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The Optimal Guide to Hiring a Virtual Assistant

Feb 7, 2023 • 16 min read

The Optimal Guide to Hiring a Virtual Assistant

Entrepreneurs often have a schedule packed with meetings, appointments, office work, and other tasks relevant to their field. With little to no time for themselves, why not hire a virtual assistant? You are not just making work easier and more efficient but you are also letting yourself breathe and be away from stress. The best thing about VAs is that it is more cost-effective and you can certainly hire from a large pool of candidates.

We do understand that you want to have an overview and take part in every process of your business. However, it strains your mental and physical health, indirectly affecting your performance. So, letting your knowledgeable and skilled team members take part in the responsibilities in your company that you don’t have to do or have trouble doing is a great choice. Don’t worry! DigiWorks will guide you in successfully hiring your Virtual Assistant.

You’ll learn:

  • What is a Virtual Assistant or VA?
  • Importance of Hiring a Virtual Assistant
  • 4 Reasons Why Hiring a VA is a Great Choice!
  • More Information About Virtual Assistants!
  • Tips for Finding The Best Virtual Assistant

Ready to build your remote team?

Use the DigiWorks platform to hire, manage, and pay remote talent from all over the world.

What is a Virtual Assistant or VA?

Historically, Virtual Assistants (or VA) are known as executive and personal assistants who provide services to businesses and entrepreneurs to help lessen their workloads. However, VAs nowadays are viewed as more all-around remote team members who can run different tasks that are not limited to secretarial-like functions. They can also be part of running the core functions in a company, including customer service, general operations, lead generation, and SEO writing.

Virtual Assistants from our platform can take a lot of tasks and responsibilities off of your shoulder. They allow entrepreneurs to focus on making big steps for their business by taking on repetitive tasks. VAs are now more preferred than office workers since they usually come from different countries, acquire unique skills, and are cost-effective. Most of them don’t need the extra space in the office since they can work in their home and still successfully accomplish their tasks. All they need is a stable internet connection in their location and excellent communication skills to fulfill all their obligations. Plus, they can easily be guided through training sessions and SOPs because of their quick learning ability.

The following is the list of duties and responsibilities that you can expect from a VA:

  • Receive and answer emails or calls from customers
  • Write blogs and content for your website
  • Handle accounts
  • Promote products and services
  • Run administrative tasks
  • Manage operations

Now, you are probably wondering how it works to have a VA. It is challenging to know how many tasks or what kind of duties you can delegate to your VA but DigiWorks provided this article to guide you. First, you should be able to distinguish the different types of VA. In that way, you will have a greater understanding of what and how you will assign the needed tasks. Here are the types of VA to help you decide on which one suits perfectly for your brand:

1. General virtual assistant

General VA is the most common type—it is mainly done by someone who is organized, handles work pressure effectively, and moves efficiently. Their tasks do not directly generate revenue or income and they are measured based on the number of successful duties they have performed. If you need someone who can work based on your instructions, and input, and be responsible for certain processes, then General VA would be most suitable. They will be helpful in taking over some administrative duties to reduce repetitive tasks that don’t have to be accomplished by a manager or superior. General VAs are seen as more like the traditional VAs who run secretarial-like tasks.

The following are some of the duties that you can assign to your General Virtual Assistant:

  • Tracking administrative tasks.
  • Plan events and inform their superiors
  • Arrange travel schedules and needs
  • Organize social media content
  • Sort out all appointments and duties
  • Cold emailing and cold calling
  • Tracking CRM

2. Specialized virtual assistants.

Specialized VAs are those who are appointed in a specific process. This is usually fulfilled by team members with specialty or talent who can execute their past experiences or skills to help with the goal of the company/business. They typically only focus on one area or field, and might already have experience or background knowledge of their field of specialty. Most VAs nowadays are known as specialized virtual assistants since they are usually part of the significant functions of the company, rather than just doing the usual tasks that office secretaries do.

The following are some of the duties that you can assign to you Specialized Virtual Assistant:

  • Video editing
  • Graphic designing
  • Managing social media platforms
  • Publishing contents
  • Project management
  • Bookkeeping
  • Make strategic plans
  • Track prospective clients
  • In charge of lead generation.

Apart from knowing the tasks that you can assign to your Virtual Assistant, you should also know the duties that should not be delegated to them. When expanding your brand, you might need to connect with VIPs or entrepreneurs who might help you grow your business. You would want to meet them yourself and not assign this to your remote workers to show that you put huge importance on your company. However, if there are possible clients you need to meet, Virtual Assistants are highly trusted to represent your company.

Once you know all this information about VAs, you would understand how important it is to hire one. All the tasks CEOs want to set aside from their schedule will be covered efficiently. You would also know that assigning some tasks that most entrepreneurs have trouble letting go of will help your business grow as you can focus on far more important office work. Sometimes, you feel like you don’t need a VA when it is easy for you to do these tasks, but it surely can be overwhelming. But, VAs today can do far more than just simple tasks, which will truly help you focus on growing your business.

