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How to Hire a Virtual Assistant – A Brief Guide

by | December 7, 2022 | 2:59 pm
Category : IT Solutions, Virtual Assistant

Starting a business can be easy. However, ensuring you maintain the momentum is vital to your business’s success. For a small business just starting out, however, it can be easy to fall into the trap of everyday routine. Nevertheless, as a business begins to grow, it begins to need more resources. Thus, key resources can focus on the critical tasks of business building and revenue generation. An assistant is one such resource who can help share the overall business workload.

The challenges of hiring an in-house assistant

  • Significant payout towards salary, wages, benefits, etc.
  • Compliance with employment benefits
  • Payment of employer taxes
  • Staying legally compliant

Ways in which a Virtual Assistant can help

  • Circumvent the legal and regulatory necessities that accompany an in-house hire.
  • Help avoid the costs associated with an in-house hire.
  • Remain available regardless of physical boundaries or office premises
  • Work out essential assistance with tasks such as paying bills or setting reminders
  • Arrange for timely payment of bills/expenses
  • Schedule of payment obligations
  • Ensure calendars for important tasks are scheduled and adhered to

How to hire the right Virtual Assistant

Here is a guide that can help your business find and hire the right virtual assistant:

Hire a Virtual Assistant

#1. Outline your business needs

Outlining your business needs is always a priority. Before hiring a virtual assistant, be sure to think about why your business operations require assistance and support.

A likely answer to this could relate to the need to share the workload with your business’s owners and operators. Alternatively, a virtual assistant could help these professionals free up some of their time, which can be devoted instead of business and revenue-building activities.

#2. Run through online recruitment websites

Once you have outlined your requirements from an assistant, it is time to carefully examine profiles and candidates whose details are available online. Businesses can consider qualifications such as administrative skills, managerial skills, ability to manage communication, emails, messages, etc.

#3. Consider the costs involved in hiring the virtual assistant

When checking for eligible virtual assistant candidates online, be sure to compare average salary listings. This can help set expectations as well, without jeopardizing the requirements for the role. Keep in mind that the geographical location of the virtual assistant may also play a role in pricing or cost to your business.

#4. Interviewing with shortlisted candidates

A video call is among the best ways to interview a potential virtual assistant. This can help businesses

  • Assess the candidate better without a physical interview
  • Assess how well they could fit into business operations
  • Understand and evaluate their skill sets better
  • Whether they will be able to meet the business’s expectations

One of the most important goals of hiring a virtual assistant is to ensure the business’s goals remain aligned with a growth mindset. This can be tied to the incoming candidate’s job responsibilities in order to allow their assistance to help free up time for vital in-house resources.

#5. Take time to onboard the virtual assistant

Onboarding a new hire is critical to ensure a good match for the business and to ensure that the team stays motivated. On the other hand, harnessing virtual assistant services from a partner organization may be more cost-effective for businesses. This is because the assistant would come in pre-trained and would be able to hit the ground running.

Unlike in-house recruitment, which may require training time, an established virtual assistant can begin helping your business immediately. A trained virtual assistant can also help businesses save money on associated costs.

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