As an entrepreneur, you will eventually get to that stage where you can no longer do everything by yourself and you will need an assistant. If you want to grow and scale your business even at that period, assigning tasks to an assistant can be of great help.
However, hiring an assistant could be challenging and you would need to consider some factors before hiring one. Check out these factors as sourced from opinions and feedback or entrepreneurs like you on ReviewsBird.com.
· Delegation
To prevent overworking yourself, customer reviews explained that you need to delegate tasks for your business. However, it would be an unnecessary stress to hire a virtual assistant if you’re not trying to offload tasks. Draft out a list of reasonable tasks you can hand to a virtual assistant. Most times, these tasks are usually simple; from deleting old mails to organizing files, but time consuming. When you delegate the right things, it helps you grow and scale your business. Besides, everyone needs a hand sometimes. With a virtual assistant helping out, you can deal with other pressing matters that bring in money and only you can handle.
· Education And Training
Before hiring a virtual assistant, you must consider his/her educational background and training. These are very important factors to consider. You need to look for someone with a business administration background who has relevant skills which may include accounting Organization, data and financial management. As an entrepreneur, you might not have the time or energy to train a virtual assistant and you can’t assume he or she can combine a spreadsheet, organize an email, handle social media, to name but a few. During the interview process, you need to ask for his or her experience, training and education.
· Qualities And Skills Required
It is very crucial that you have a keen understanding of the qualities and skills you are looking for in your virtual assistant. Since having a virtual assistant can be equated to having an employee, you would want to be sure they are qualified for the job. The interview process should be directed towards responding to behavioral-basedquestions, rather than just their work experience.
· Communication Styles And Preference
Even though your virtual assistant might work remotely, there would still be a need to communicate with them. Ensure you determine their communication styles during the interview; how they want to be communicated to while on task, what periods of the day can they communicate, to mention but a few. As the business owner, you would need to put up guidelines on how you will be communicating with your virtual assistant. And on what tools will you share information.
· Personality
While you might not be sitting in the same office with your virtual assistant, you will still need to communicate and interact daily. Your virtual assistant, in the long run, will become a crucial part of your business and her personality would be determining a significant part of your business’ progress. Really, you don’t want to hire a virtual assistant that is difficult to work with.
Conclusion
However, understand that hiring a virtual assistant is a big decision for any business owner, so you need to ensure you consider multiple candidates before selecting a virtual assistant to work for you.