Virtual assistants are a valuable asset for businesses of any size but especially for small-scale enterprises where resources are scarce, and there is limited access to funds.
Small business owners need to organise their time effectively and focus more on activities that translate faster to business development and growth.
A virtual assistant plays an essential role in affording valuable time for entrepreneurs by managing non-essential tasks and other non-core functions.
The virtual assistant industry grew exponentially beginning in 2006, mainly due to the global economic recession where companies were forced to realign their business development strategies and implement cost-cutting measures.
Outsourcing services to third-party providers, including virtual assistants, became a popular strategy because it streamlined costs without compromising revenue generation.
There are several sources where businesses can find honest and hard-working virtual assistants who don’t need their hand-holding. You can get recommendations from friends or associates or check the Internet. Several reliable online job market platforms and websites provide candidates for virtual assistance work.
Regardless of where you source and search for your candidates, it is always important to stay positive and qualify all of the applicants before recruiting them.
8 Qualities For A Successful Virtual Assistant Relationship
1. Attitude
Assess their willingness to put in the time and effort to become your virtual assistant in order to do a good job. You need to understand the people who work in the virtual world are essentially freelancers.
This means you will not be their only client, and they may be working for another VA company. Find out how he or she will organise time to accommodate the demands of your project without compromising the quality of work and schedules.
2. Communication
Effective communication is not just about the level of English proficiency in writing and speaking. The ability to communicate is largely overlooked in an effective business arrangement. It would help if you considered how the candidate relays or conveys his or her message in a way that a client will understand.
Cultural differences are factors you have to keep in mind when hiring candidates from remote locations because the context of the message will vary.
You also need to make sure your candidate is accessible through wide-ranging channels of communication. This is important as they will work remotely.
Being a good communicator is paramount as poor communication will only prove harmful to any virtual assistant business. This could prove harmful when seeking new clients.
3. Passion
Through simple conversation, find out what your candidates are passionate about in their entire life and what their self-confidence is like.
Finding out more about them as a person will give you a good idea in determining whether there is an alignment in values, purpose, and vision, three of the most critical factors in establishing an effective working relationship.
If you take the time and effort to connect with your virtual assistants as people, it will only benefit your own business in the long term. For example, you may come up with different ideas to accelerate the progress of your virtual assistants.
4. Competencies
For any project, you have to determine the candidates’ level of competencies in fundamental and technical matters. Fundamentals comprise the basics: the ability to use the Internet, e-mailing, proficiency in certain software. So they will need to be able to perform multiple tasks.
Technical refers directly to the scope of work. If you’re looking for someone who will manage your social media, you’ll need to test the best candidate with the requisite knowledge for social media management.
The candidate does not have to be the best, but there must be an appreciable level of competence to be able to carry out tasks assigned in a timely manner and be fairly tech-savvy.
5. Attention to Details
A great virtual assistant is crucial for identifying details. When you are qualifying candidates, make sure they are subject to tests with specific instructions that they are supposed to follow. Having a keen eye for detail is paramount in establishing structure and organisation as well as in lessening the incidence of costly mistakes in the business when working with multiple clients.
A good virtual assistant with all these qualities will only add value to your company if they can perform any particular task to the requirements set out by the business owner.
6. Willingness to Learn
One of the biggest problems in recruiting an experienced virtual assistant is that most are set in their ways. This is often because they have worked in the VA industry for years. The ideal virtual assistant is one who is willing to learn and adapt to a new system of working. Those who are not will only exhibit resistance and will create problems for you down the road.
In time, all virtual assistants should be able to take more complex tasks from a task list and follow clients’ requests.
7. Good Listener
One of the most important yet overlooked aspects of effective communication is the capability to listen. If your virtual assistant can respond favourably and receive instruction without problem, there will be few chances of committing mistakes.
Good communication skills give everyone a clear picture of the skills required to carry out quality work on multiple projects. This is vitally important because a good grasp of the tasks will lead to better job satisfaction.
8. Personality
In addition to the technical and fundamental competencies, you have to seriously consider your candidate’s behaviour to be able to see the real person. Only you will know what person best suits your company as a business owner.
In the course of the qualifying process, did you notice potential red flags that may lead to a difficult relationship? It is very important to keep in mind that you must always look forward to working with the candidate you hire, so set boundaries.
Hire The Right Virtual Assistant Today
These are just a few of the skills I feel you must consider before hiring a virtual assistant. You may have a few more in mind, and feel free to implement them if you believe these are necessary to forge a great working relationship.
The important thing is to qualify your candidates in other ways and not just the CV and online profile in order to find a good VA. Hiring the right person who displays all the top qualities you need for you to retain a successful working relationship with your clients is important.
There are many VAs with skills out there looking for work, so make sure you seek out the most important qualities you require in the new VA you hire. Do you want to attract clients in new markets? Reach out to an old valued client? Or just organise your time better? If the answer is yes, then a quality VA will allow you the time to be able to do this.
If you want to hire the best virtual assistant, but you don’t have experience, then the simple answer to the problem is to contact our team today.