More on Interviewing a Virtual Assistant: Part 3

To continue the more in depth topic of interviewing a virtual assistant, I have added some more questions to the series. I just wanted to thank everyone who has commented on the blog. I appreciate your suggestions, ideas and comments. With this series, I am trying to give the readers suggestions of questions they could ask a virtual assistant if they would like to do so. These are questions that I have to answer when I am speaking with a potential client and I just thought that it would be helpful to others to speak to those things that I feel that business owners may wish to ask during an interview with a virtual assistant.

What operating system are you working with for your business? This normally doesn’t effect too much, however, this is something you may want to know. For instance, I have Windows XP and 2003 on my computer. Some of my clients with Vista have to convert the documents over when they send them, however, it is an easy fix. I am planning on upgrading to MS Windows 2007 soon.

How long have you been a virtual assistant? For some this may not be as important as if the person can complete the tasks needed to be done. However, if this is an important question to you…ask it. For instance, I have officially been a virtual assistant for 1 yr, however, I have managed my husband’s floor cleaning business 2 years prior and that entailed everything administrative, promotions, customer service, and book keeping.

Before you became a virtual assistant, what did you do? This way you can find out what other experience they have and you be surprised to find they have other skills you could use for your business. For me, before I managed my husband’s floor cleaning business, I worked in different industries from financial planning to landscape architecture, to property managing in the administrative field since 1992.

Do you know how to____________? Now this could be something like, “do you know how to do a graph in MS Excel?” And the virtual assistant may say yes. Well, if that doesn’t satisfy you and you want to know how well they know how to do graphs, ask them a more in depth question about what you need in your graph for your project. See how they answer. Again, if you don’t feel comfortable with the answer then this may not be the task for them to complete.

What program do you recommend for ________ and why? Maybe you are looking for a autoresponder provider and you may wish to ask the potential virtual assistant what company they would recommend or use for your business. And then ask them why they would recommend this company. For instance, I would recommend aweber, however, and this can be a big however for some people. Aweber is not intuitive or user friendly. Even though, they have tutorials on the site and the customer service is helpful, most people can’t go in and easy navigate on the screens.

Do you allow trial periods? Now, this can be a sticky situation and even I feel a bit on both side of the coin on this one. For one thing, I feel like saying, “Hey, if you don’t think I know what I am doing then” however, really the person may not feel comfortable sending me a great deal money until they know how we will work together. So I don’t really mind doing a task trial period with a new client. However, do not get me wrong here, they still need to pay for my services during the trial period but they don’t have to pay upfront for a set number of hours. But the trial allows us to find out if we “mesh well” and establishes the connection wanted by the client. To me, there is really no sense in continuing a business relationship if it doesn’t feel right between the two people. That is just silly to me so I don’t mind offering a trial period for my customers.

All of these interview questions are to aid the business owner in finding the right virtual assistant for them and their business. It can be a bit of a lengthy process but I think most people will feel a lot better after an interview with these questions being answered. Also, it really is up to the individual asking the questions. Some of these questions, may not be important to one person and so they don’t feel it necessary to ask all of them. Make the interview of questions you would like to know. As I have mentioned before, if you do not feel comfortable with the answers or the “feel” of the conversation, you will know it and trust your gut.

Teresa Morrow is on Board of Advisors with The WECAI Network ™ (http://www.wecai.org) and Editor at Large at WE Magazine for Women ™ (http://www.wemagazineforwomen). She has over 15 years working with various industries to include property management, landscape architecture and financial planning firms in executive administrative positions. In 2007, Teresa started Key Business Partners, a virtual assistance & online promotional company for coaches, speakers and writers. She cares about her clients and is available for 20 minute free consultation. You can contact her via email at keybusinesspartners@verizon.net or visit her website at http://www.keybusinesspartners.com.