUAL ASSISTANT FOR YOUR BUSINESS
3. DO AN INTENSIVE REVIEW OF THE APPLICANT’S RESUME AND EMPLOYMENT
The applicant’s resume can be a viable key to know more about them. And doing an intensive review on their resumes can greatly help business owners to determine who to employ.
By skimming through the applicant’s resume, business owners can come up with questions that can test their personality, how motivated they are, as well as how they value their profession. One more determining factor to be taken into account is to test the applicant’s command over the English language. The last thing that business owners do not want is having issues with communication and understanding due to the language barrier. It can also be very beneficial if they can speak the native language of their employer. This way, they can easily reach out to each other anytime.
After the series of interviews conducted by the employer, employment comes next. It is important to take note to be smart in selecting the right candidates. Picking the ones who are able to pass all the tests will work best, as they already proved that they are fit to do the job.
Getting to know the people who the business is bound to work with will play a vital role in the business’ productivity as well it can affect the company’s atmosphere as a whole for a long term basis. This may be a very time-consuming process, but it really pays off in the end.
4. TASKS DELEGATION
While the hiring of a VA can be a viable way to free up time, increase productivity as well as improve the efficiency of in-house employees, task delegation can be daunting.
It is important to allocate tasks to VAs in the most orderly and systematic manner as possible in order to ensure they are efficient. Bear in mind that the more intricate every instruction is, the better. As mentioned, VAs are flexible workers, they can easily keep pace with the company’s lifestyle. With time, VAs can be delegated with more complex tasks with more initiatives to accomplish.
As simple as it seems, task delegation is one crucial aspect of hiring a VA that needs more attention. When done right, it enables businesses to be more consistent with their productivity and efficiency. It also affects the continuous growth of the company.
Hiring a virtual assistant can be time-consuming. But the rewards that it can offer to the business are boundless as long as employers can easily communicate, gear, and relate with their hired VAs to make the most out of their skill sets that can eventually thrust their business upward.