How to Hire Virtual Assistants – Tips From 17 Entrepreneurs
Hey guys! Today I want to reveal to you tips from 17 entrepreneurs on how to hire virtual assistants!
As you might know currently I manage over 30 websites (3 amazon niche websites, paid guest post blog, authority website, many potential amazon niche websites and rest of PBN). I am also working on plugin for WordPress, and it’s already in the testing phase. And partner up with other entrepreneurs on one some local project. And I am still working a full-time job and having a great lifestyle.
As you may see it’s hard to manage everything by myself, and now I am in a process of hiring full-time VAs. I managed multiple writers and designers before and now I need couple VAs to manage writers, do keyword research, do link building, outreach and do random tasks.
And to be on the top I decided to outreach online entrepreneurs to find out how they hire and handle VAs. I prepare six small questions and send out email to them:
- What is your creative way to make a job listing?
- What is your interview process?
- How do you train your VAs?
- How do you make sure that your VAs keep working and not just browsing internet?
- How do you manage your VAs?
- What is your special trick to make your VAs happy?
They were kind enough to share their experience and methods they are using which you find out below.
Currently, I am outlining my strategy to manage future VAs.
My Strategy of Hiring VAs
Contents
- 1 My Strategy of Hiring VAs
- 2 How Entrepreneurs Hire Virtual Assistants?
- 3 What Entrepreneurs Say
- 3.1 Hayden Miyamoto from NoHatDigital
- 3.2 Yaro Starak from Entrepreneurs Journey
- 3.3 Gael Breton from Authority Hacker
- 3.4 Douglas Cunnington from Niche Site Project
- 3.5 Dan Norris from WPCurve
- 3.6 Jon Haver from Authority Website Income
- 3.7 Scott Davis from NoHatDigital
- 3.8 William Ma one of the NoHatDigital Retreat participants
- 3.9 Matt Stack from Progressive Digital
- 3.10 Steve Rendell from Texfly
- 3.11 Dom Wells from Human Proof Designs
- 3.12 Matthew Allen from Dumb Passive Income
- 3.13 Dan Thompson from My Local SEO
- 3.14 Chris Punke from App Developer Startup
- 3.15 Chris Lee from Rank XL
- 3.16 Andrew Youderian from Ecommerce Fuel
- 4 Conclusion
What Is My Creative Way To Make a Job Listing?
Previously I was using Elance and Odesk. I will try out OnlineJobs.ph to find full-time VA because I think it will be cheaper. To attract more people I will make job posting as simple as possible. I will outline job requirements and ask them to send an email with specific keywords in the title.
It will help me to cut off the spam and decrease potential candidates. Then there will be the auto respond email where I will ask them to fill out particular Google form.
In Google form, I will ask many questions to determine great candidates:
- How many hours they can work (if less than 40 then I won’t hire them)
- How many times per week or in a month they have power outage (I need people to work online)
- Do they have laptop or desktop and smartphone, when they can start
- Which hours they prefer to work, monthly compensation
- Do they have camera and microphone (to communicate through Skype)
If they email back with answers to my questions positive like (they can work 40 hours per week, they have laptop, no power outage, they have camera and microphone and average salary rate) then I will send another form to them to complete.
The 2nd Google form will contain next questions:
- Do you know Photoshop, describe your experience
- Do you have experience with WordPress, describe your experience
- Are you willing to take a test
- What would you do if you couldn’t solve a problem
- If I had 2,000 emails to go through, what should I do
- On the website onlinejobs.ph, Find the IQ test and take it. Then take a screenshot of the resulting score and put it in Google Doc and provide the link
- On the site online discpersonalitytesting.com, find the DISC test and make it and then provide the score
- Take internet speed test, take picture of the result and put it in Google Doc and provide the link
I will review their answers and will determine their writing English skills (English isn’t my first language, and my grammar isn’t perfect, but I need to find people who can do better job than I am) and then move to interview stage.
How I Do Interview Process?
For general VAs, I will assign small research task and backlinking task from my tutorial to do and check their performance. If VA has WordPress experience, then I will assign a task to post an article with particular guidelines. If VA has Photoshop experience, then I will ask to create header image for particular article.
For writers, I will give to write 500 words article with specific keywords. If writer passes this test, then I will assign bigger article with 2500 words.
For developer interview, I will ask couple questions through Skype and give the small task to determine their experience.
