Hiring Your First Virtual Assistant
They say it takes a village to raise a child. Well, I think that also applies to business and entrepreneurship!
Whatever business you have or service you provide, you need a solid, talented, and reliable team to function in practical matters and serve your vision in a way that will help you move forward and go to the next level!
Your success and failures depend a lot on the people you hire and the team you build, so it’s important that you build a team that has a solid foundation of trust and values while delivering on high-quality standards.
One of the ways to build your village is by hiring virtual assistants. Hang tight, because we’re going to talk about why and how I do this, the amazing tool I use to find people, key steps in hiring them, and why this is so important.
Get ready to learn and grow your own amazing team of heroes!
Why do I outsource?
A really smart way I’ve found and I firmly believe in when it comes to building a team or a village is through outsourcing. I often talk a lot about the advantages of outsourcing - we can probably cover that in detail another time - but for this particular topic, I want to focus on its advantages and disadvantages in a business context.
There’s one really important advantage outsourcing has and it’s this: it costs so much less than hiring someone locally. For instance, an employee here might charge $4000-5000 for a position in my company, whereas someone with the same level of skill and expertise in a particular area might cost only $400-500.
Right off the bat, you’ve got a really sound financial reason for outsourcing. That’s about 3 or 4 people you can hire from outsourcing versus just one person locally.
Now I hire most of my employees from the Philippines, They’re very loyal; they won’t become competitors. Even if I share my secrets and tips on what I do for me and my clients, they won’t start up their own company to rival mine.
Another advantage is that they have almost the opposite time zone from where I am. So while I sleep, they’re starting work. This means my company is producing work and content ‘round the clock. It gives us such a clear advantage and it’s so much more practical in terms of results.
It does take a little while longer to train them. I call it the “handholding phase”. It takes more time because you can’t see them face-to-face, so you can’t tell them what they might be doing that’s wrong or not the way you want it to be. There’s also a cultural and communication barrier that might be difficult to navigate.
So you’ve gotta have the patience for it!
But once you and your team get the hang of it and start communicating consistently and professionally, it gets to be fulfilling on both your parts. You get to give them great financial benefits and freedom with their schedule, while you get really top-notch work for a much lower price and wiser strategy.
Where to find employees and virtual assistants
You might be wondering, “Well, Nate, that sounds great! But where in the world do I find these people? How can I get started on outsourcing?”
I want to introduce you to this really awesome and effective tool I use to find employees. Let’s explore it so I can really help you understand how it works and why it’s one of the best tools out there for outsourcing, especially when you’re just getting started.
Are you ready to dive in?
The website I use is called the Virtual Assistant Tool and you can find it at virtualassistanttool.com. Once you get to the site, you can go ahead and give it a once over so you can really get a sense of how it works.
After that, I want you to skip right down to the bottom and click on the link that says Advanced Skill Search. It’ll show you different categories for skill sets and positions so you can look for what you need.
Now let’s say you need someone who’s really good at designing logos. You’ll see a category there that says “Graphics and Multimedia”. It’ll give you more specific areas of expertise so you can really narrow down your search.
Each person on their database who’s looking to get hired rates themselves on how well they can do different skills. The really cool thing about this website is that they’re only allowed to rate themselves 5 stars on a limited number of skills. This makes it easier for you to sort through people who really are experts in what you’re looking for.
So if you need someone to design logos, you can go ahead and highlight 5 stars on that skill. You’d probably also want them to be really good at Photoshop, so you can also highlight 5 stars on that too.
Of course, you need to communicate with them on a regular basis so you can keep track of how well they’re doing, what challenges they might be facing, how consistently they meet deadlines, and all those practical things. So you need them to be pretty good at writing and speaking in English. You can go for 3 or 4 stars for those areas.
Another awesome feature this website has is called ID Proof Scorer. Finding employees online can sometimes be risky, so Virtual Assistant Tool protects you by letting you know if the profiles you encounter are real people or not. It gives them a score based on their history, how active their Facebook profile is, and asks them for real IDs to help detect scams and different kinds of fraud.
If you’re looking for someone who’s really committed to your company and the work you need, you can choose the filter “Full-Time” so you can find people who are looking for full-time employment.
There are times when you might see a candidate who has great experience and seems like a really good fit for your company, so you hit them up and offer them an opportunity to work for you. Guess what - they just don’t respond to your messages!
That’s usually a huge bummer, so you can avoid that by choosing “Last active in a month or less” in the “Date” criteria of your search. If you want to really narrow down your search, go for “Last active in a week or less.” They’d be more likely to respond to your messages.
Here’s another tip: You can also type in keywords if you have something in mind that’s really specific to your company. For instance, if you need a bookkeeper who knows how to use QuickBooks, you can put in “QuickBooks” with quotation marks and you’ll see people who mentioned it in their profile. This is really helpful since it also helps narrow down your list of candidates.
You can change your filters any time while searching, so don’t be afraid to modify your search when you need to!
Going through resumes
When you’re satisfied with your filters, you can hit search and start looking for people!
There’s a lot of variety in the candidates you’ll find, so I’ll give you a few tips and share some possible scenarios to help you sort them through.
It’s important that they have a photo on their profile. It’s one of the things that will really help you verify their identity, so that’s automatically a plus for anyone who’s a potential employee.