It is impressive when an entrepreneur is included in every part of their business, but we can tell you that hiring a VA will help you have more time to think about things that will improve your brand. Lastly, you can have specialized VAs take over all the processes and duties that require certain skills. Some business people are not very experienced with video editing, graphic designing, content writing, or social media management and that is when a VA gives the most convenience.

Importance of Hiring a Virtual Assistant

One of the struggles among entrepreneurs is delegating! We understand that business owners have been doing all the tasks since the beginning, making it difficult for them to entrust those responsibilities to an individual, especially if they are from other countries. You are probably concerned about cultural differences and issues with time zones.

When you build an enterprise from scratch, you would want to be included or be part of every process. However, more responsibilities and duties are appointed to you as your business starts growing and expanding that often leads to exhaustion. Entrepreneurs usually don’t know when to rest but it is important to know your limit…unless you have superpowers. If not, then maybe you can get help from a Virtual Assistant.

How would you know if you need to hire a VA? Observe your performance! Monitor your daily routine, check your to-do list, and time yourself. If you think that you are working more than the average working time, perhaps beyond 8 hours, then think about it. Maybe you are also busy working on your weekends or have been bringing office documents to your home—that is the sign that you need to hire a VA. Moreover, if you think that you have less interaction with your personal life, then you can say that you are overworked. You might think that it is fine to do it all as long as your body doesn’t limit you, but no! You should also consider your mental, emotional, spiritual, and social well-being before you can say that it is okay.

One common mistake that some entrepreneurs think about hiring a VA is that they are costly. Virtual Assistants are actually far more cost-effective than hiring an office worker. You can find plenty of candidates from many countries that have the best skills. Yes, it is an extra cost, but investing in your manpower is one of the powerful strategies for having a successful business. It might seem like they can only do minimal tasks, but we can guarantee that they will be a huge part of growing your business. They can help make your tasks lighter so you can focus on more important duties and ensure a 24/7 business operation. It is better to afford the services of VAs than to lose the company you work hard for!

4 Reasons Why Hiring a VA is a Great Choice!

DigiWorks understands that hiring a virtual assistant causes money but it will definitely pay off once you learn the benefits of having one. Here are some of the reasons why hiring a VA is a great choice for your business.

1. Help successfully run your business

Virtual Assistants can now be part of your actual business operations, manage your teams, do payrolls, and track every movement in your company. Those are some of the functions that some entrepreneurs have been doing for years, but now, you can assign them to your VA. Even if they are working virtually, as long as they have the paperwork and proper communication with your team members, it will be easy for them to navigate the operations of your company and do their responsibilities efficiently.

2. Lets you relax and connect with your personal life.

As an entrepreneur, you probably have less time spent on your family or the things you enjoy doing. Hiring a VA will lessen your obligation which will give you more time to spend for yourself. You might think that working more than 12 hours a day is normal but it is not healthy. After all, you wouldn’t want to start hating the business that you’ve created. So, taking some time off to relax and breathe will give you a fresh mind to think and have the motivation to continue doing what you do. It’s probably been so long since you catch up with your loved ones, so use this to your benefit and find time to socialize.

3. Improves your business reputation.

Do you want your business to be more exposed on the internet? Hire a content writer who will write articles and content for your website or a social media account manager who will keep the engagement of your business with customers on different social media platforms. Many VAs specialize in making the company more appealing to the public, which attracts potential clients/customers to patronize your business.

4. Visually monitor your business’ activities

As an entrepreneur, tracking every department and process inside your business might be too much to handle. You cannot be in different places at the same time to check all the activities that operate your business. However, a virtual assistant can easily communicate with the different sectors in your company and provide you with a summary of their performances. They can also monitor your emails and phone calls to have an overview of your possible clients and manage relationships with your customers. Moreover, VAs can also take over your pages, websites, and social media platforms to see its progress and help with content creation. Now, you don’t have to stress about having multiple activities everyday when you have an assistant that keeps an eye on every part of your business.

Learn More Information About Virtual Assistants!

DigiWorks already provided you with many facts and information about virtual assistants but there is probably more to know! The Virtual Assistant market is wide, therefore there are a lot of things to learn about.

Is it expensive to hire a VA?

The good thing about hiring a VA is that it is relatively a lot more inexpensive compared to office workers. Since you can find plenty of candidates working from different locations, you can always choose one at a lower cost. In the US, you can expect that the minimum wage is quite high. But, on platforms like DigiWorks, we have talents from emerging countries that have more affordable rates. The virtual world is massive so you can expect that you will find plenty of qualified workers globally. You can choose those that can work within your timezone, have lesser hourly rates, are more experienced, or with any qualities that accord with your preference, needs, and strategy. One of the countries that are slowly dominating the VA market is the Philippines but guarantee that you can find one in almost every place in the world.

