Where To Find And How To Hire A Virtual Assistant:
A Helpful Guide For Every Business Owner

tons of job applications submitted for sorting and evaluation

With your business growing bigger, you’ll reach a point where everything becomes overwhelming. You find yourself sitting all day in one place with an aching back and a bad headache, still doing tasks that waste your time and energy. This scenario might lead to bad results affecting your productivity and business statistics. Running your expanding business single-handedly isn’t the most excellent decision you could make.

By hiring a Virtual Assistant (VA), these problems could easily go away! And why, you ask? Because it’s cost-effective and lets you focus on your core tasks without having to worry about the daily routine needed to run your business. Wouldn’t that be amazing? Working with someone or a team to which you can delegate tasks will dramatically increase productivity and create more space for important matters you have to deal with.

Why should I hire a Virtual Assistant?

If you’re still on the fence about getting a VA, you can read up on the Top 8 Reasons Why It's Essential To Hire A Virtual Assistant For Your Business. To give you a summary, here are the benefits of having a Virtual Assistant work with you:

Save time and money

Workflow efficiency

Partnership

24/7 Accessibility

Boost online presence

Handle areas you’re not good with

Stay ahead of the race

Work and life balance

Sounds like an excellent deal, don’t you agree? Especially if you’re in the eCommerce industry (Amazon, for example), you’re bound to face a lot of difficulties in your growing business. It’s imperative that you decide wisely to prevent yourself from burning out.

Now, if you’ve already made up your mind about getting help from a Virtual Assistant, let’s get the ball rolling!

Where can I find Virtual Assistants?

The continuous rise of virtual assistants throughout the globe made it even easier for business owners to find them. With the help of Google searches and various websites, you get unlimited access to the best talents, not just locally but worldwide. You can select from a global talent pool with specialists that can help you with your business goals.

Among countries surveyed, the Philippines is known to be the country with the lowest labor costs when it comes to hiring a Virtual Assistant. A Filipino generalist Virtual Assistant’s monthly salary ranges from $400 to $600 a month depending on their work hours and projects. Those with more specialized skills, like Amazon Seller Virtual Assistants, can go from $800 to $2,000+ a month depending on experience and level of expertise. And of course, they produce excellent results and deliver high-quality service, which global clients really love to see.

Here’s a hiring process you can follow to find and hire Virtual Assistants that could bring your business to the next level:

Create a Job Posting

Different kinds of websites or online job platforms exist for business owners like you to easily reach out to virtual or remote job seekers. The process is simple. You register for an employer or business account, list down all possible details of the job you’re going to need them for, and post it afterward. When choosing a website, it’s best to go for something simple with a user-friendly interface.

We’ve taken into account that you might be new to this, so we made a recommendable list of sites for you to explore. Some of the more popular ones are:

onlinejobs.ph
upwork.ph
jobstreet.com.ph
govirtuals.com
virtualstaff.ph

This is where your search for a Virtual Assistant starts. If you’re not tech-savvy, there are social media sites that you can use as a platform for hiring. Believe it or not, freelancers and other Virtual Assistants also look for job openings on Facebook!

Of course, if what you need is a Virtual Assistant for your Amazon business, then look no further than OFP eCommerce Outsourcing Services. We have top-notch Filipino Virtual Assistants who can take care of your Amazon business for you.

Need a top-notch VA for your Amazon business? Connect with us and get your team of the best Amazon Virtual Assistants from the Philippines.

Book A Free Call

Things to keep in mind before posting a job:

1. Make a checklist of low-value tasks that take up most of your time. Also include tasks you dislike doing but can be done by someone else and tasks you can’t do yourself due to lack of knowledge and expertise. This will become your guide on which tasks you should delegate to your VA.

2. Provide background information on your job posting for job seekers to know what you’re looking for.

Your company/business (services or products offered)
Brand identity
Information on the tasks you will delegate
Skill requirements, educational attainment, experience
Is it full-time or part-time? (how many hours do you expect your VA to be working for you?)

