There are various reasons why an individual or a business owner would need to hire a Virtual Assistant (VA). Some of the most common objectives are for administrative support, creative or technical assistance, document and data management, data entry and research. But no matter what purpose you have in hiring a VA, you need to ensure that they have the qualities that their tasks would require. Otherwise, instead of getting things done, you might end up re-doing the functions that you assigned to them.
What Does It Take To Be An Effective Virtual Assistant?
Here are some of the most important qualities that you need to look for when hiring a VA:
1. Industry Experience
Pick someone who has adequate knowledge and experience related to the industry or the type of job that will be assigned to them. Study their resume, carefully considering the standards you have set for VA applicants. Only contact them when they are qualified to ensure that no time will be wasted for interview and assessment.
2. Time Management Skills
Time is a precious thing for Virtual Assistants as they are juggling different tasks most of the time. Therefore, time management is a must for VA’s. Hire someone who knows how to prioritise and multi-task – someone who loves to do different things but won’t complain on having insufficient time to accomplish them.
3. Can Maintain Good Communication
Since a Virtual Assistant will not be working under your actual supervision, constant communication is needed for updates. It’s very important that their lines are always open and they respond quickly in case you need to clarify or keep up with a few things related to the assigned work.
4. Compatible With Your Personality
You will always be working closely with your Virtual Assistants. Some days they will have to adjust to your mood or complicated requests. So if you find someone who easily does this without complaining or losing temper, keep that VA.
5. Willing to Understand and Contribute to Your Business
Performing a job just for the salary is very different from doing it out of concern and willingness. To be able to perform well, it is vital for a Virtual Assistant to know your business and be involved in it. This way, they will be able to adapt to your strategies and have relevant contributions.
6. Can Deliver Results
The main reason why you would hire a Virtual Assistant is to get things done. That’s why, results are very important. However, you won’t be able to identify this during the hiring process. So it’s also a good idea to perform some trial runs first to know the VA’s ability to produce good results for your business.
7. Has the Initiative
As they will be working remotely most of the time, Virtual Assistants need to have the ability to decide on their own about their tasks as soon as the proper training has been done. They don’t always need to be told what to do since you won’t always have the time to guide them. You hire VA’s to focus on the core functions of your business. With the right training and available resources, they should be able to perform without being directed all the time.
While some of these qualities can be easily seen during first assessment, most of these can’t be evaluated unless you have spent enough time and actually worked closely with Virtual Assistants, making it a risk for business owners.
