4 Essential Things You Should Bear in Mind When Hiring Virtual Assistants

If you have chosen to use a virtual assistant for your business tasks rather than regular employees, you should bear in mind it’s a different ball game. It’s not just about working from a different location, the relationship between you and your VA is also a big factor — it’s not the same as when you work with a regular employee.

So, keep reading to learn some of the factors to put in mind when you decide to go for a VA (Virtual Assistant) in place of a regular employee.

1: A VA is not Easily Accessible

Yes, we know that the internet has simplified the way we work nowadays, but that doesn’t mean you can take a walk to your virtual assistant’s desk as you would do in the case of a regular employee. So, when you need to check on the progress of an assigned task, you have the option of corresponding via email or schedule a Skype/phone call.

Also, another essential step you should take when working with a virtual assistant is to put milestones in place. A typical example is setting a specific deadline for each segment of the project or the entire project (depending on the nature of the outsourced task.

2: A Virtual Assistant May be Working for a Couple of Other Clients

As you know, the hire is not a full-time one, so you don’t expect your VA to just be only on your job. Often, virtual assistants take on multiple projects from different clients to help raise their income.

As a result of working for many clients, issues such as misaligned priorities and conflicting agendas may arise, which can lead to errors and delays in delivering an assigned project. This is the reason you should set milestones and adopt a proper contractual relationship — this would, in turn, make the VA liable to damages.

3: Cultural Barrier Could Kick in When Working with a VA

A virtual assistant can come from any part of the globe — which means that culture could differ. Some of the cultural differences may include speaking a different language from yours. In addition, they may have different special holidays they could be mandated not to do any work on such days. So, you should know how to manage your expectations as a result, so that you can successfully work with your VA.

4: A VA May Not be Familiar with Your Field

While a virtual assistant may be a pro web developer for instance; but, is he or she familiar with building a website in your niche? The VA may have built tons of websites in other niches, but hasn’t developed any in your niche.

This could be a challenge in terms of ensuring you get a website that suits your niche by all standards. However, this is nothing for a VA who knows how to navigate through such hurdle successfully.

Daven Michaels is a New York Times Best Selling Author and CEO of premiere global outsourcing company, 123Employee. The company employs hundreds of young bright individuals on three continents. His International event, Beyond Marketing Live! inspires entrepreneurs to build & grow their business with revolutionary new theories and systems allowing them to design the business and personal lifestyle of their dreams.