The Journey of Hiring A Virtual Assistant

On the road to growing a business, business owners know one of the most needed however hardest tasks to do is finding people whom you will count on to get tasks done and help grow your business. This is often seen as just another tedious process however it doesn’t have to end with you throwing your arms up in frustration. If you take a few mindful steps, your journey to hiring a virtual assistant can be a rewarding and fulfilling one.

Before you start searching, remember it is a good idea to acquire your goals for your business and next be sure you understand virtual assistant attributes. Such things as accessing what your future business structure growth and what you want to be in charge of doing are just a few goals to solidify. Also, being able to know the defining attributes of virtual assistants and how they work is important. Now, you are ready for the next steps to search for a virtual assistant.

1. Search on Google (and other search engines such as Yahoo or Internet Explorer) and start to search utilizing the criteria you may be looking for in a virtual assistant. Criteria can be things such as:

• specific skills or skill set (database creation, customer service specialist)

• job or project experience

• states or city you live in (St. Petersburg, Florida)

• time zone (eastern standard time)

• what job title you have (writer)

For example, you may be a writer who is looking for someone to help you handle phone calls to local publishers, so you may put “virtual assistant to make phone calls for writer” or “virtual assistant to help find publishers”. Or maybe you are looking for someone to create a inventory of where you are selling your books, so you may type in “help with setting up inventory database for writer”.

2. Another option when trying to find a virtual assistant, you can go to online administrative recruitment companies such as elance or Home Based Working Moms. When going this route, it is important that you outline the project requirements for the potential virtual assistant candidates. Your project outline may consist of such things are:

• Acquired Skills (database creation, customer service specialist)

• job or project experience

• states or city you live in (St. Petersburg, Florida)

• time zone (eastern standard time)

• what job title you have (writer)

• job or project duration

• number of hours of work

• and of course, your payment offer

When using these recruitment sites, you will be placed in the “queue” for virtual assistants to “bid” for your specific project. Remember that just because someone may offer to complete your next project for only $10/hr, they may not be the best person to complete this job for you. Other things are to be considered when making a hiring decision such as skill set, efficiency and work history.

3. Now even those both of the ideas are good, to me one of the best and more effective ways to find a virtual assistant is to ask those whom you know. Ask your friends and family who they know who are virtual assistants. You are better assured to receive a quality referral to a virtual assistant that will work with you because remember these are the people who are closest to you and know your personality better than others. Also, you can ask those whom you know via your online networks eMoms, WECAI (Women’s eCommerce Association International) such as forums and networking sites such as facebook, Yahoo Groups, or Ryze networking

Teresa’s Tip: And of course with all of these possibilities is really goes with saying (or in this instance, writing—-be sure to set up an initial conversation before hiring a virtual assistant. You can get a better feel of their personality are and have the opportunity to ask questions and receive the answers directly from the source.

When you are ready to do the searching for a virtual assistant, you can try a few avenues available such as internet research via the search engines, going to virtual assistant recruitment companies or even better yet, ask your friends and family. And this task of finding a quality key partner in your business doesn’t have to leave you running yourself off the path on your business journey.

Teresa Morrow is on Board of Advisors with The WECAI NetworkTM and Editor at Large at WE Magazine for WomenTM. 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 KeyBusinessPartners.com.