How to Find the Best Virtual Assistant for Your Business

Hiring a Virtual Assistant can reap immediate benefits for your business. It doesn’t matter if you’re an owner of a small business or an executive of a large company that employs thousands. Virtual assistance is a process that can take your business to the next level.

As a remote worker, the VA does not share the same space or breathe the same air as you do. But the impact of the VA’s contributions to your business is undeniable on the cost and revenue side of the profitability equation.

This is why many of the top corporations in the United States hire virtual assistants. It is a cost effective way of generating productivity that at the same time addresses common issues in workforce management.

But in the same way that you can hire a regular full- time employee who underperforms, you might contract the services of a virtual employee who cannot deliver the desired results.

After all, virtual assistants are people too. Not every candidate will have the same level of competencies and proficiencies. You will encounter your share of good and not- so- good candidates.

Then you also have to consider the individual personalities. You might find the candidate with a glowing resume but with an attitude and personality that would not fit with yours.

Thus, while a Virtual Assistant can become a Valuable Asset for your business, the key is to find one who meets your needs. It is not enough that you find candidates with the best qualifications in technical and fundamental matters. A more challenging concern is finding one whom you can work with every single day.

Keep in mind that recruitment is a process. Trying to find the best people to help you run your business takes time. It will not happen overnight.

You should not hire personnel blindly; there must always be a system in place that takes applicants through different stages of the process. Each stage represents a new level of qualification.

Qualifying personnel takes time but it is time well spent because it brings you closer to finding the right people for the job; regular hires or virtual staff.

What is a Virtual Assistant?

A Virtual Assistant is a professional who works online and is contracted to do a specified set of tasks, responsibilities or a project that requires particular skills and competencies.

Before the Internet streamed into the mainstream consciousness, virtual assistants were viewed as Personal Assistants or home- based secretaries. They were not accorded the prestige and respect as they do now.

Back then, becoming a Personal Assistant or home- based secretary implied you could not find or maintain a stable job. Home- based secretaries rose in popularity during periods of high unemployment.

Women who could not find gainful employment and also raised their children sought to generate income by offering home based secretarial services to nearby offices and construction sites.

These services would include:

• Typing
• Dictation
• File Organization
• Appointment Setting
• Calendar Management
• Preparation of Letters
• Research

To become a good home- based secretary, you had to be good with the typewriter. If you made a mistake, you either had to remove it with a pencil eraser or a solution like “White Out” but your work would look messy.

Growth of Virtual Assistance

The modern day term “Virtual Assistant” was believed to have been coined by Anastacia “Stacy” Brice and her life coach, Thomas Leonard in 1996. The following year, Stacy Brice used the term and started her own business called AssistU which initially provided virtual assistance services to law firms.

In 1997, the Internet was available to only 70 million people or roughly 1.7% of the world’s population. The Internet was primarily used by government agencies to transmit information and store data.

In the 90’s, Internet access was done through dial- up services. You would need a modem and a phone call placed over the Public Switched Telephone Network or PSTW. It was not a very efficient way to work for virtual assistants.

Broadband technology changed the Internet landscape during the first decade of the new millennium. By the year 2000, the Internet became accessible to 304 Million people or 5% of the world’s population.

Today there are more than 3.5 Billion on the Internet every day or 49% of the world’s population.

The growth of the Internet also coincided with the growth of the virtual assistance industry. And it came at a time when businesses needed a process to help them navigate through a period of great business uncertainty.

Outsource Services in the New Millennium

Over the last 15 years, outsourcing has become a by- word in business. Many companies have adapted outsourcing into their business development strategy design because of its ability to reduce costs and improve revenue generation.

But outsourcing is not a new concept. The process has been around since the 1970’s. During those years, it was used primarily as a way to streamline costs. When sales were down or demand for product and services was sluggish, the immediate course of action was to reduce costs.

Businesses would contract third party service providers that could manage some of their areas of responsibility. These areas were usually support or administrative services. By delegating work, companies would pass on the cost of benefits and incremental factors of production to the third party service providers.

By the new millennium, outsourcing took on a larger role because the global business environment had become volatile. There were incidents of war, terrorism and political instability. Equities markets worldwide were crashing. America was under threat of bankruptcy. Japan, the United Kingdom and other European countries entered recession.

Demand for outsource services increased and this was reflected in the growth of the industry. From a $45 Billion industry in 2000, global outsourcing grew to a $105 Billion industry that was valued at $584 Billion in 2016.

Virtual assistance work is outsourced work. You are delegating or transferring tasks or a set of responsibilities to a third party service provider who works online from a remote location. Virtual assistants are alternatively referred to as freelancers, home- based workers or telecommuters.