How Do I Train My VAs?
I am creating tutorials in Google Doc for every single reoccurring task and also will use Jing to record video tutorials.
I will communicate with them through Skype in first week if they have any questions during training and ask for their feedback to improve it.
How I am Tracking VAs Performance?
This is important because if you hire someone to work full-time and they are slacking all day then it won’t work for you. I will use Rescue Time and other software to take screenshot randomly similar what Elance and Odesk use.
How I am Managing My VAs?
I will continue use Google Docs and Google Spreadsheets. And also VAs should send summary email what they did today at the end of each day.
I will explore Trello and Asana as my future VA management system.
Communicate with them once per week through Skype if they have any questions and review their work quarterly.
My Way To Make My VAs Happy
They are real people, and they work hard! Treat them like real people, make them your friend. Pay on time in local currency and pay bonuses depend on their performance.
Talk to them and find out what is their goals and work on it together.
How Entrepreneurs Hire Virtual Assistants?
I did small summary with charts of all questions and answers I received from entrepreneurs on how they hire a virtual assistant and you can unlock it by supporting and sharing it!
What Entrepreneurs Say
Hayden Miyamoto from NoHatDigital
What is your creative way to make a job listing?
I pay a referral fee to my existing employees, and a signing fee to the people they find.
What is your interview process?
A difficult test task that tests their written English and ability to follow instructions. If there are any errors whatsoever or too many questions, they are not hired.
How do you train your VAs?
Through manuals that my more senior VAs have created.
How do you make sure that your VAs keep working and not just browsing internet?
It is based on them accomplishing their tasks. If they can do that and browse the internet, that’s fine.
How do you manage your VAs?
Through email (end of shift emails).
What is your special trick to make your VAs happy?
Communicate constantly so they know what they’re doing is being noticed. Give bonuses when they do a great job. Pay for faster internet!
Yaro Starak from Entrepreneurs Journey
What is your creative way to make a job listing?
Most of the assistants I have hired came from either a friend, or a referral from a fellow blogger. I have occasionally put up ads on sites like hiremymom.com to find some people, or just make a post on Facebook or to my email newsletter.
What is your interview process?
Very basic – If their application looks good, and mostly I base it on how they write emails to me, then I will have a Skype call with them to find out more. Then I usually put them on a one month trial, which is when I really find out if they are what I am looking for.
How do you train your VAs?
On the job mostly. I usually have one VA train the next one if possible, or I direct them to training videos on how to use the software programs I use to run my business.
How do you make sure that your VAs keep working and not just browsing internet?
I focus more on output. If they get the job done to a good quality within a reasonable amount of hours, I am happy.
How do you manage your VAs?
Through two technologies – Asana to manage the projects and Skype for day-to-day communications.
What is your special trick to make your VAs happy?
I have no special tricks, I just focus on making sure the work suits their personality, which doesn’t always match. I do always ask what people are aiming for, what they want to learn, so I can give them work that matches their goals.
Gael Breton from Authority Hacker
What is your creative way to make a job listing?
Usually I keep it simple. Mostly I make sure the biggest challenges are outlined and ask people how they will overcome them and what relevant experience they may have for that.
What is your interview process?
I don’t believe in long or complicated interviews. The interview is mostly to confirm the person is smart enough and understands the task. Then I give them a 1h task and review it. I much prefer testing people in real life for a couple of dollar than hearing them tell me how great they are.
How do you train your VAs?
How to videos for the whole process outsourced. I also check on the new freelancers every hour and check their work several times during the day in the first few days and call/screen share with them to show them how to correct it. I always let them correct their own work so they learn better.
How do you make sure that your VAs keep working and not just browsing internet?
Odesk has a randomized screenshot system. I check these once in a while to make sure they’re actually doing what they should.
How do you manage your VAs?
We catch up weekly at least to talk about their tasks and the challenges they’re facing.
What is your special trick to make your VAs happy?
Pay them on time, treat them like people, share the results of their work with them and refer them more work if you can.
Douglas Cunnington from Niche Site Project
What is your creative way to make a job listing?
I wouldn’t call it creative. 🙂 I try to be very specific about the job that I have & the skills that I am looking for. Sometimes I need to outsource a task that I don’t know much about. That’s okay – just state something about the fact you may need some guidance.
What is your interview process?