What platforms can I find trusted virtual assistants on?

Virtual Assistants can be found in almost every recruitment agency, but if you are looking for trusted candidates with more affordable prices, then DigiWorks is the one! The DigiWorks Team has a full range of global remote teams including virtual assistants. You can guarantee that you will find top-performing and highly skilled talents across emerging countries such as the Philippines, Nigeria, and South Africa through DigiWorks. Some of our talents have managed to work in big and popular companies like Paypal, Nike, Amazon, and Shopify. Don’t worry! DigiWorks also helps many small businesses hire the best remote team to help expand their companies.

You might not have the extra time to meticulously select aspiring Virtual Assistants that will empower your remote team, but DigiWorks is here to help you with that. We will manage and train your team to help with your business’ development and performance. With the number of talents joining the DigiWorks Team, you can easily find a match candidate based on your needs in just minutes. Furthermore, DigiWorks will give you access to development tools and platforms that will make it easier to manage your remote team efficiently. So, what are you waiting for? Grow your business and find the best professionals to work with through DigiWorks!

Tips for Finding The Best Virtual Assistant

Hiring a virtual assistant can be challenging as there are plenty of applicants to choose from. Digiworks provided some tips on how you can effectively choose the ideal VA for your needs.

1. Hire someone you are comfortable working with.

Entrepreneurs have a hard time letting go of even the smallest tasks, thinking that they are letting someone else take control of their business. Finding someone that you are comfortable working with and will easily gain your trust is a must. This way, you will have no problems communicating your opinions and giving statements. You will also be at peace knowing that you chose a candidate that will perform well and will accomplish their respective tasks efficiently to help you and your company.

At DigiWorks, we can guarantee that our talents are all well-mannered and great to work with. Our team also consists of remote workers from different countries, making diversity and inclusivity a massive part of our culture. You can guarantee that some of the most professional individuals will also be sent to work in your company if you choose to hire from DigiWorks.

2. Set a certain standard and expectation.

There are plenty of candidates in the virtual world who aspire to work in your company but everyone works differently. Virtual Assistants may have the same skills and qualifications but different levels of effectiveness. You can hire someone who has years of professional experience, works under pressure, and can work collectively. It depends on what you need but it will be better if you already set your standard before hiring one so you can have certain expectations.

This tip is also very important when hiring specialized virtual assistants as skills and knowledge is their asset. You can look through their previous works which will help you recognize the quality of their work. You can also ask questions based on their effectiveness, like how long they can finish a certain project. Most often, specialized VAs acquire skills that not everyone knows about so it is better to do your research to know the points that you should consider.

At DigiWorks, we make sure that our talents are prepared before we send them to different companies. We provide workshops, training, and SOPs if needed and ensure that everyone has been meticulously screened through various processes.

3. Make a list of tasks that you would want to assign them.

There are many things that VAs can be assigned to. They can be part of your operations, you can assign them to develop your website and many other parts of your business. It is best to know what part you would need to assign to a VA, so you would know exactly what kind of candidate you are looking for.

Ready to build your remote team?

Use the DigiWorks platform to hire, manage, and pay remote talent from all over the world.

Working with a Virtual Assistant!

Now that you are well-informed about the benefits of having VAs, you must be considering hiring one. However, you probably have some set of questions bugging your mind but DigiWorks is here to help you out!

Your virtual assistant might have some set of questions during the first few weeks and as their manager, you should be open to guiding and helping them grow. At DigiWorks, we help with candidate management, so you can guarantee our teams are properly guided.

You should also cooperate and make them feel comfortable, like how they are to you. Yes! You might be their boss but respect comes in both ways and it is essential in building a professional relationship. Avoid putting them under too much unnecessary pressure and giving them loads of work concurrently. Provide all the documents and information that they need and teach them before putting all the responsibilities in their hands. It is also better if you can check on them regularly and reward them with positive feedback. If you have any negative opinions make sure to provide suggestions for improvements.

DigiWorks have worked with many aspiring and qualified Virtual Assistants. It is not an easy job but it makes every entrepreneur’s work much better. It has become one of the major components in successfully growing your business. If you want to focus on far more important tasks, reduce workloads, be away from stress, and have some free time, then consider hiring one. It is the best strategic option if you want a more efficient and effective work environment that allows you to save your time and effort while consistently growing your business.

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About DigiWorks

DigiWorks is an easy-to-use platform that helps small businesses and start ups hire amazing remote talent from around the world. DigiWorks offers a way for you to hire, manage and pay people from all countries. If you find an amazing virtual assistant from Philippines, a content writer from Nigeria, or operations manager from South Africa – manage and pay your entire team from one platform with no hassle.