What To Do On Your First Day With Your Virtual Office Assistant

The very first thing that your virtual office assistant should know on her first day is all about your business. These include a bit of the history about your company, the Mission and/or Vision, your short and long term goals, your team, etc. You also need to orient your VA (virtual assistants) about the tasks, their relevance and importance to the business.

Virtual Assistant explained

Virtual office assistants can work all day without questions but providing meaning to their role makes a big difference. It establishes sincerity to the job and adds respect and cool points to you as the employer.

Each task, each company, and each employer is different from another. Thus, setting goals for your virtual office assistant on her first day is very important. It will launch her importance in your business as opposed to being somebody who is just asked to do a couple of tasks because the employer has no time to do them himself.

The best virtual office assistants are those who share the same visions and goals with their employers. These things should be established on the very first day. VAs should know the relevance of a certain task before they start to work on it. It will allow them to become independent, trustworthy, and efficient. It will give her the feeling of belongingness to your company, make them act on your behalf and protect what is yours.

Some essentials your virtual office assistant should know right on the first day:

• A short history of your business.

• Your products and services.

• The target market or the kind of customers you deal with.

• Your mission and/or vision.

• Your short and long term goals.

• The members of your team (if ever there are).

• Your specific and reasonable expectations of her.

• Any experience you had from previous VA’s and what you don’t what to happen again. Basically the do’s and don’ts.

• Your work style and preferred means of communication (when and how). Make sure to provide alternative if one method is unavailable.

• The tasks or projects and the expected turn-around time.

• The systems and tools necessary to accomplish the tasks or projects.

As soon as they are discussed, you can then proceed to the procedures or steps your VA should follow when working on specific tasks. Each task should be thoroughly explained and demonstrated. Letting her re-demonstrate the task you have just explained gives you guarantee that she understood the job and lets you gauge her proficiency right on the first day.

However, don’t do all the talking. There should be a two-way conversation and you should be able to know you assistant as well.

Here are some of the questions that you could ask your virtual office assistant:

• What are her expectations about the job and to you as the employer?

• What drives her to do a good job and what makes a good Virtual Office Assistant?

• Does she have clarifications about her role and the things you have just discussed?

• What is the best way to contact her? What is her learning style? Does she work best with written instructions? Is she more of a visual learner?

• What are her previous work experiences?

It is necessary that you make sure she was able to understand the basics about your business; the same way that you must also get to know the person and establish a firm connection. The first day should be about proper orientation and making the right impressions. It will then serve as a solid foundation to your working relationship. If you want a trustworthy and reliable Virtual Office Assistant, make sure to set yourself as a perfect example.