How far has virtual assistance grown in the last 15 years?

One of the best sources of virtual assistants is the online job platform, Upwork. According to Upwork, it has over 8 million freelancers spread out over 180 countries.

And Upwork is not the only place to find VA’s. There are many other avenues or great sources of talent.

Advantages of Hiring a Virtual Employee

If you ask any person about what a VA can do for a business the words “organize”, “take calls” and “write down the minutes” will probably come out most of the time.

The truth is the benefits or advantages of hiring a virtual employee extend beyond organizing, taking calls and writing down the minutes of a meeting.

1. Reduce Costs of Business – Hiring a Virtual Assistant will cost you less than hiring a full time employee for the following reasons:

• They are only paid for hours worked;

• As proprietors of a business that provides virtual assistance services, they are accountable for their own costs;

• You can schedule the number of hours you want them to work. A full time employee has to work 48 hours a week. VA’s usually renders services a total of 10 to 20 hours per week.

It is estimated that compared to a VA, for a full- time employee, you will spend 1.5 to twice the cost of his or her salary.

2. Increase Business Productivity – Do you feel “obligated” to filter your e- mail every morning? How do you feel when in the middle of work you get one call after another?

It can be very frustrating to have valuable time taken away from you. But that’s exactly what will happen if you don’t have anyone to delegate tasks to.

By transferring tasks to a VA, you can free up more time to focus on matters that are directly related to the main enterprise of your business.

Remember your full- time employee? You pay him a fixed salary every month. It doesn’t matter what he accomplished. You are mandated by law to pay him full wages less absences and time- keeping deductions.

You have to pay him whenever he takes extended water cooler or bathroom breaks.

By comparison, VA’s are given milestones to accomplish and these have deadlines. You can get more work done at less time and less cost.

3. Improve the Quality of Work – When you hire virtual staff, you are not hiring fresh graduates or first timers. Many came from the traditional office, 9 to 5 setting. They know what it is like to work for someone and meet business targets.

They are also trained in specific skills. Some are even certified in technical competencies.

Today you can find a VA to cover a myriad of skills such as:

• Accounting
• Social Media Marketing
• Web Design
• Translation
• Medical Coding and Billing

These are highly specialized work that requires advanced training and certification.

4. Introduce a Flexible Business Model – As mentioned earlier, you can be more flexible with the scheduling of your virtual staff.

Thus if you plan on setting up after office customer support services, simply hire remote workers from countries where time differentials exist. For example, if your business is based in North America, assemble a virtual team from the Philippines to manage customer support.

They will be attending to your customers while you are asleep. By hiring remote workers, you will be able to keep your business attended for more than 8 hours every day without incurring additional expenses for overtime pay.

5. Reduce the Risks of Expansion – Are you planning to expand your business but are wary of the risk potential? Why not assemble a virtual team?

For general management, you can set up a virtual team to handle the following business functions:

• Accounting
• IT Support
• Human Resources
• Marketing
• Sales
• Customer Support

You can designate a Project Manager to oversee the virtual team while you are attending to more pressing concerns of your business.

If it turns out that business expansion cannot be sustained, you can streamline your virtual team. It is easier to terminate engagements with virtual employees than full- time employees.

It is also less costly because you are not required to pay them separation benefits.

6. Reduce Stress – Perhaps the most important yet most overlooked value of the VA is to buy you one thing you could never afford: Time.

Many entrepreneurs end up sacrificing quality time for the sake of getting traction for their business. They miss milestone moments that once gone, they can never get back.

And putting in all the hours in your business will not guarantee you success. Just ask bestselling author, blogger and mega entrepreneur Tim Ferris who used to put in 14 hours every day in his business without success.

When Ferris decided to hand over some of the tasks to his VA’s, not only was he able to get more things done but he was finally able to go on a vacation.

Stress can seriously impact your health. It has been linked to a number of illnesses and conditions such as strokes, heart attacks, type II diabetes and certain forms of cancer.

Take some much needed time off to recharge and replenish your energies. Here are a few ideas:

• Spend more time with the family;
• Socialize with friends;
• Exercise frequently;
• Get more rest;
• See the world.

Getting a break will not cost you opportunities. In fact it will make you more productive because you will be in better physical and mental health to manage stress and make the best decisions.

Are there Disadvantages?

Given all of these advantages, are there disadvantages lurking in the shadows that you should know about?

1. Communication Barriers – Despite the availability of online tools, it will take a bit more effort to overcome the absence of shared space collaboration. Factors such as distance, technical and latency create filters that tend to obscure clear communication.