3. Be direct on what you expect. It will give the VAs idea of how to present their services to you.

4. There are instances you might want to give VAs with no experience a chance to work with you, but you have to be clear with training procedures. You also have to consider the amount of time you’ll put into training them. This will be more challenging than hiring a more experienced VA.

Finalize and post the job overview

After reviewing everything and making the job post visible to jobseekers, you’ll possibly be receiving tons of applications. Be sure to provide an email address, Skype ID, or any alternative contact details if you want to be contacted directly by applicants or if the job platform you’re using allows it.

Evaluate applications

Now, you need to sort those overflowing submissions properly. Here’s how you should do it:

1. Check if the submissions are complete or incomplete. Not following instructions is a big no, so let’s cross that one out.
2. If you prefer a Virtual Assistant with good English skills, eliminate those who are not up to your standards.
3. Remove any application that doesn’t match the skills required on your job posting.

Conduct screen tests

To be more prudent, you should test those who passed the first stage. It can be something easy like a simple IQ or personality test you can easily find online or writing an essay. You can also ask about their Internet speed and computer specifications, to ensure that they’re well-equipped for the job. If you want to test their skills, you can come up with something related to the work they’ll be doing for you. Although, you can also regard this step as optional and skip right to the interviews.

Set up interviews

Once you’re done choosing the best candidates, you should schedule an interview with them via Skype, Zoom, or whatever your preferred virtual meeting or video conferencing platform may be. You can prepare basic questions at this stage. For example, asking about their basic personal information, experience, or previous works.

A video call interview is crucial for any business owner, as you’ll have to decide who will pass or fail in the last stage of the hiring process. There are cases of applicants backing out because of video call interviews. You’re going to find out if any of them faked their information and capabilities. Many aspiring Virtual Assistants tend to be good at written interviews, but they easily drop when talking over a video call.

people in a video call seen from a laptop screen

You’ll quickly notice the difference between a great candidate and those who are not. Let’s say you have chosen five people as your top picks. Conduct a final call with them again but this time, prepare more challenging questions that are related to their skills, hobbies, strengths, and weaknesses. You can also include situational cases to see how they are going to contribute to your business growth. Yet again, it all comes down to you. If you’re lost on what to ask the applicants, you can always research how other business owners come up with their interview questions.

Do a trial or training period

The wait is over and you’ve finally chosen the best of the best! That means it’s time for you to give your VA a trial period of one to three months maximum. During this time, you’re going to train and shape them to familiarize everything in your business workload. This includes tools, websites, tasks, and everything they need to know to run your business effectively. Not only does this enhance their skills, but it also makes them a significant asset to your business as they grow and learn each day.

Contract Signing

As the business owner, you are obliged to make a contract between you and your Virtual Assistant. Your contract should include terms and conditions, salary discussion, hours of service per week or month, intellectual property, termination of service, etc.

Save yourself from the tedious, strenuous hiring process. We got you covered and ready with your team of the best Filipino Virtual Assistants for your Amazon store.

Book A Free Call

Final Thoughts

Hiring a Virtual Assistant that is eager to help you with your business goals can truly make a big difference. It’s an investment that you’ll never regret. It’s going to be hard to let go of what you’re used to doing in your daily business routine. Still, your business will be in good hands, and you can focus on more pressing matters and strategic business decisions. May you find the right fit for you!

References:

How to Hire and Train the Best Filipino Virtual Assistants in 2021 - ecomcrew.com

How to Hire a Virtual Assistant: An Entrepreneur’s Guide to Outsourcing & Hiring Virtual Staff - thinkific.com

22 Secrets to Hiring the Right Virtual Assistant - smallbiztrends.com

Ultimate Guide to Hire a Virtual Assistant (And Why You Should Do It!) - medium.com

A Practical Guide for Hiring a Virtual Assistant - curiouslionlearning.com

10 Virtual Assistant Statistics Every Freelancer Must Know in 2021 - bestofbudgets.com

Where To Find And How To Hire A Virtual Assistant:A Helpful Guide For Every Business Owner