It depends on what I am hiring a VA for. If it’s a writer, then I usually just exchange a couple messages that confirm they understand what I need. I always have a trial project that is short so I can get a sample of the work. Sometimes I hire a few people for the same trial job without an interview – it seems bold and careless but it turns out to be a great way to skip the interview process.
How do you train your VAs?
I usually record screen flows with Jing. It’s much faster and easier than writing out procedures.
How do you make sure that your VAs keep working and not just browsing internet?
I normally hired on a project basis so that’s fixed bid. On the occasions that I have an hourly project, I review the work on oDesk. That keeps things under control for me.
How do you manage your VAs?
It depends on the job but I primarily work with Google Spreadsheets. I normally create a simple project plan that’s relevant for the job. I normally have short term gigs so it isn’t worth training a VA on one of the sexier project management tools like Asana or Trello.
What is your special trick to make your VAs happy?
Your VA will be happy if you provide extremely specific instructions & expectations.. You will be, too.
Dan Norris from WPCurve
What is your creative way to make a job listing?
We source applicants from different places. We have hired on Odesk, Elance, bestjobs.ph in the past and also just reference from our team members and other entrepreneurs.
We use pre-made job templates where we describe information about our company and position requirements.
After people applied for a position then we are choosing and emailing to 10 top candidates for an interview.
What is your interview process?
We are using Skype for pre-screening interview where we asking pre-made questions. If their answers match then we schedule interview for the candidate.
Our interview contains specific task which the result from will determine if we will hire the candidate.
How do you train your VAs?
Team leader and team members handle this. They will on-board and train new employees using pre-made tutorials.
How do you make sure that your VAs keep working and not just browsing internet?
We are using productivity reports to track performance of our VAs.
How do you manage your VAs?
We use Slack, Trello and Google docs of course.
What is your special trick to make your VAs happy?
Treat the like people and motivate them to grow in the company.
Jon Haver from Authority Website Income
What is your creative way to make a job listing?
I would say my secret or creative way for posting a job listing is having my team of VA’s post it and not myself. This is a huge help!
What is your interview process?
NO interview process. An interview is a massive waste of time for log cost VA’s. Simply give them a test assignment and end the contract of the poor performing VA’s.
How do you train your VAs?
Every task should have a procedure but a procedure with no training does not work. So what I like to do is have a VA currently on my team work with the newly hired VA to get them up to speed.
How do you make sure that your VAs keep working and not just browsing internet?
I use ODesk and their screen tracker tool helps with this. A snapshot of their screen at random times helps to solve this problem.
How do you manage your VAs?
For my key VA’s they are to send me a daily quick update for me to review. For my other VA’s they are to send a daily update to their team leader which can take the form of an update into a Google Document.
What is your special trick to make your VAs happy?
I find as soon as a VA is given the responsibility of accomplishing a result and they are empowered to hire their own team to achieve that result their productivity goes up 10x.
Scott Davis from NoHatDigital
What is your creative way to make a job listing?
I’m not really super creative with job listings. I just try to get all the relevant info out there and do my best to weed out people who may not be suitable for the role before they apply. I do ask a few questions about the role and also one or two random questions to make them think a little such as…. “If you could go to one place in the world where would it be and why?”
What is your interview process?
I use Skype to chat with them via text only. I generally have a bunch of pre written questions I can copy and paste into the chat box so I can get through it fast. I generally interview 2-4 people and pick the best or pick a few to test out for a particular role. When interviewing I look for great written English and some personality, and of course intelligence. I prefer to hire smart people and train them to fill in any knowledge gaps.
How do you train your VAs?
I use Jing and Google Docs to create written SOP’s with video examples. I also use google spread sheets to create checklists for all parts of an overall process. I suspect that most people have problems with VA’s due to poor training and not having a solid process.
How do you make sure that your VAs keep working and not just browsing internet?
I make them fill out a Google Docs timesheet each day and I track task verse time for almost everything. If I think they are slacking off I ask them why a particular task took them so long. This very rarely happens though and I find that just making them accountable for their time is enough to keep them in line.
How do you manage your VAs?
Sometimes I use Asana but I don’t think you really need it. I work with them early on to make sure they know exactly what they need to do each day and I track each task in their timesheet. At any time I can look at their timesheet to see what they’ve been up to. I communicate with them via Skype chat if I can to have a conversation or email if it doesn’t require back and forth chatting.
What is your special trick to make your VAs happy?
