Never worked with a VA before?
No problem! Everyone has to start somewhere.
Bringing a VA onto your team can be a significant step towards boosting your productivity and finally being able to complete the goals you have set for your business.
Whether you are an established SME or a one-man-band, a VA can make a world of difference to what you can achieve each day.
But, only if you undertake the virtual assistant hiring process correctly.
We’ve assembled our top 10 tips about first time virtual assistant hiring to make sure everything runs smoothly.
10 Top Tips For First Time Virtual Assistant Hiring
1: Are You Ready?
The first thing you will need to be certain of is whether you are ready to take the step of hiring your first VA. While it sounds like a good idea, and we promise you it will help your business immensely, you have to be ready to embrace the process.
Virtual assistant hiring will mean relinquishing some of the jobs that are bogging you down. But, it can be really hard to take that initial step of delegating things to someone outside your business. You need to be mentally ready to release some of your workload and trust the person you are bringing into your team!
Unless you are mentally ready to release some tasks, you are never going to have a successful relationship with your VA.
2: Define What You Want
We’ve established that readying yourself to release those first tasks to a VA can be harder than you initially think it’s going to be! So, it can help to think about what you want to do with the time that you free up. This will make it easier to take the leap.
Will you use the time to focus on other key components of your business like marketing or sales generation? Perhaps you are looking to reduce the number of hours you have to spend working each week? Defining your reasoning will help you to embrace the process of handing jobs to a VA.
3: Make A Task List
Now that you are ready and have the motivation to take action, it’s time to consider the kinds of tasks you’d like your VA to take on. Start brainstorming some ideas by listing your most time consuming jobs, things you don’t really like to do and tasks that are outside your skills and comfort zone.
Knowing what you want to outsource will help to make your virtual assistant hiring decisions easier.
4: Find The Right VA
Finding the right VA is going to be critical to the success of your end results. So, here are some things to consider when hiring your first VA:
- Ask for recommendations from colleagues or business contacts
- Check that your potential candidates have the skills to complete your task list
- Verify your VA’s experience and seek reviews from their past clients
- Communicate with your potential VA in your preferred communication method to check that it is going to work effectively for you both
- Trust your gut and choose someone that you get a good vibe from
5: Clarify Expectations
Once you have hired your first VA, one of the most important steps will be to clarify the expectations for both parties. If you are both aware of the other’s expectations, then you are setting yourselves up for a successful working relationship.
This is the time to discuss specific tasks, delivery methods, working hours, availability, preferred communication channels, and what each party needs from the other. That way, everyone is on the same page upfront and there is less risk of unnecessary confusion.
6: Start Small
In those first few weeks, we recommend you start with delegating the smaller tasks until you develop a cohesive working relationship between yourself and your VA. Starting small will introduce your VA to your business and the way you do things. It will also give you plenty of time to build trust as your newly found VA smashes out task after task.
From there, you can gradually increase the volume and complexity of the outsourced work. As you continue working with your VA, you’ll likely find more and more tasks that they can take on – probably ones you hadn’t even considered previously.
7: Keep Communicating
Lots of people do really well with the initial stages of communicating with their new VA, but as time goes by, the communication starts to fade. This is a big mistake! Ongoing communication is essential for maintaining a correct workload, standards, expectations, and focus changes.
Decide on a communication platform that suits you both and use it. Now, we aren’t suggesting you need to be in touch every hour, but a weekly or monthly check-in is ideal depending on workload and project needs. It’s also helpful to create a policy of open communication so that you can reach each other with questions, changes or feedback.
8: Workload Management
Due to the nature of how SMEs operate, the workload you have for your VA may fluctuate. Or you may find more and more tasks you want to add to their list. This is great, but ensure you have ongoing discussions with your VA about their availability and capacity.
Most VAs work by allocating a certain amount of hours to your business each month. The number of hours assigned is based on your business needs and your VA’s availability. To maximise the return on your investment, it’s good to ensure you are providing your VA enough work to utilise those hours effectively. But, you don’t want to provide too much work unintentionally.
That’s where communication comes into play. Discuss with your VA if anything outside of your usual arrangement crops up or if you need more of their assistance. That way you can always ensure your VA’s workload is managed effectively.
9: Feedback
Those open lines of communication we already discussed are great for both parties to provide feedback and offer suggestions on how things can be improved. As part of your regular check-ins, discuss progress, upcoming projects, and any shifts in focus so that the right results continue to flow.
Remember, your VA is an expert in all things efficiency, so encourage them to share their thoughts and ideas on how you can improve your processes or streamline sections of your business. Not only will you form a strong collaborative working relationship, but your business will benefit immensely.
10: Team Mindset
Despite the fact that your VA is working remotely from you, they will become a key part of your team. Fostering a team mindset and thinking of your VA in this way can do amazing things for your business.
Allow your VA’s specialised skills and expertise to complement the existing abilities within your team to enjoy the benefits of a successful collaborative working environment. With a vital team member like a VA, your business has the opportunity to scale as it grows or if it faces unexpected demands.
Recognise their value and you can harness their full potential as a valuable resource for helping your business to thrive in the NZ business landscape.
Find The Right VA Here
As we already mentioned, finding the right VA is going to be pivotal to the success of your working relationship. Luckily, we think you can find the perfect VA for your business right here at Admin Army.
We have a team of amazingly talented VAs ready to help your business. Our team have worked with hundreds of New Zealand businesses, so we can expertly guide you if you are hiring your first VA.
Book a time to chat with our team now.