How to Hire the Perfect Remote Executive Assistant for You [2022]

Just imagine that it's just 10 am, the day is already slipping away. Twenty messages are piling up in your email, and you have invoices to send and clients to look after. You should be maneuvering, planning, leading, and motivating as a leader. Instead, the subtleties are making you drowsy. It must be so exhausting!?

Many entrepreneurs struggle with this issue. Even if you aren't yet overburdened, you are prevented from moving forward with the tasks you want to undertake, where you can utilize your unique abilities and experiences.

Hiring a virtual assistant is a popular approach.

A Remote Executive Assistant's Capabilities:?

It's crucial to first comprehend the capabilities of a remote executive assistant.?

Most of their labor is often administrative in nature. This goes beyond the straightforward, repetitive tasks like composing minutes, invoicing, and mail sorting. Additionally, there are more complex responsibilities like scheduling, organizing a trip, conducting research, and managing expenses that call for initiative and intellect but may be given to a clever employee with the right training.

Some virtual personal assistants have specialized training and background. They could manage accounts, social networking sites, or IT support for you. This might be a major benefit because it eliminates the need for you to hire additional experts. However, these kinds of virtual personal assistants are uncommon and can only offer their expertise in a certain field. The majority of assistants are specialists.

Identify Your Virtual Assistant's Needs?

You must consider what a virtual personal assistant will accomplish for you specifically if you want to take full use of their services.?

Think about how you plan on using your virtual assistant. What administrative activities are you willing to delegate to someone else? Do you want them to take on any specialized roles in addition to the routine administrative ones?

Calculate how long it will require your virtual executive assistant to complete these responsibilities once they are accustomed to doing so. Are there any times throughout the day or week that these activities must be completed? This will specify how many help hours you require and when.?

Now comes the distressing question: What exactly is your budget? In most circumstances, you get what you pay for. When you cheap out on something, you'll most probably end up disappointed. The more money you put in, the more hours you can secure, the more you can demand that those hours meet your timeline, and the finer the caliber of virtual personal assistant you'll get.?

At last, decide what you're going to accomplish with the extra time you have. Wasting money on an assistant before you're fully prepared to benefit from them is futile.

Do your homework?

Now that you have that knowledge, it's time to get ready. Even while it may seem like you're working more hours than you're freeing up, the effort will be worthwhile in the long haul.?

Look up virtual assistants and the businesses that offer them. Both Google and websites that hire freelancers are on your side. Reach out to the businesses and assistants you think will fit your requirements. Request additional details about their offerings and make plans to speak with them about your needs and their capabilities.

Prepare activities for your virtual executive assistant as you wait for responses. To help them understand what has to be done and how to get there, record the procedures you want them to follow. You can either write this down or utilize video screen recording to chronicle the procedure. The technique must be simple to follow in order for your assistance to complete the task without interfering with you.?

Provide instructions and examples for typical circumstances if they will be managing calls or letters. Include a description of how and when to use each one and when to handle conversations on your own.

A Comparison of Businesses and Individual Virtual Assistants:

Choose if you want to work with an individual virtual personal assistant or a business that offers them, during the preparation phase.?

Different businesses have different working methods. To get the best work from their assistants, some employers hire them full-time and offer them competitive pay and benefits. Others handle the assistants like independent contractors and take a cut of their earnings in exchange for introducing them to clients, somewhat like Uber. Some companies have employees work side by side in an office setting where they garner mentoring, coaching, and the social advantages of being surrounded by peers. Others employ personnel who telecommute.

The type of service you receive from a firm is another significant differentiator. Some companies will assign you a specialized assistant whose sole responsibility is to serve as your virtual assistance. At other times, jobs will be distributed to individuals based on availability, with the firm's systems informing them of your needs and desires. As a result, the quality of service you receive differs from business to business.?

Collaborating with a corporation helps ensure continuity of supply, regardless of its strategy. When your typical virtual assistant is unavailable due to vacation or illness, they will be able to accommodate because they have a large pool of virtual assistants.

Businesses make technological investments to guarantee the effectiveness and quality of their services. Software, for instance, can keep track of your needs and desires and instruct your virtual executive assistant to use them.?

Additionally, some businesses offer professionals who may be hired for a predetermined time. They could be social media specialists, IT support staff, travel agents, or other people with relevant training. You can access a variety of specialized abilities by collaborating with a company rather than having to recruit multiple different remote helpers.

There are various strategies to benefit from your collaboration with a business. Inquire about the types of clients they typically have, as this will reveal the kind of work they excel at. The business must also be able to provide guidance on how to utilize its services to the fullest.?

The relative value of the expenses and advantages will determine whether you choose a business or an individual assistant. The advantages of a firm, if you're able to afford it, are hard to contest.

Verifying Company Protocols?

If you're thinking about employing a company, find out more about how they run their business to determine if they're the ideal fit for you.?

How they deploy virtual assistants is perhaps one of the most crucial inquiries. This will demonstrate their level of focus on client requirements and whether they'll take your worries into consideration.