I make an effort to be very friendly with them. I don’t try to be serious or professional at all. I talk to them like they are a friend or college and not a slave.
I also have a few voice calls early on with them and just talk random crap to get to know them a little. I find this helps to get them on board with what we are doing early on. I also find that when people work in teams they seem to be more happy also. My last tip is to check in with them to make sure they like what they are doing. If they don’t like their day to day job then they will either become unresponsive or just leave.
William Ma one of the NoHatDigital Retreat participants
What is your creative way to make a job listing?
I post something on online jobs.ph and state in the job description I am looking for a VA but state something about sending me an email with a keyword.
What is your interview process?
I have a spreadsheet for them to fill out and after each spreadsheet have them send over a keyword so my filter can auto respond to them with the next round of interview.
How do you train your VAs?
I do a daily training for a specific task… if I have a video I would show them it.
How do you make sure that your VAs keep working and not just browsing internet?
I have rescue time on their machine as well as time proof from online jobs.ph. It screen captures every 10 mins and rescue time does timing for each application open.
How do you manage your VAs?
I use Trello.
What is your special trick to make your VAs happy?
Pay them on time and chat with them often to get their feedback.
Matt Stack from Progressive Digital
I learned from Joy Proof how to hire and manage VAs
What is your creative way to make a job listing?
I post a job listing with full job description and requirements. Sometimes I use small video in job listing and canned auto respond emails to cut unqualified candidates.
What is your interview process?
I am using Skype and asking many pre-made questions during interview.
How do you train your VAs?
I am using Google Docs with training tutorials to train VAs.
How do you make sure that your VAs keep working and not just browsing internet?
I have been using Time Doctor to track VAs performance.
How do you manage your VAs?
I am using Joy Proof software to manage VAs.
What is your special trick to make your VAs happy?
I pay bonuses for the best job and I treat them like real people.
Steve Rendell from Texfly
What is your creative way to make a job listing?
I don’t try to be creative with my job listing.What I do ensure though, is that I clearly list out what skills I require, a rough outline of what I expect them to be doing (including mentioning exclusivity if a full-time position) as well as what is expected of them I will also add a small tripwire into the advert, something like “When you apply, please also tell me about something interesting that happened to you this weekend.”Those who apply and don’t fulfill this requirement instantly get dropped from the application process. If they can’t follow clear instructions when applying for the job, then they sure as won’t do it when they are working for you. It’s easier to spend the time in the hiring process rather than rehiring in a months time.
What is your interview process?
I’m not keen on the interview process, I will usually pick the top three candidates from those who have applied correctly and give them all a two-week trial. I’ll be up front with them and say, look you three were the best, and you’re in competition with each other, so this is what I want you to do.
After a couple of weeks, the two who don’t make the cut get paid whatever they are owed and I will only continue to use the person who impressed me the most.
How do you train your VAs?
I’m a big user of Google Docs. When I am doing tasks for myself, I create a step by step flow chart of the process. I keep these documents up to date, and will give access to my VA when they are doing a particular task. Don’t forget to ask for feedback from your VA as well, if some parts are unclear, I will spend the time to expand the steps to give greater clarity.
How do you make sure that your VAs keep working and not just browsing internet?
I know how long each task would take me, and how long I expect the VA to take. If I give a task that takes me 4 hours, and I expect the VA will take maybe 6 hours to do it to my standards, then that is how much time I allocate for each task. If they can do it quicker, and up to the required standards then I don’t particularly care if they surf the internet. I’m very results oriented, if someone is doing a good job in a reasonable time – I’m happy.
If you use a service like oDesk you get snapshots of the contractors computer while they are working – this is a fairly draconian way to see if they are putting in the required effort, but it does work well.
How do you manage your VAs?
Email and Skype are the main channels I use.
What is your special trick to make your VAs happy?
Paying a fair rate, on time and not treating them like shit. If they are Filipino then they also will get the 13th month bonus (a months salary as a bonus) once a year.
A lot of people treat their staff like a pit pony and wonder why they stop performing well after a few weeks. Well it’s because many people don’t treat them with respect and show them the professional standards they should be shown.
Dom Wells from Human Proof Designs
When it comes to hiring VA’s, I sometimes choose from within my circle of influence, people I know and can rely on. Even if it costs more, it’s often worth it.
For something like oDesk though, here’s the advice I’ve got based on my experiences.