An effective way to circumvent these factors is to schedule frequent meetings. You can bookend meetings, set up monthly and quarterly evaluation reports.

Set aside at least one hour every day to meet with specific key personnel. Finally, don’t limit topics of discussion to business matters only.

Make an effort to get to know the people who are managing your daily tasks. Relationship- building is a great approach to bridge differences in communication.

2. Social and Cultural Barriers – When you outsource to the Philippines or India, you are acquiring some of the best talent in the world at the most affordable prices.

But it comes at the cost to overcoming social and cultural barriers.

It may be difficult for some to adjust to the traditions and behaviors of other cultures. In some cases, it may lead to frequent bouts of misunderstandings.

You have to keep in mind that culture is the by- product of a people’s experience that have been handed down from generations. Traditions and practices are ingrained into specific behaviors that influence how people from different regions interact.

Before contracting the services of a third party provider from a remote location, research on their culture and find out as much as you can. In more ambitious outsourcing engagements, the client even makes the effort to stay in the host country for a period of time to immerse in the culture.

3. Data Security – There is no way around sharing key information to third party service providers. In order for them to conduct work properly you will have to give them access to your data base.

There have been cases of data breach in the past. But these were mostly arrangements with suspicious service providers. There are outsourcing agencies that will drop their prices just to get your business. The trade off could be damaging.

This is why it is important to conduct due diligence on any prospective third party service provider. It’s not enough that you go through online profiles especially if you are dealing with a company.

Second, check the technological profile and institute security measures. Ask your IT Manager to restrict access only to specific individuals. Access to unrelated websites should likewise be implemented.

For example, in a telemarketing arrangement, leads are often stored inside the predictive dialer. Designate the Dialer Manager as the only person who can access and distribute the leads to the calling agents. Then make sure the PC’s they are using cannot accept USB or external devices.

These are disadvantages that have ready and proven solutions. It really comes down to your willingness to take the necessary steps to make the outsourcing arrangement work.

5 Things You Need to Do Before Seeking Virtual Assistance

Hopefully, by now you have been convinced on the merits of virtual assistance. As you have read from the preceding 2 sections, the advantages outweigh the disadvantages.

But before you shift your focus toward finding the best Virtual Assistant for your business, there are 5 things you need to do to assure the success of your virtual arrangement.

1. Define Your Purpose – It’s not enough to be convinced that you need virtual assistance. You should define the purpose or determine “why” you need one.

Some entrepreneurs understand the value of hiring virtual staff but have no idea of why their business would need them.

Without defining your purpose, you would not be able to maximize the advantages of the arrangement.

Ask yourself the following questions:

• “Do I need to reduce costs?”
• “Am I inundated with so many tasks that I cannot increase my productivity?
• “Are there tasks I need to get done that do not fall under my core competencies?”
• “How much time do I want to spend with my family?”
• “Do I see myself expanding my business over the next 6 months?”
• “Am I confident enough with my level of knowledge and experience in this industry?”

Entrepreneurs make the mistake of not identifying their purpose. Once you find out “Why” you want to contract the services of a VA, everything becomes easier and the chances of success grow exponentially higher.

2. Identify the Services You Want Outsourced – Once you’ve committed to contracting a VA, the next step is to audit your business and identify the services you want to outsource.

If you’re not sure of what to outsource or if you want to play it safe, start out with administrative tasks such as:

• E- mail Filtering
• Phone Handling
• Appointment Setting
• Calendar Management
• Preparation of Presentation Materials
• Filing and Organization of Documents
• Follow Up Calls
• Preparation of Limited Communication

Delegating all of these tasks will already free you up of enough time to focus on the core functions of your business. You should already see a marked improvement in your level of productivity every day.

3. Draft a System – For a virtual engagement to be successful, it needs a system to run in. A system is composed of different frameworks and processes. In virtual assistance, your system must cover:

• Project Management
• File Sharing
• Data Security
• Communication
• Collaboration
• Report Generation
• Time Keeping
• Accounting
• IT Management

The preliminary system can be one that you are already using for business. But you should be open to revising the system. After all, virtual assistants are well- versed in creating and using systems. They can help you fine- tune your current one to make it more effective.

4. Get the Paperwork Ready – If you hire from an online job platform like Upwork, your arrangement would be covered by a solid work contract which has built- in provisions to protect both parties.

Most remote workers have their own set of contracts to cover the engagement. But it would be advisable to have your own set of contracts for the Virtual Assistant to sign. These should include:

• Memorandum of Agreement – Outlines the obligations of both parties.

• Service Level Agreement – Outlines the specific details, guidelines and standards of the engagement.

