I just hired my first virtual assistant (VA). I got the idea from Tim Ferris’ 4-Hour Work Week and thought that it might be great to use one for when the business is more mature. However, I’m getting pretty swamped between work, home, and Upside Guides, so I decided to bite the bullet and hire one now.
Here’s how I did it:
1. Consider what you’ll need this person for. I suppose it goes without saying (but I’ll say it anyway), you’ll need to think about what you’ll need your VA for. Is it for inputting content onto your site? Answering email? Completing online research? Whatever it is, have a clear picture in your head so you’ll know what to look for.
2. Think about what kind of constraints you have. After thinking about the kinds of activities, are you limited by time zones? If you need immediate answers, having someone not in your time zone might be a challenge. Is impeccable English important?
3. Draft your posting. Be specific as you can about the tasks required, as well as the skills your looking for. I didn’t include it in my post, but it’s also useful to include your expected response time. Here is what mine looked like:
I am in the process of launching my company’s first product and I am seeking a virtual assistant to help me with my administrative duties. Initial duties include:
- Researching emerging and established entrepreneurs and inviting them to participate in my blog’s feature. This will be an ongoing task.
- Assisting in the administration of my web sites, including moderating comments and participating in forum posts.
- Compiling a list of links to be posted on my blog on a weekly basis.
- General research activities, as needed. I frequently require information compiled into spreadsheets.
- Inputting content into my CMS, including formatting and QAing data.
- Writing press releases and correspondence, as required.
- Any other administrative tasks as they arise.
Required skills/requirements
- Impeccable English with perfect grammar, spelling and punctuation.
- Excellent reading, writing and verbal skills
- Proficiency in MS Office suite, including excel and word
- Ability to respond to most email requests within 12 hours, 24-hours maximum.
- Previous experience as a VA.
Desired qualities: My sites are geared towards women, particularly mothers and entrepreneurs. If you have particular experience in this area, please note it in your bid.
I will be hiring the chosen applicant for a 1-month trial. If successful, this will be a longer term engagement spanning at least 3 more months, but likely beyond. It is difficult to estimate how much weekly time is required and I will not be able to guarantee a steady stream of work. However, it can range from 4 to 35 hours / week.
4. Put your post on a site that allows you to connect with freelancers. My experience and preference is eLance.com, but truthfully I haven’t tried others. Here’s a more to add to your list (feel free to suggest others):
5. Evaluate bidders. Obviously, it’s important to evaluate bidders based your criteria and constraints. I always have a few deal breakers in the back of my mind. In hiring my VA, price was an easy one to eliminate providers by since I’m on a pretty tight budget. I then looked at the quality of the responses: Did the writing meet my standards? Was there thoughtfulness in their response? Narrow your candidates to just a handful.
6. Interview. I didn’t complete an IM or Skype interview in this case (I probably should have), but here are the follow up questions I sent in lieu of an interview:
Thanks for you bid. Please advise on the following:
Are you an independent, or do you have a team of people? If you are an independent, how do deal with your client re vacations, sick time, etc?
- What hours would you be available?
- What experience do you have with Twitter?
- Please send examples of research spreadsheets you have created.
- Please send examples of powerpoint presentations you have created.
- What is your experience with WordPress?
- What response time should I expect?
- Please send examples of your writing (300 words minimum).
- What experience do you have with marketing plans?
Looking forward to your response.
Thank you,
Christine
Upside Guides
After a few back-and-forths with the provider, I then sent one final message that confirmed our understandings and terms. Most importantly, I asked this question: “Is this the best rate you can propose?” I always ask this question.
7. Select. Seems so simple, but sometimes making the choice is the most difficult part.
8. Hire. Cross your fingers and hit that “Award” button. I followed up immediately with an assignment.
So far, I’ve had very positive experiences hiring outsourced, including off-shore, providers. I’ll keep you posted on how my experience is going, but I’d love to hear about your experiences. Please comment!
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