6 Simple Tests to Conduct Before Choosing Your VA

6 Simple Tests to Conduct Before Choosing Your Virtual Assistant

Choosing Your Virtual Assistant

Hiring a remote virtual assistant is one of the first and most important steps you can take as an entrepreneur. Although hiring virtual assistant services is like hiring any other employee, the only difference is they work from a remote location instead of a physical office. They help you perform all your mundane tasks to ensure you can focus on tasks that are a higher priority.

As the saying goes, ‘your employees make and break your business,’ it is crucial you have the right kind of people in your team. The right virtual assistant services can scale your business to the next level. It’s a strategic decision to reduce costs, increase productivity, improve work quality, and introduce flexibility in your industry.

As a bonus, new opportunities have opened up for people with multiple skill sets due to the high demand for virtual assistant services.

Therefore, if you have decided to hire virtual assistant services, you must be wondering where to start. Even though many companies provide virtual assistant services, it is essential to pick one more aligned with your business. The task might sound tedious, but trust me, the effort is worth it.

Six Tests to Find the Right VA for Your Business

Communication Skills

This is one of the most basic but crucial tests! A remote virtual assistant communicates with you and your clients regularly. You wouldn’t want someone who isn’t clear in their communication, as it might lead to misunderstandings. Ensure they know how to talk to people and communicate a message via phone call, text, chat, or email. Therefore, conduct specialized tests such as mock customer interaction and mock email writing, or ask them to take an online English proficiency exam to test their skills.

Communication also involves presenting ideas and constantly staying in touch. These tasks may include weekly phone calls, updates every starting week, or any unique ideas they have that help you stay connected.

Social Media Skills

Currently, social media plays a significant role in marketing and customer acquisition. Hence it’s essential to ensure your VA knows its way around it! Posting ads, upcoming events, offers, and blogs and researching the current market and latest trends are a few must-have skills for a remote virtual assistant. They need basic skills to manage their social media accounts like Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, etc. You can test these skills by asking them to develop ad ideas and manage your social media accounts under supervision. Also, ensure they can pop into your Twitter account and fix something or spruce up your LinkedIn account when necessary.

Management Skills/Tools

One of the core skills a remote virtual assistant must have is management and multitasking. Management skills are the ability to navigate and quickly learn whichever management tool your company uses. Apart from using basic applications such as MS Office or Google apps, you can assess the VA’s skills in the following categories-

  • Core skills – These are the must-haves!
  • Supplementary skills – The nice-to-have skills.
  • Bonus skills – As the name says, it’s a bonus for you!

Furthermore, ensure your remote virtual assistant knows how to make things work even during a busy schedule. This requires sound planning and scheduling skills. An excellent remote virtual assistant must be able to automate, schedule notifications, and quickly reorganize your entire day schedule like a piece of cake.

You can test these skills by asking them about the tools they are familiar with and their proficiency. You can also put them in high-pressure situations and see how they perform.

Accountability and Ownership

We all make mistakes. Learning is a process of making mistakes. But owning up to them and focusing on improving is admirable. Ensure that your remote virtual assistant has ownership qualities to see tasks through and is accountable for the aftermath. Also, make sure your VA’s priorities align with yours and know how to navigate conflicts with kindness. You wouldn’t want someone rude as it would reflect negatively on your brand.

Hence, you can test these qualities by conducting interactive mock sessions where an examiner can evaluate their performance based on their problem-solving skills. Also, you can check their accountability and ownership by conducting group events and activities to see if they own up to their tasks.

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Timeliness and Dependability

An eye for detail is always a great advantage for any business. Remote virtual assistants with this skill can be very beneficial. They can produce detailed reports to track a project’s status, progress, and areas for improvement. Even though this might take up time, a remote virtual assistant must have a knack for finishing all tasks before deadlines. Also, when handling charges related to customer details, it’s always necessary to ensure they take measures to maintain confidentiality.

Therefore, you can test these skills by assigning them tasks with strict deadlines and checking how effectively they get completed.

You ask them about how they handle sensitive information and call references.

Experience

Suppose you own a small startup, and your audience comprises a serious and evolved group of people and decision-makers. You wouldn’t want an amateur working for you with no industry experience. Virtual assistant services with a background in your business sector help to understand what the audience wants. Also, this will help you come up with quick solutions to any glitches. You can test these skills by putting them in mock situations or asking them questions such as:

  • What would you do if you received a task you didn’t know how to complete?
  • What will you do if you work on a strict deadline and your computer crashes?
  • Give an example of when you proactively addressed a client’s need.

Hiring virtual assistant services is a great way to increase productivity and focus on what matters. To ensure you hire a suitable VA, review the abovementioned skills and qualifications and determine which ones are a priority. Many companies provide remote virtual assistants for startups, entrepreneurs, or even personal remote virtual assistants. If you are looking for efficient and low-cost remote virtual assistants, Vgrow Solutions is one of the best in the industry. Get in touch for a free consultation.

Final Thoughts

Choosing the right virtual assistant for your business is crucial to ensure that your operations run smoothly and effectively. By conducting the six simple tests outlined in this article, you can evaluate a potential virtual assistant’s qualifications, work ethic, communication skills, and more. These tests include conducting a skills assessment, evaluating their work samples, checking their references, conducting a trial period, assessing their availability, and evaluating their cultural fit.

By taking the time to perform these tests, you can ensure that you are choosing a virtual assistant who is the right fit for your business and has the skills and experience necessary to help your business succeed. Remember, a virtual assistant can save you time and money, but it is essential to ensure they are the right fit for your business.

David

David Bodiford

David Bodiford has been the Chief Strategy Officer at Vserve Ecommerce. Specializing in business development and strategic planning, David leads initiatives to expand Vserve Ecommerce's market reach, focusing mainly on the B2B sector. His expertise in digital marketing and strategic partnerships is integral to enhancing the agency's ecommerce solutions.

Author

David Bodiford

David Bodiford has been the Chief Strategy Officer at Vserve Ecommerce. Specializing in business development and strategic planning, David leads initiatives to expand Vserve Ecommerce's market reach, focusing mainly on the B2B sector. His expertise in digital marketing and strategic partnerships is integral to enhancing the agency's ecommerce solutions.