What is your creative way to make a job listing?
I’ve never made a creative job listing. I usually just say, this is what I need, this is the cost, if you’re interested, include xyz in your application. There are so many people on odesk and elance that I’ve never found a shortage of applicants.
What is your interview process?
I usually tell people to answer 1 or 2 questions in their application (odesk has a great feature for this) and link me to some work they’ve done that’s related. This is a great filter, because you’ll find about 30% of the people who apply don’t even bother doing this. You can get rid of them immediately. You also have to check that the work they linked you to is really yours. If its graphic design work, use TinEye to reverse-image search.
When I find a couple of people I think look good, I hire them without an interview, and give them a simple task. If I’m hiring a research VA for example, I’ll give them some basic research tasks and see how they do. I usually hire a couple and keep the one who does best.
How do you train your VAs?
It’s an ongoing thing. You have to give them examples, clear instructions, and have your own goals clear as well. Even then they will probably not do it exactly how you wanted to do it. You’ll have to adjust and train them as you go. One thing that I’ve found is that if a VA struggles with the initial tasks you give them, no training will help, just move on to a new one. You also need to have done the task yourself several times so you know the steps involved.
How do you make sure that your VAs keep working and not just browsing internet?
You can set time limits, milestones, or just give a predetermined price for the task. Let’s say you want an infographic done. You can tell them to show you what they’ve got done after 2 hours, and if it’s not up to standard, get rid of them. This will keep them working and ensure you don’t get burned.
How do you manage your VAs?
SOPs are very useful for getting them training and building the systems. I tend to use the in-built messaging within odesk to communicate. There are many tools like Trello or even Google Drive that can help you manage them well. Again I think it’s a case of working out what is best for you, another ongoing process.
What is your special trick to make your VAs happy?
Paying bonuses and tips work well, especially at Christmas time or a similar festival. I’ve not done this myself yet, but I heard some people will also give their VA’s a percentage of a sale in order to keep them happy. This works well with project managers or other irreplaceable staff.
Generally though VA’s just want you to pay them on time, keep giving them work, and appreciate what they do.
Matthew Allen from Dumb Passive Income
What is your creative way to make a job listing?
I like to keep my job listings short and straight-forward. Just a couple of sentences describing exactly what I want and who I am looking for.
What is your interview process?
I don’t interview. I simply scan through all applicants and look at their profiles and work examples (if available). I then hire at least two and give them a trial assignment. I keep one based on their performance with the trial assignment.
How do you train your VAs?
I provide written Standard Operating Procedures (SOP’s) for certain tasks. I use videos shared via Dropbox for more complicated tasks. Constant email communication is key and there is sometimes a lot of trial and error to get a VA trained exactly right for certain tasks.
How do you make sure that your VAs keep working and not just browsing internet?
I use Odesk to hire and manage my VA’s. They must be logged into Odesk while they work and I can see screenshots that are taken at certain intervals which reveal exactly what is on their screen. Honestly, I rarely monitor these. I can pretty much tell if they are working based on number of hours worked and tasks completed. If I suspect they are wasting time – then I can go back and look at the screenshots.
How do you manage your VAs?
Almost exclusively via email. I give my VA’s access to certain Google Docs and Spreadsheets which give them further instructions for weekly tasks. But I always stay in contact via email by starting a new email thread each Monday.
What is your special trick to make your VAs happy?
Clear and constant communication are key. Fair pay of course and praise for jobs well done. I even sent out Christmas bonuses at the end of the year!
Dan Thompson from My Local SEO
What is your creative way to make a job listing?
The most important aspect that we do for our posting is outline the MOST important item. We try to narrow our focus on this as much as possible. For a first time VA we always try to start with simple tasks.
What is your interview process?
We always use Skype. Depending on the task we’ll either require them to chat or we have a typing conversation on Skype.
How do you train your VAs?
We pull several VAs at once and try a few out at a time. If a VA isn’t working out get rid of them. We start with a small task and slowly expand there role. If several VAs are failing to complete a task that we’ve assigned we need to step back and ask: are the instructions clear enough? Are we putting our VAs in a position to win.
How do you make sure that your VAs keep working and not just browsing internet?
Fixed rate contracts on Odesk.
How do you manage your VAs?
We use excel, LastPass, Skype and e-mail to manage our VAs
What is your special trick to make your VAs happy?