Their profile shows you their experience and skill summary so you can get familiar with how qualified they are for your position. You’ll encounter a lot of people with different experiences, so it’ll be up to you to decide what credentials you think are really important and should take priority.
For example, you can have someone who only has a high school diploma but is equipped with 11 years of experience. Is it more important that they have more experience or a formal education? Which one better meets your needs and demands?
They also write it themselves which gives you a good idea of how well they can communicate in English. It’s up to you if you can bypass a few mistakes - it really depends on the position you’re offering and what you need for your company.
I also mentioned earlier that you can see their ratings on different skill sets so you can check out all the other skills they’ve featured in their profile. You can see what their weaker points might be or what tasks they might not be able to deliver top-quality work on.
You’ll also see their salary expectations so you can figure out what fits your budget and how flexible you can be with it. If we go with our logo designer example from earlier, most people from the Philippines charge about $400-500 for that kind of position. Someone with more experience and advanced skills might ask for $600-700. So again, it’s all up to your standards and your company’s financial situation.
The hiring process
Let’s recap a bit: so you filter your search based on potential employees’ skills, experience, ability to communicate in English, recent activity on Virtual Assistant Tool, commitment to full-time or part-time employment
When you’ve really narrowed down your list, it’s best to keep your number of candidates to about 30-40. It’s easier to sort them through and requires less of your time and effort.
Now how do you actually get to hiring them?
The first thing to do is send them a message through the Virtual Assistant Tool system. It sends to their email account too, so you can be assured they receive it one way or another.
For your first message, you don’t really have to go into detail about your company or the position you’re hiring for. Just give them the gist of it with a brief message that goes something like this: “Hey, this is me. I’ve been hiring from the Philippines for so-and-so years. This is what we do and we’re looking for someone to fill this particular position. If you’re interested, email me back and let’s work through the details.” That’s really all you need to say and it’s what jobseekers usually expect anyway.
When you send out this template to your list of 30-40 people, usually about half or so of them will respond. I start filtering people in my mind immediately so you can think of certain candidates you want to prioritize.
The next thing I do is make them a custom video. It’s not a professional one, I don’t get my Canon cameras out or any fancy equipment. I usually just use my Macbook webcam to record a selfie video.
I do this because to let them know it’s legitimate. As much as I need to trust them, they need to trust me. They need to know my work is real and successful.
But there’s another reason I do this and it’s because I use my Macbook to show them around my channel. I switch the camera around and give them a look at my videos, the views I’ve had and my subscribers, so they have a basic idea of what I do and what my content is.
I also explain in general terms what I’d be asking for from them, the tasks they would need to fulfill, and what I’m looking for overall. So instead of writing down a really long and tedious job description, I just verbalize it which gives it that personal, conversational feel.
It’s a lot quicker and it’s more effective at getting the person really invested. It’s a custom video that addresses their name and talks about their experience, so it’s also flattering for them that I took the time to make my video for them personally. It lets you really get down to the details of what you’re looking for without it being too much of an effort on both you and the person you’re hiring.
After I give them the details about my company and the tasks and requirements of the position, I tell them how to apply at the end of my video. I ask them to take a selfie video.
This can be tricky, especially when you’re hiring from a third-world country. They might not have phones, but you can assure them that it doesn’t have to look professional. It can just be a webcam they set up or a phone video if they have one.
So I just ask them to talk to me! I ask them to talk about their experience, their skills, how it relates to the company, and why they want to work for my company. It lets their personality really shine through.
Some of them don’t respond when I ask for their selfie video and for me, that’s a really good filter. It means they don’t want to try something that might be a little uncomfortable or difficult.
I actually had an experience with an employee who submitted his selfie video with bloopers at the end. He mentioned during his video that he kept messing up, so he added these funny clips that showed where he fumbled a bit. I loved it because I knew he really took the effort to make it, he showed me more than just the professional side of his personality, and he had a sense of humor too!
An important thing I always do is I give them a trial assignment. They usually do show you their portfolio which gives you a sense of what they can do, but it’s important to know how well they can work within your company’s style and demands. You can also find out where they might need a little bit more coaching or guidance.
I definitely pay them for the trial assignment, because the point is to gauge how willing they are to take on the task, how well they deliver on the tasks required, and how far they are in terms of skill.
Once you decide to hire them, then you have to communicate with them regularly. What I do is I communicate with my team through Voxer. It’s a messaging app where you can connect with people wherever they’re from, you can send audio messages, and chat with my employees regularly about how they’re doing and performing on the tasks I need them to fulfill. It’s a really effective tool, so you might wanna check it out too!
Your village is important
Just like it’s hard to raise a child alone, you can’t take on all the demands of your company as a lone wolf. You need help from people who have experience and expertise in different fields to make your business really soar up high.
It’s a symbiotic relationship because, for my team, they feel grateful that I’ve given them job opportunities and raised their quality of living. I’ve also given them the privilege of working from home and getting to decide their own hours for a good, stable salary.
Outsourcing and hiring people from countries like the Philippines is a remarkable feat; it lets you explore smarter choices when it comes to building your team. It also exposes you to all kinds of people that can take your business to the next level and get you started on the path of amazing success!
Do you have any experience with outsourcing? How do you feel about hiring virtual assistants? How do you think it can help your business along? Let me know and let’s talk about it!