• Confidentiality Agreement – Prevents service provider from disclosing, copying or transferring information and data.

There are some clients; notably from North America, who believe an e-mail should function as a binding contract. It does not. The contract must accurately detail all the provisions that govern the agreement between both parties.

Make sure all pages of the contracts are signed as proof the party representative read it. Ask the service provider to transmit a scanned copy of a valid government ID then have the contracts notarized. Scan and send copies to the service provider and ask him or her to confirm receipt.

It may seem tedious because it takes some time to draft and negotiate a rock solid contract. But in return you get fewer incidents of misunderstandings and peace of mind.

5. List Down the Ideal Qualities – Finally, find a nice quiet place where you can concentrate and focus your energies on a very important task.

On a piece of paper, write down the hard skills and soft skills that you would want in a Virtual Assistant.

What are hard skills?

There are the specific skill sets; competencies and proficiencies that a candidate has that qualify him or her for the job. For example, if you are looking for a VA to manage administrative tasks, ideal hard skills would be:

• Proficient in MS Office
• Ability to deftly navigate the Internet
• Highly proficient in written and spoken English
• Expert in Asana, DropBox, Slack, SalesForce and WebEx
• Knows QuickBooks
• Experienced in Social Media Marketing

Soft skills refer to the ideal attributes or personality traits that you would like to have in a VA. An example of good soft skills for VA’s would be:

• Highly organized
• Punctual
• Meticulous
• Respectful
• Ability to take instruction
• Dedicated
• Hard Working

Surveys show that recruiters tend to focus more on soft skills over hard skills for one reason: Anyone can be trained; but good people or those who have your best interests at heart are hard to find.

By going through these five activities before finding the best Virtual Assistant for your business, you will be able to approach the process with a clearer mind.

Best Sources for Finding Remote Staff

Before you launch your official search for the best Virtual Assistant, you need to know that there are 2 types of remote online workers to consider: the freelancer and those recommended by an agency.

A freelancer is self- employed and manages his or her virtual assistance business. The freelancer often sets up different online accounts, posts his or her online profile and works to build up a good – sized portfolio. The freelancer will handle as many clients as he or she possibly can.

An agency recommended VA has been pre- qualified and comes with referrals and recommendations. He or she has built up tenure with the agency that regularly supplies a constant stream of clients. If the working arrangement with the VA is not working out as you’d hope, he or she can easily be replaced by the agency.

Generally, the freelancer offers lower rates. However, you have more assurances with the agency.

Both are highly skilled although with the agency recommended VA, it would be easier to conduct due diligence.

So where can you find these virtual assistants?

1. Online Job Platforms – There are many reputable online job platforms that you can visit to find your VA. Among the more popular ones are:

• Upwork
• Freelancer
• Guru
• PeoplePerHour
• FlexJobs

Before posting a job, set up a client profile so that prospective candidates will know you are not a scammer.

2. Outsourcing Agencies – You can also utilize the services of outsourcing agencies. Many advertise their services online but you have to conduct due diligence before reaching out to them.

Similar to online job platforms, scammers also pose as agencies. A simple Google check may yield immediate results. A good rule to follow is this:

Do not engage the services of any agency that requires an upfront payment. Some will refer to this as a “reservation fee”.

Never agree to this type of arrangement. You may never see your money and the agency again.

3. Social Media – If you want to source reputable agencies or freelancers, you could course your needs through social media.

Networks such as LinkedIn have focus groups and communities dedicated for outsourcing work and virtual assistance. You can join and request assistance or recommendations.

Other social media networks like Facebook and Google Plus also have similar communities that can help you find the right agency or freelancer.

4. Referrals – Of course, you could always ask referrals from friends, associates and family members who previously engaged the services of a Virtual Assistant.

Referrals are safer sources for recommendations. For sure, your friends would not refer anyone who cannot do a good job.

Regardless of the avenue you take, your job post may hire both freelancers and agencies. While it may seem that agency VA’s are a safer option, give freelancers a chance.

There are many talented freelancers in the market and most if not all of the VA’s hired by agencies were freelancers before. Consider freelancers when looking for the best candidate.

How to Hire a Virtual Assistant

You’re now just a few steps from finding your Virtual Assistant! If you’ve hired full- time employees before, the process is essentially the same. However you will have to be more thorough with remote workers because the difference between “contracted” and “hired” extend beyond semantics.

A Full- Time Employee or FTE is also covered by a contract but because he or she is paid a fixed monthly salary plus compensation, the circumstances surrounding the nature of employment is more complex. For example, it is not easy to terminate the services of an FTE because there is due process to follow.

