There can be a lot of possible routes for hiring a Virtual Assistant.
You can post a job listing on Indeed, hire your friend’s daughter, hire someone on Upwork, or put it off for ten years. The options are endless.
But today I’m going to give you a simple check list for hiring a VA on Upwork, since that is where I have found a lot of the most quality candidates for the most affordable price.
My team and I have hired several VAs for clients, and this is the same checklist we use.
Determine the top 3 projects/tasks that take the majority of your time that could be delegated to a VA.
Determine if those tasks require a specialist or a general admin VA, then identify the time it will take per week to do the tasks to begin and a starting hourly budget.
Create preferences and requirements for the VA based on the main tasks you want them to do.
Determine or review your core values to create a hiring audit (a rating system that will help you rate each candidate on a scale of 1-10 with 10 questions: Each of your core values and questions that will help you rate if they get, want, and have the capacity to do the role well).
Set a timeline and deadlinse for creating the listing, selecting the candidates, setting up interviews, sending the practice project, reviewing the projects, and hiring the new VA. (These deadlines can be changed if needed but are imperative to have to ensure you make this a priority this week)
Create an Upwork listing using: a 1 sentence description of your business, an overview of the main tasks you’ll have your VA do, other tasks they may be responsible for, and the requirements and preferences. I also like to include qualifying questions they need to answer and a prompt like “use the word ‘Time Rich’ in your first sentence” so I know they pay attention to detail.
Review candidates we’ve shortlisted in the past to see if there are matching qualifications.
Invite 20-30 quality candidates to apply to the listing.
Shortlist good candidates and add notes.
If we want additional candidates after 3 days, ask peers for VA recommendations.
If still needing more candidates after 2 additional days, post listing on top Facebook VA groups.
After 3 more days without quality candidates, post listing on Indeed.
After 7-10 days, look through candidates for top 3-5 candidates, then invite them to an interview.
Conduct interviews using the new hire audit and interview template.
Select two to three ideal candidates and ask them to complete a practice project that would be relevant to the top task they’ll be completing to showcase their abilities, attention to detail, and ability to communicate and meet deadlines.
Review projects within 2 days of submission.
Hire the best candidate and schedule a call with them to go over the expectations, first project, deadlines, project management software, logins, and set a time for a weekly meeting.
Message all other candidates to thank them for their time.
That’s it! The whole process in just 18 steps.
Want a more thorough overview for hiring a VA with actionable emailed steps sent right to your inbox? Get $50 off my Hire a VA Course here.
Implement This: Refocus your priorities today using the Pareto Principle.