How to Find Quality Virtual Assistants
By Corbin Links
In my coaching and consulting work, I field a lot of questions about finding quality virtual assistants or “VA’s.” (Key words: “finding” and “quality”.)
This post summarizes some of my experiences finding assistants for ourselves and our clients. My goal is to share virtual assistant pros and cons; things to watch out for, when to hire and when not to hire. Conversely, I’m hoping that freelancers and virtual assistants wanting to get and keep clients will have a read and share their thoughts as well.
This article series was originally written way back in 2011 and updated several times—most recently in August 2017. Something to be aware of is that many articles written long after mine have focused on big lists of tools and hiring links. Having worked with dozens of virtual assistants and thousands of remote workers and service of all types in the past 30+ years, I believe a tools-based approach is wrong.
Working with virtual assistants is like any other hiring endeavor: it’s about people first, and process second. Tools, links and sites, come and go every day. That’s one of the many reasons my link suggestion list is small, BUT it works. In fact, since I originally wrote this back in 2011, many independent (and even large sites such as Elance) have since disappeared, or become part of larger companies. Same with websites, time tracking, and project management tools (of which there are thousands today.)
That said, if you’re looking for the big monster list of tools (many of which are simply affiliate links on other articles about assistants)—and are less interested in the right process of hiring that works—this may not be the article for you. Note that I have no affiliation with any resources mentioned beyond being a client of many of them. Always do your own research and make decisions that make the most sense for your business.
Enough disclaiming, let’s roll!
Our company first started hiring and working with virtual assistants in 2004. Between then and now, I have worked with over 30 different virtual assistants from all parts of the globe. Some of our VA projects include:
Overall, my experiences with finding quality virtual assistants have been mixed. Many I no longer work with, or worked with only briefly for a particular project. Others we regularly use for project work and recommend to our consulting clients.
Quality virtual assistants are different from professional web designers, programmers and videographers. While some talented virtual assistants can do these things for you (with varied results…) it is unrealistic to expect it. If you have specialty web, programming, video, or social media needs, be sure to include a lot of Q & A in your interview process. Your requirements may warrant a freelancer specialist from a place like oDesk.com or Freelancer.com. Avoid trying to fit a generalist virtual assistants into highly skilled roles.
I some healthy analysis and caution before making the plunge into virtual assistant (VA) hiring. Take a step back and ask yourself a few hard questions before writing up your first project description.
Will the task(s) take longer than three or four hours? If so, a VA might be worthwhile. If not, re-evaluate.
How many different things do you need the assistant to do? Are any of the tasks frequent and repeatable? (Repeatable tasks are well-suited to generalist virtual assistants.)
What is your budget? Can you afford someone who will do the job right?
What is the business impact if the task is not done on-time/correctly/at all?
If the assistant cannot complete the task — for whatever reason — how quickly can you change course?
Time zone matters more than you think. I recommend working with assistants that have at least two (four is better) overlapping hours with your business day. There are just too many situations that require some type of interaction via email or chat. (Depending on the project.) Over time, VA’s and their clients can become disconnected and isolated if their time zones are too far off.
There are two major models for finding/hiring VA’s: service companies and _individual/solo providers.
Service companies manage teams of virtual assistants using project managers and software tools. In the service company model, you contract your work to the company and the company owns the responsibility of getting your work done. Depending on the company, you may or may not ever meet the actual VA doing the work. Most if not all of your interactions will be with the project manager.
Individual/solo providers work for themselves, or their own small company. In this model, you work directly with the person providing the service. He or she is directly in charge of getting your work done.
I’ve worked extensively with service companies and individual assistants. Many consultants and independent business owners like the “safety” of working with a company rather than an individual. In my experience, working with individual providers has yielded more consistent results with less “re-do” work. I would rather work with one individual and his/her personality style, than with a large service company.
Companies can put several layers of administration between you and your assistant. It’s important to understand that many (though not all) virtual assistant companies put project managers in charge of your work so they can translate your native language and project requirements to the actual VA’s who do your work. If your assigned provider(s) has to leave the company or work on another project, then the knowledge transfer adds yet one more layer of translation. (Task translation, language translation, or both.)
NOTE: VA and freelance brokerage services such as Elance and oDesk are somewhere in the middle. They broker for both individual providers and service companies.