Now some practical concerns need to be addressed. How does the business demonstrate that a virtual assistant is working the hours you have paid for? How do they maintain consistency if your usual aide is absent? What are their practices for handling demand spikes when a large number of clients need assistance from the exact same group of virtual assistants?

In light of how crucial digitalization is to remote working, find out how they make the most of it. You don't want a business that is barely getting by on cloud storage and teleconferencing. To enhance the efficiency of your remote assistance and save your valuable time, you need somebody who will make investments in the newest technologies.

Examining the credentials of a virtual executive assistant

The hard job of screening individuals will be done for you if you go through an agency. You must, however, ensure that your virtual executive assistant has the necessary abilities for the position whether you're recruiting through a firm or personally.?

As with any recruiting decision, consider a candidate's background to see if it aligns with your unique requirements. You're specifically seeking for the following in a virtual executive assistant:

? Are they trained at least to a collegiate level??

? Computer literacy is required for administrative tasks and remote work.?

? Language proficiency: Do they speak any other languages that are crucial to your business in addition to your own??

? Quick learning capacity—you don't want to spend a great deal of time instructing them.?

? The capacity to adhere to established procedures.?

? A regular pattern of operation.?

Of course, having work experience is vital. A seasoned assistant will be more helpful to you than a fresh graduate. Although they won't need to have experience in your particular industry to be useful, it's still wise to choose a person who does if possible. They'll already be familiar with relevant information about your work, making it simpler to pull them up to full speed.

Assuring Accessibility?

Ensuring your virtual assistant is accessible whenever you require them is a part of the recruitment process. There seem to be a few particular factors to consider.?

Do you only need your personal assistant to be accessible during normal work hours? You'll get additional possibilities for personal assistants if all or a portion of the task can be done overnight or in a different region's time zone.

Which of the prospects are accessible on a timetable that works for you, secondly? And for a prospect who is otherwise perfect, are you prepared to make an exception on this? When your chosen executive assistant is unavailable, businesses can compensate for the absence by providing cover and guaranteeing that cover has access to every piece of information they require. It makes no sense to hire a virtual executive assistant whose timetable will only complicate your life further. They are only there to make things easier for you.

Check if the virtual assistant's availability can be adjusted to match your changing schedule if you travel for business. When you're in a different time zone, will they adjust their hours? Do they have a procedure in place to address critical issues after hours, like locating a lost boarding card just before a flight??

Do they offer a variety of communication options that you may choose from? You must be able to contact your virtual personal assistant through phone, email, SMS, as well as other frequently used chat services. In order to keep track of messages and facilitate monitoring your virtual assistant, a business can establish its own messaging platform. Some companies offer mobile apps that combine voicemail, calls, and chat and connect this interaction to the appropriate duties.

Compatibility with Technology

Usually, when we discuss technological compatibility, we are discussing whether or not devices can communicate with one another. However, there's also a human factor. You require the other person to have the same technology as you if you're going to collaborate closely with them.?

Make absolutely sure a virtual executive assistant is conversant with your best suited software and file types before hiring them.

Learn out how people use technology for collaboration, whether they are a person or a business. Are they utilizing familiar software, or at the very least something convenient and easy to use??

To accommodate the work of virtual personal assistants, an organization already has its own task management and communication tools. Check out the platform. Does it seem logical to you? Can it perform all of your needs? Are support staff members kind and the user guidelines concise??

It's important to find out if the business makes use of cutting-edge technologies like machine learning. These could be under the hood, but they can significantly enhance your experience.

Security

Security is vitally important. You're allowing someone to peek inside your company. You will be exchanging private information back and forth.?

Ensure you have a safe method for communicating, data, and documents before you begin to work with your remote assistance. A company that offers virtual executive assistants could take care of this for you. If you're traveling alone, you'll need to make arrangements for yourself.?

Set up your assistant's login information on your systems. Ensure that they do have access to what they truly require. Configure the login so that, in the event of a crisis or their resignation, you can instantaneously deny them access. You do not need an ex-employee to still have access to your private data, anyway.?

If you're dealing with a business, find out what security procedures they have in place, what security software they employ, and why they selected it. Despite the fact that you might not be an expert in cybersecurity, you need a professional who is to handle your security.?

A non-disclosure contract is the final element of security that is more legally based than technological. Ensure that any firm you hire through and your personal assistant are both covered by NDAs. No amount of cyber security can help if your assistance is disclosing your insights to others.

Finding Your Ideal Virtual Assistant

Your life can be easier with a virtual executive assistant, allowing you to concentrate on the crucial aspects of your profession. Although hiring a virtual personal assistant directly from an individual may be less expensive, using a corporation can increase the support's consistency and reliability while also bringing in specialized knowledge.?

Whatever strategy you choose, it's important to plan ahead so that you are clear on your objectives. By having the ideal assistant take up the slack, that little bit of work today will prevent you from having to work for days in the future.?

Visit our website at VAAS to find out more about how a regulated, virtual executive assistant service might benefit you.

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