Expand their role over time. Some VA’s won’t be receptive to this, but if a VA isn’t interested in taking on a bigger role we’re less likely to use them in the future. One VA that I have is my go-to. He does everything from writing content, article research, outreach, web design and graphic design. Bumping his wage up slightly and giving him different jobs has kept him reliable and loyal for well over a year now. I wouldn’t even consider him a “part time employee” but we did give him a Christmas bonus and we talk regularly. An open dialogue is extremely important.
Chris Punke from App Developer Startup
What is your creative way to make a job listing?
Honestly, nothing too creative here. I’ve just tried to provide as many details about the specific jobs as I felt were needed to attract good candidates. As I narrowed them down, most of them had a few more questions before getting started and we worked those details out before I made any final offers.
What is your interview process?
So far it’s been a combination of looking at their previous work to evaluate their credentials, evaluating their email responses to a few questions related to the job, and the back-and-forth questions right before making an offer. Nothing too scripted, though I could see the value in having a more systematized process in the future as I hire more VAs.
How do you train your VAs?
The projects for which I’ve hired VA’s thus far have been fairly simple in nature. The only ‘training’ I’ve had to provide is to clearly specify what results I’m expecting. I have noticed better results when I’m able to be more clear about expectations. This probably seems obvious, but it can be hard to see outside of your own mind and see your requirements from an outsider’s perspective.
How do you make sure that your VAs keep working and not just browsing internet?
I’ve hired by project so far. So if they waste hours, it’s not on my time. I know Odesk and other platforms have a system in place to capture screenshots of the VA while they’re ‘on the clock’ if the project is hourly.
How do you manage your VAs?
Since I’ve had only small projects, a simple email back and forth has been sufficient for most projects. On occasion I’ve used Google Chat to discuss questions in real-time.
What is your special trick to make your VAs happy?
I think the key here is to be kind and generous. If your VA is doing a great job, telling them so is really important! No different than if you had an employee working for you in your office. Everyone appreciates knowing their work has been up to what was expected (or better!). On occasion I give bonuses for those who went above expectations, and those are obviously well-received. I should also mention that these are real people you’re working with — and they will have life issues or personal issues that get in the way just like an employee would. It’s important to be understanding and allow some flexibility as long as you don’t feel like you’re being taken advantage of. Kindness goes a long way to building a relationship.
Chris Lee from Rank XL
What is your creative way to make a job listing?
I try to make my job listings as specific as possible to attract only the most qualified people. A lot of people just apply randomly to every listing without even reading the whole job description.
My aim is to cut them out by asking a specific question at the end.
What is your interview process?
My interview process usually starts by a few private messages. I ask for references to past work (most important criteria for me) and their related experience in this field of work.
After that, I invite a few to Skype chat where I discuss the project more in detail. When I see a good fit, I hire them.
How do you train your VAs?
I train my VA all through Skype. If I’ve done my part right, they would already know how to do most of it all without me needing to explain everything in detail.
How do you make sure that your VAs keep working and not just browsing internet?
I pay per project and not per hour. I’ve tried both ways (paying by project and by hour) and I’ve been quoted ridiculous hours for some projects in the past. Because the tasks I outsource are things I’m experienced in and can usually do myself, I can set a more accurate price and have a good sense of the time required for completion.
How do you manage your VAs?
In the beginning, I’m working with them throughout the day. They’ll send me things to look at as they’re working on them and I’ll give feedback and further instructions.
After awhile, they have a good sense of what my expectations are and I don’t need to be over their shoulder so much.
What is your special trick to make your VAs happy?
Pay them more 🙂
At the end, that’s all they’re really looking for, right? They want to make money. Even something simple as rounding up and paying them $300 when the completion price was $280 really motivates them to continue working for you, and to do great work in the future.
Also, if I’m paying by Paypal, I’ll usually pay the sending fees myself, which most VA’s I’ve worked with really appreciated.
Andrew Youderian from Ecommerce Fuel
What is your creative way to make a job listing?
Nothing special. I just list a job description on onlinejobs.ph and send to 30-40 people job to potential candidates.
What is your interview process?
Ask them lots and lots of questions across multiple e-mails. Ask them if they have another job, how many hours they’re working, and where they live, and how they learned English, and what their skills are, and what their best skills are, and how they got those skills, and what experience they have, and ask them all these things over multiple e-mails, and you’ll get – you’ll have a much, much better understanding of who they are and how they fit into your company.