Hire strong language skills. Communication is key, much more so than raw technical or administrative skills. Working with virtual assistants requires mutual understanding and common goals. Many popular VA hiring services rate VA’s based on language proficiency. Most of the time, the VA will rate himself/herself higher than their actual skill level. Be sure talk to your potential VA for a while first — on the phone. In fact…
Over the years, I’ve developed a rule for working with VA’s. If I can’t talk with them on the phone while conducting a normal “flowing” conversation for at least half an hour, I don’t hire them. When talking with prospective assistants, practice giving them little bits of information or task descriptions. Can they repeat the task back to you? Do they understand it the way you do?
Start with very small task assignments. I recommend a single task with no more than 5 – 10 steps. You want a task big enough to challenge, but small enough to manage and finish in a reasonable time.
If your budget allows, hire two VA’s, assign the same task and see which does better.
If you deciding to hire a VA for time or cost savings, be sure to include the cost of your own time to write out job descriptions, post jobs, interview, manage, pay, and fire the VA. ALL of those things have to be calculated into your cost equation. Doing this can actually save you a lot more time and money than hiring the wrong VA and re-doing all your work.
Make your instructions crystal clear. You want to avoid endless communications about task details. Assistants are not mind readers, but the good ones will get close to anticipating tasks and how to do them.
Document and save your instructions. If this VA doesn’t work out, you don’t want to reinvent the wheel for the next one.
Don’t base hiring decisions solely on VA portfolios or test scores. See additional details above. I’ll cover the specifics of hiring and managing in Part 2 of this blog series.
Read the previous section about “Buyer Suggestions.” Know what your buyers are looking for and provide it.
Read your client’s requirements carefully. If the job or project description asks for something specific, then provide it. If a client asks you to do something you haven’t done yet, it’s ok to say so. But then quickly follow up with a plan to learn the task and get it done. I can’t stress this enough: employers care about results, timelines and budget. They are not interested in excuses. Always find a way to get the task done.
Be up front about your schedule, and hours you can and cannot work. Contrary to many Internet myths about “work anywhere, anytime from the comfort of your home.. — it doesn’t matter,” many clients actually do care about working hours and availability, especially when collaboration is required.
Learn to fully use the client’s project management system. It’s great if you have your own internal system, but many clients will insist on using their own.
If you need training to do something, say so. Most clients (myself and my clients included) are more than willing to invest a bit in training you if you consistently provide quality, reliable service. Always be looking for ways to train yourself and improve your skills. I recommend podcasts and iTunes University courses for starters.
Communicate effectively and frequently. If something cannot be done on time, let the client know. Along with that, be available to your client at least once a week for a phone or chat meeting.
Learn your clients and what they want. Anticipate their needs. Take the time to understand their business. Ok, you can’t be a mindreader and I appreciate that. But a good service provider (or sales person) finds out what the client needs and addresses those needs. After doing a few tasks or projects for your client, you should start understanding how they want things done. There are few things more frustrating to a client than having to repeat the same details over and over again for each new task.
A Google search is NOT research. It is only a starting point. Research requires…well..research. This includes periodicals, databases, raw Internet searches and the like.
Maintain reliability and a “can do, will do” mindset at all costs.
Manage your client load carefully. Taking on too many clients, though tempting (and I’ve been guilty of this in my own business), is a recipe for failure. Only take on as many clients as you can comfortably manage. If you provide top-notch services to your existing clients, you will develop a waiting list. Waiting lists are good things in this business. Optimally, you’ll always have a full pipeline of anxiously waiting clients.
There are always exceptions, but we often source skill sets by region:
The Internet is rich with virtual assistant hiring options. The following is a list of hiring options we have tried over the years:
Based on our experience and the experience of our clients, we primarily use the following services:
I strongly recommend that you avoid the following venues:
The size of this topic requires its own post. For now, here is a short list of primary VA management tools that we use:
..and many others I share on The Corbin Links Show…
This post is just the “tip of the iceberg” when it comes to finding virtual assistants. There are countless venues for finding virtual assistants, so it’s a good idea to get as much information as you can before making the plunge. The next post in this series will discuss the process we use to hire, manage and end VA projects. Stay tuned!
Now that you’ve found some potential virtual assistants (or begun the search process), it’s time to hire, manage, and potentially even fire them. Here are the next three parts of my comprehensive virtual assistant hiring series: