The idea of hiring virtual assistants is a fairly new addition to human resources, and most of the firms are not very clear about the whole idea. However, hiring an individual to work for you from a remote location can be of massive advantage to your company’s bottom line. Imagine the amount of money you can save on just their hourly rates, not to mention the other overhead costs such as recruitment, health insurance, office space, etc. Once you decide to hire, you need to figure out what are your requirements, in terms of actual work and the hours per week.
Hiring the perfect Virtual Employee begins with the job posting
Many supervisors make the blunder of creating the same job posting for both their in-office and virtual employees. Your virtual staff’s requirements and educations are massively different from those of your in-house staff.
Your job posting should highlight that flawless digital communication skills are essential. Your job posting should also clearly mention your requirements for the gear that your virtual employees will provide themselves.
Conduct an adequate job interview before hire virtual employee
The interview procedure with your virtual employee will be unlike that of a full-time employee. In countless cases, hiring managers conduct these talks through a series of conference calls, video chats, and phone calls. An interview over the phone is an excellent way to get a clear understanding of your applicant. If you wish to understand your applicant even better, consider a video chat interview using any video calling software or websites.
A balance of both soft and hard skills for a virtual employee
With fulltime employees, you can deliver further training on the spot if they get stuck on a software problem. This is not the case with your VA. He will need to have the knowledge and familiarity to troubleshoot problems as they arise. Before appointing your virtual employee, make sure he has the expertise to work independently with nominal support, and that he knows when and where to obtain support when it’s required.
Soft skills are essential when working with virtual staff. Your staffs should be able to communicate easily in both written and spoken form. They should be able to motivate themselves and meet deadlines. Your virtual staff should also be helpful and keen on accommodating the requirements of your company. Look for an indication of these skills in all steps of the hiring procedure, from the original application to the interview.
Hiring a virtual employee or virtual assistant can be a great fiscal move for your company. With the convenience of the Internet, your virtual employees can carry out all of the purposes of the full-time staff at a fraction of the expense. By conducting an exhaustive search and using appropriate applicant filtering methods, you can enjoy a competent virtual staff.
Personal traits
While completely forgetting about your virtual assistants as they do their assigned tasks may not be your intention as you hire a virtual employee, it will be accurate to some extent. You want to be sure the person you hire has the character and nature to work well when not being directly administered.
During the phone call and as you assess previous employment history, look for clues that indicate the ability to work self-sufficiently and punctuality. You are trusting this individual with great liberty, so morals and dependability must be on the top of your list of personality traits. Adjustability is also essential in a virtual employee.
Concluding words
You need to hedge your stakes a bit when you initially hire a virtual employee. Don’t hire a virtual employee with a nonsensical vision of this being taking over enormous areas of duty.
You can find very reasonable virtual employees who are situated in countries around the world with dissimilar standards of living. Occasionally their low rates are very attractive and many people have had success engaging various VAs from all over the globe. However, they incline to work out best for only short-term temporary jobs.
Usually for positions that are nearer to being genuine personnel you need to consider values very cautiously, mostly talking about the values of your business. Be sure any potential virtual employee is a decent fit for your style of functioning and for your purchaser base.
When you take all the right steps, virtual employees are an excellent way to grow a small business.
