Everything You Ever Wondered About Hiring a Virtual Assistant

Everyone needs help. Being confident in your ability is a good thing, but if you’re confident about being able to do everything on your own, you’ll be in for a disappointment. However, deciding to find a partner, hire an additional employee, or even start a whole department is not an easy one to make. Fortunately, you don’t have to start as ambitiously. Instead, you can consider hiring a virtual assistant.

This is a digital-era alternative to hiring an assistant, and it’s one of the best ways to reduce some of your workload while not overextending your staff. For those who are still undecided, here are a couple of things that the majority of people wonder about virtual assistants (prior to hiring them).

What Are the Logistical Implications?

The first thing you need to understand is that the logistics of hiring a virtual assistant tend to be a lot simpler than the alternative. After all, they’re remote workers, which means that they don’t take up office space.

Now, this particular situation is ideal both for office-based businesses and home businesses. Seeing as how all the work takes place in the virtual environment, you don’t have to make any additional, one-time investments in order to keep things running.

Lastly, you need to understand that virtual assistants have their own tools for work, at least in terms of hardware. All they need to do is log into your platforms (most of the time, you won’t even have to pay more for this additional account) via their own devices. When working in an office, you would have to provide them with their own computer, perhaps a new mobile device, but also some basic office furniture (chair, desk, etc.). This way, they have it as a starting point.

Overall, logistically, hiring a virtual assistant is both less expensive and simpler to organize than hiring a traditional assistant. You have enough on your plate, as it is.

Simpler Hiring Process

The next massive benefit comes from the fact that you have access to a much simpler hiring process. You see, when hiring assistants, you’re mostly limited to your nearest vicinity. Nonetheless, when hiring virtual assistants, you get access to a global hiring pool. This is a huge boost when it comes to your access to suitable talent.

Second, it’s a lot easier to compare other people’s resumes when you have them all arriving in the same format. You take a test, compare their CVs, and organize online interviews. This way, it will be a lot easier for you to recognize the best prospects.

You don’t even have to look for a virtual assistant directly. Instead, you can get in touch with an agency that employs virtual assistants and ask them to send someone over. This way, you get qualified help without having to overinvest time and effort into finding the right person for the job.

Finally, there are all sorts of arrangements when it comes to hiring virtual assistants. For instance, you can hire a freelancer, have someone part-time, or keep them on a retainer. As we’ve mentioned in the previous paragraph, you can hire them directly or via an agency. The choice is yours.

Better Resource Management

Throughout history, there has been a lot of debate about the ideal position for the leader. Some leaders preferred to be in combat roles, while others stayed miles behind the front. The truth is that the best place for a commander is the one from which they can issue commands the most effectively.

A commander, courageous as they are, cannot risk being the first casualty of the battle. While any soldier can take a place on the front line, they cannot take the place of the commander at the helm. The same happens in the business world. Allowing menial tasks to occupy you for too long is a horrible idea, seeing as how it takes you away from your core tasks.

A virtual assistant can easily handle the majority of your administrative tasks, but they can never make major business decisions in your stead. Just keep in mind that your own time, energy, and focus are your own resources, and treat them as such.

Lastly, when overworking yourself (even if it seems like you can do it all), you’re at risk of reaching your breaking point. Past this point, your capacities will be greatly diminished, and your work will suffer. This is one of the most significant factors affecting anyone’s productivity, not to mention that you risk neglecting your friends and family members. A virtual assistant helps you avoid this.

Types of Virtual Assistants

Now, the term assistant is quite broad and can mean a number of things. When we say virtual assistant, the majority of people think about the general virtual assistant. They’re the ones in charge of daily tasks like answering emails, handling the outreach, time management, scheduling appointments, posting on social media, etc.

Then again, you can hire a specialist, someone who has the background and knowledge set to tackle a specific task with a much higher accuracy rate. For instance, you could hire a social media specialist or someone capable of the art of bookkeeping. Keep in mind, nonetheless, that a specialized virtual assistant tends to be a bit more expensive.

Before you make this choice, it’s essential that you determine the realistic needs of your enterprise. Think of it in terms of the time you spend on these tasks, not the number of tasks. The biggest difference between specialists is the time to the successful completion (with the emphasis on both time and success) of the task.

Available to Anyone

The main reason why hiring a virtual assistant is such a good idea lies in the fact that there are not many rational reasons to avoid this step. You need some help – you get an assistant. It’s really that simple. In fact, a lot of one-person enterprises hire a personal assistant long before they hire a first traditional employee.

In the past, a lot of entrepreneurs worried too much about whether the time was right to hire an assistant. Finding the right justification was always a challenge. Often, they would ask themselves:

• Is my workload great enough to justify hiring an assistant?
• Can I afford a personal assistant?
• Is it possible to replace the need for an assistant with better time management?

The truth is quite simple – virtually anyone can find and hire an assistant. Also, if you’re contemplating hiring an assistant, 9 out of 10 times, you’re aware that you really need one. Once again, in this day and age, finding and affording one is as simple as it gets.

In Conclusion

Like in any other instance of hiring help, who you hire makes more difference than how you hire them. This is probably the biggest benefit of hiring a virtual assistant. First of all, you hire someone who knows what their job is and what’s expected of them. Second, the flexibility of an arrangement gives the entrepreneur a lot more maneuvering space. Third, you have so many options when it comes to who and how you hire that you’re able to customize the situation to your own liking. Overall, it’s a business decision with not many downsides.