How do you train your VAs?
I am using Google Docs and Jing to record tutorials and training for my VAs.
How do you make sure that your VAs keep working and not just browsing internet?
Using tracking software which will take randomly monitor image.
How do you manage your VAs?
We are using Asana as our management tool and LastPass to manage hundreds of different passwords. Since they are virtual team members, I am trying to talk with them at least 1-2 times per week through Skype.
What is your special trick to make your VAs happy?
I am treating them like real people and doing performance reviews quarterly. Pay on time and give bonuses!
Conclusion
I hope you like this article and marked couple new tips on how to hire virtual assistants for yourself! If you would like to include your tips in the article then just use contact form and contact with me. Or add your tips in the comments below! And don’t forget to sign up for my newsletters below or just follow me on Facebook, Twitter or Google+. In next article I will show huge guide how I am building backlinks and exact guides and tutorials which my VAs follow!
Hey Yaro,
Great post – pleased to have been a part of it.
There are some good points made by everyone – essential reading for anyone looking to get themselves up and running with a VA.
Thank you Steve!
Glad to have you here!
I learn a lot form doing research how entrepreneurs hiring VAs and I improved my strategy!
Excellent resource Yaro. Thanks for putting this together. I wish I could have found a post like this when I was trying to figure out how to go about hiring VA’s. It was a little intimidating at first. Reading exact processes of others would have been very helpful.
Thanks Matthew!
Glad to have you here and thanks for providing great tips!
Thanks for including me in this Yaro, I had a good time reading the other tips too!
Thank you for great tips Dom! And I am also always asking couple random questions on job listing and this right away sort out spam and not interested candidates.
I would recommend Hire Your Virtual Assistant to anyone who needs a motivated, professional and courteous assistant. I am a sincerely satisfied.
I just want to tell you that I am just new to blogs and truly loved you’re website. Probably I’m likely to bookmark your website . You actually have impressive articles. With thanks for revealing your blog.
Hello there, I found your web site by way of Google whilst searching for a related subject, your web site came up, it seems to be good. I’ve bookmarked it in my google bookmarks.
I simply wanted to send a small comment to be able to appreciate you for the nice pointers you are posting here. My extended internet research has at the end of the day been compensated with incredibly good facts and strategies to talk about with my pals. I would express that many of us readers are definitely fortunate to be in a magnificent site with many brilliant people with helpful guidelines. I feel really blessed to have used the web pages and look forward to really more fun minutes reading here. Thank you once again for everything.
Superb website you have here but I was curious if you knew of any forums that cover the same topics talked about in this article? I’d really like to be a part of community where I can get suggestions from other knowledgeable individuals that share the same interest. If you have any suggestions, please let me know. Bless you!
Faytech North America is a touch screen Manufacturer of both monitors and pcs. They specialize in the design, development, manufacturing and marketing of Capacitive touch screen, Resistive touch screen, Industrial touch screen, IP65 touch screen, touchscreen monitors and integrated touchscreen PCs. Contact them at http://www.faytech.us, 121 Varick Street,3rd Floor,New York, NY 10013,+1 646 205 3214
Very interesting information!Perfect just what I was looking for!
My wife and i were thankful that Edward could deal with his reports using the ideas he obtained when using the web site. It’s not at all simplistic to simply be offering tips and tricks which usually other people may have been making money from. We really keep in mind we need the writer to thank because of that. The most important illustrations you’ve made, the simple blog menu, the relationships you will make it easier to instill – it’s most overwhelming, and it is helping our son in addition to us know that this content is satisfying, and that is very mandatory. Thanks for the whole thing!
It certainly is near unthinkable to see well-aware men and women on this matter, fortunately you look like you be aware of the things that you’re posting on! Thank You
Hello there, simply turned into receptive to BLOGURL thru Search engine, and found that advise informative. I’m gonna watch away for brussels. I will appreciate should you continue this in foreseeable future. A lot of other individuals will be benefited from the writing. Cheers! NAME
Pretty beneficial information you have remarked, thanks so much for writing.
87220 28913I like the way you conduct your posts. Hmm 892981
Howdy very cool web site!! Guy .. Excellent .. Amazing .. I’ll bookmark your website and take the feeds additionally…I’m happy to find numerous useful info right here within the submit, we’d like work out extra techniques on this regard, thank you for sharing.
