The Complete Beginner’s Guide to Hiring Your First (or Next) Virtual Assistant
Welcome to the complete beginner’s guide to hiring a virtual assistant.
Today, we're going to tackle the exact steps you need to take to vet and hire your first (or next) virtual assistant.
You and I know hiring a virtual assistant can seem vast and complicated. However, I will do my best to make the process accessible and doable.
In this step-by-step guide, I’m going to show you how to find your perfect virtual assistant in a way that is completely doable, without causing you undo stress so you can follow through all the way.
Once you’re done with this guide, you will be able to outline what you’re looking for and have a procedure down so you can start hiring perfect virtual assistants for your business.
If you have any questions as you’re going through it, you can email me at sammy@bohannonvirtualsolutions.com and I’ll do my best to answer them.
Click here to download your free 24 Tasks to Delegate to a Virtual Assistant now >>
Overview and Definition Time: Dedicated Virtual Assistant
What is a virtual assistant exactly?
You may be coming from my blog post on How to Delegate Your Tasks to a Virtual Assistant over here but found yourself pretty lost among the jargon.
You've come to the right place because I’m about to break things down so they’re clear and understandable.
In the most basic terms, a virtual assistant is someone you hire to help you get things done in your business. Got it so far?
Let's kick that up a slight notch; it is a person you contract to work with you to get things done on a one-time or on-going basis.
We can take it up to an even higher level; a virtual assistant is an independent contractor who helps you complete tasks in your business such as admin tasks, bookkeeping, content creation, and much more.
An example of this would be someone you hired to help you organize your calendar each week and send you reminders of meetings that you have each day.
Still with me? Let's move on to the steps that will get you on your way.
3 Beginner Steps to Hiring a Virtual Assistant Success
The definition of virtual assistant showed you where you're going, but now it's time to get out the map and point you in the right direction.
Step #1. Make a List of the Tasks You Need Completed
An essential first step in hiring a virtual assistant is to make a list of the tasks you need your virtual assistant to do.
This is because you need to know what a virtual assistant is going to do for you before you can decide on the perfect virtual assistant for you.
Without a list of tasks, you are in danger of hiring a virtual assistant who can’t do everything you are looking for and need.
Some key things that will help you with creating a list of tasks to delegate to your virtual assistant:
Make a list of the tasks you do on a recurring basis (think about what you have to do daily, weekly, monthly, and even yearly)
Take note of the things that are of no interest to you or you feel like someone else could do.
Also take note of the things you feel like NEED to be done by you in your business. It is just as important to know what you do not need from a virtual assistant as what you do need from a virtual assistant.
If you have more questions on how to prepare your business for hiring a virtual assistant, check out this blog post I wrote.
Step #2. Research Possible Virtual Assistants
Everything feels easier after your first step because it’s the most labor intensive. It certainly takes the longest in my opinion, anyway.
Next up, you have to start researching possible virtual assistants you might be interested in working with..
That will give you a better idea of who is out there and who you are interested in working with. I suggest looking online on Instagram and Facebook, maybe even Tik Tok. I’m a big supporter of hiring an independent contractor.
For example:
Search Instagram for virtual assistants who work on tech, or calendar management, or whatever you are looking for.
If you need an extra helping hand with this step, have a look over here for my in-depth guide on hiring the perfect virtual assistant for you.
Step #3. Interview 2-3 Potential Virtual Assistants
At this point in hiring a virtual assistant, you have an idea about how to decide what you need a virtual assistant to do and you’ve found a few virtual assistants you might like to interview. What's left for you to do?
I know you're probably overwhelmed and ready to be done by this point.
I completely understand but there are still a few more steps, and you want to go all the way so hang in there with me.
The next step is to actually interview 2-3 potential virtual assistants.
Here's how to interview a few potential virtual assistants:
Create a list of questions you have for a virtual assistant. Come to any meeting you have with questions and be prepared to ask them your questions.
Set up meetings with 2-3 virtual assistants that you are interested in. Even if you are pretty sure you know who you are going to go with, you want to meet with a few anyway to make sure you click well with whomever you might want to work with.
In the interview, review the tasks you need done to make sure the virtual assistant is comfortable with those tasks and can complete them in the manner you wanted them completed.
Again, even if you are pretty sure you know who you want to work with, I suggest meeting with at least 2 potential virtual assistants to make sure you get the right vibe during the interview. This really gives you insight into how that person works and if you can get along with them or like their communication style.
After you’ve interviewed a couple of people, sit down and really think about what they said, how they made you feel, and their skills. Then make a decision on who you think is best suited to help you and your business.
Key Takeaways
I hope this complete beginner's guide to hiring a virtual assistant will allow you to skip trawling the internet for hours to get all the critical information you need.
You now have all the info in one place and can get back to it quickly.
As you saw here, hiring the right virtual assistant can make or break your business efforts, but that doesn't mean you need to forget about it and do everything yourself.
We can do hard things!
From here on in, you can use this process to hire a virtual assistant anytime you need one or any other professional you need to outsource to.
I created Bohannon Virtual Solutions as a resource for busy business owners. And I’ve been able to help more than 20 businesses using some of the tips you can find in this beginner's guide.
Do you want to learn more about what tasks to delegate to a virtual assistant?
I created this free list to help you decide what to delegate to a virtual assistant. .
Download your free 24 Tasks to Delegate to a Virtual Assistant now >>
If you have any questions about this guide, find me on Instagram. Check out my content to see if we’d be a good fit to work together.