In the case of the VA, as a contracted remote worker, the circumstances are not as tedious. If the arrangement does not work out, it’s easy to terminate the contract.

At most, the aggrieved party is given a set number of days to remedy the breach. If there is no resolution, the contract is dissolved once final submission of deliverables and payment of services has been exchanged.

This situation favors an arrangement with the VA but at the same time, the less restrictive nature of the contract could have repercussions on the quality of work.

A Virtual Assistant can manage as many clients as he or she can fit into the daily work schedule. As a business, they will also prescribe to the principle of PROTI or Potential Return on Time Invested. In short, if your project does not pay as much, the amount of effort or dedication may not be consistent.

That is why it is absolutely important to qualify your VA. You want to work with someone you can trust your business with. You would not want to contract the services of someone who will leave you hanging once a better offer comes along.

Since you’ve already drawn up your ideal set of hard and soft skills, it should be fairly easy to draw up a qualification process.

Here’s an effective process for you to consider:

1. Create a Unique Job Post – You should institute qualifying measures at every stage of the hiring process if possible. The job post is a great way to start it off.

Create a unique job post which has the purpose of checking which of the candidates took the time to read through the entire content and follow instructions.

Write a long but highly detailed job post of what the work entails; its requirements and the prerequisite skill sets. Then near the middle of the post or toward its end, include an instruction such as:

“Write ‘I am the one you want’ at the upper left hand corner of your application.”

Those who fail to follow the instruction should immediately be disqualified. VA’s are supposed to be detail- oriented.

2. Draw up a Short- List of Candidates – A common mistake of entrepreneurs is to sign up the first candidate that submits his or her application.

You should never sign up the first applicant; not because he or she is the worst of the lot, but you should have the benefit of a comparison. By signing up the first one that comes along, you are denying yourself of the opportunity of getting someone who may be better.

Separate the ones who did not follow the instructions from the ones who did. Review their applications and attachments thoroughly. Set aside the ones who have impressed you at this point.

Conduct due diligence work:

• Do a Google check;
• Check their social media accounts;
• Reach out to their provided references.

Through a process of elimination, come up with a short list of 3 to 5 candidates.

3. Invite the Candidates to an Interview – Interviewing virtual employees follows the same approach as interviewing FTE’s. You try to extract as much information as you can in order to get an idea of the kind of person and worker the candidate is.

Come up with a list of interview questions for the candidates. Standard questions should include:

• Why did you decide to become a Virtual Assistant?
• What are your strengths and weaknesses?
• What was the most difficult challenge you had to overcome and how did you resolve it?
• Can you cite your 5 non- negotiable core values?
• What are the most important attributes of a VA?
• Why should I hire you?
• What was your biggest accomplishment as a VA?
• How would you manage the schedule of your client?
• How many clients are you handling right now?
• Can you still accommodate more clients in your schedule?
• How would you assure the client that you would give 100% focus and attention on his or her project?
• What are your long term goals in the virtual assistance industry?

Your interviews must always be in audio- video format. You want to see how serious the candidate is with the interview. A candidate that shows up wearing a t-shirt and looking disheveled should be marked down in points.

This is after all still a job interview and the candidate should dress appropriately. Record the interview as reference.

4. Subject the Candidates to a Test Period – Resumes and interviews are great ways to measure capability but nothing beats actual performance.

Invite each candidate to a paid test period. Set aside 4 hours per day per candidate. Assign each one the same set of tasks so you have more control over the selection parameters.

Come up with metrics for performance. A standard formula would be:

• Accuracy – 55%
• Statistics – 35%
• Work Ethics – 10%

You could vary the weight of the variable depending on the nature or demands of your business.

5. Get to Know Your Virtual Assistant – Once you have made the selection, take the initiative to find out more about your new VA.

Invite the VA to a online audio- visual meeting and orient him or her on the nature of the job, work guidelines, rules and regulations, processes and expectations.

Once the formalities are over, have an informal chat.

Find out who your VA is:

• Likes, dislikes
• Interests
• Hobbies
• Work philosophy
• Family life

If your VA is from a remote location, talk about their cultural practices and traditions.

Work together and identify potential sources of conflicts and misunderstandings. Come up with possible ways to resolve them.

Building a strong relationship with your VA will strengthen the working engagement.

Finding the best Virtual Assistant for your business isn’t just about choosing the candidate with the brightest resume and highest number of accomplishments. Oftentimes it’s a matter of finding someone you can work with on a daily basis.

It may seem like a ton of work to qualify someone who essentially works from the comforts of home. But when it comes to entrusting your business, you should never leave it in the hands of a person you are unsure with.