Thanks for the marvelous posting! I truly enjoyed reading it, you may be a great author.I will always bookmark your blog and will often come back sometime soon. I want to encourage you to ultimately continue your great writing, have a nice morning!
I like the efforts you have put in this, thanks for all the great posts.
Definitely insightful knowledge that you have said, thanks a lot for putting up.
I simply desire to inform you that I am new to wordpress blogging and thoroughly cherished your post. Most likely I am likely to store your blog post . You seriously have impressive article blog posts. Value it for sharing with us your main site webpage
Hello, I log on to your blogs daily. Your humoristic style is awesome, keep doing what you’re doing!
I was looking at some of your blog posts on this site and I believe this internet site is real informative! Continue putting up.
I simply could not depart your site prior to suggesting that I really loved the usual info an individual supply on your guests? Is going to be back incessantly in order to investigate cross-check new posts
This is most suitable day to construct some plans for the upcoming. I’ve scan this post and if I should, I wish to suggest to you you handful of helpful tips.
Today, I went to the beach front with my children. I found a sea shell and gave it to my 4 year old daughter and said “You can hear the ocean if you put this to your ear.” She placed the shell to her ear and screamed. There was a hermit crab inside and it pinched her ear. She never wants to go back! LoL I know this is entirely off topic but I had to tell someone!
Hi there! This article could not be written much better! Looking at this article reminds me of my previous roommate! He continually kept preaching about this. I will send this post to him. Pretty sure he will have a great read. Thanks for sharing!
I truly appreciate this post. I¡¦ve been looking everywhere for this! Thank goodness I found it on Bing. You’ve made my day! Thx again
Perfectly composed written content, Really enjoyed reading.
Thank you for every other informative site. The place else may I get that type of info written in such a perfect manner? I’ve a undertaking that I am just now running on, and I have been at the glance out for such information.
F*ckin’ remarkable things here. I’m very satisfied to see your article. Thank you so much and i’m looking forward to contact you. Will you kindly drop me a mail?
Wow, wonderful blog layout! How long have you been blogging for? you made blogging look easy. The overall look of your site is magnificent, let alone the content!
I gotta bookmark this website it seems invaluable invaluable
Normally I don’t read post on blogs, however I would like to say that this write-up very compelled me to check out and do it! Your writing taste has been amazed me. Thanks, very great article.
It is truly a nice and useful piece of info. I¡¦m happy that you simply shared this helpful info with us. Please keep us informed like this. Thanks for sharing.
I must express some thanks to the writer just for rescuing me from this incident. As a result of searching through the the net and getting methods which are not productive, I was thinking my life was done. Existing minus the answers to the difficulties you’ve sorted out all through your main website is a critical case, and the kind which could have adversely affected my entire career if I had not encountered your website. Your own knowledge and kindness in playing with every item was valuable. I don’t know what I would’ve done if I had not come upon such a stuff like this. I can also now relish my future. Thanks so much for this expert and effective help. I won’t think twice to suggest your blog post to anybody who ought to have recommendations on this subject matter.
Heya i’m for the first time here. I came across this board and I find It really useful & it helped me out much. I hope to give something back and help others like you aided me.
I am only writing to make you understand of the awesome discovery my wife’s daughter went through viewing your webblog. She picked up a lot of things, with the inclusion of what it’s like to have an awesome giving nature to have other folks really easily know precisely a variety of complex matters. You actually surpassed people’s desires. Many thanks for offering the interesting, trusted, edifying and also fun tips on that topic to Evelyn.
I just hope to reveal to you that I am new to writing and absolutely cherished your post. Very likely I am prone to remember your blog post . You truly have superb article materials. Delight In it for swapping with us your main url report
Biocentro.cl en PROVIDENCIA, Santiago Chile es el mejor en impartir cursos de masajes, cursos de masajes, cursos de masaje, cursos de masajista
Hello. remarkable job. I did not imagine this. This is a impressive story. Thanks!
Some really good articles on this site, thanks for contribution. “I finally know what distinguishes man from other beasts financial worries. – Journals” by Jules Renard.
MichaelJemery.com is a site with many hypnosis downloads. Whether you are looking for free hypnosis downloads, self hypnosis download for mp3, video and any audio files, Michael Jemery has the downloads for you. You can download hypnosis from apps, audio, mp3 and even youtube !