It’s not easy for anyone, let alone an independent HR consultant, to choose a Virtual Assistant (VA). Some VAs are good, some are bad and some are GREAT. Add to this that you’re busy — very busy, and you may put off hiring a VA until your need is so great that you choose the first VA that applies to your Request for Proposal (RFP). To make it a little easier for you to find a GREAT VA, I’m going to tell you what to look for in a VA.
Professional First: Always, always, always choose a professional VA. Why? Because a professional VA manages herself, her work, her time and her professional relationships. Because she has knowledge, skills and experience. Because a professional VA will be mindful of your image and represent you as a professional.
Like you, a professional virtual assistant has worked in the corporate world, and she knows what you and that world expect of a professional, and she will never represent you, or herself, as anything less.
Industry Knowledge: Choose someone who has worked in human resources either as a HR assistant, HR coordinator, HR administrative assistant or an office manager. The latter can be extremely helpful in screening email and voicemail, returning telephone calls and dealing with routine matters.
Experience: You want a VA who has years of administrative and secretarial experience. Although, personally, I love newbies, you are too busy to train a newbie. You need and want someone who can hit the ground running. Someone who already knows the administrative aspects of running a business, and the nuances of working with other professionals.
Administrative Skills: There is more to great administrative skills than filing, photocopying and word processing. There’s budgeting and being able to read financial reports. There’s getting a person’s name right during a telephone conversation and in an email message. It’s the little details that separate the great VAs from the average VAs.
There’s also proofreading, a skill that I’m sad to say, eludes far too many of today’s virtual assistants to say nothing of the population in general. Choose a VA who knows and understands that running spell check is not good enough. A GREAT virtual assistant also proofreads everything before calling it finished. Copy of any kind has a direct impact on your image. Copy riddled with typos, misspellings, incorrect word usage and missing words subtracts from your image as a professional and, quite frankly, labels you as uneducated. As I said previously, a GREAT virtual assistant always has your image uppermost in her mind.
Technical Skills: Administrative skills simply aren’t enough. You work online almost (maybe more) as much as you work offline. It’s necessary that your VA’s technical skills are as good as yours. However, I venture to say that your VA’s skills have to be better than yours. You’ll need a VA who knows how to update and maintain a website (maybe create one), a VA who knows how to add e-commerce (sell things and receive payments) to your website, a VA who knows how to create and maintain a blog, a VA who knows how to create and publish an electronic newsletter (ezine) and maybe a VA who knows how to create a podcast and maybe a video.
At the very least, you need a VA who, if she doesn’t know how to do the technical things listed above, knows someone who does and to whom she regularly outsources this kind of stuff. This VA will not only arrange for this stuff to be done, she’ll also keep an eye on these vendors for you, ensuring that the work is done on time and to your satisfaction.
A ‘Real’ VA: Way back in the 1990s, when VAs were first conceived, the thought was that a VA would be an administrative assistant and business owner. Since then, the term VA has been bent out of its original shape and everyone, from web designers to concierges, who works on the web has adopted the moniker of VA.
When looking for a VA, make sure she’s the real McCoy; make sure that she’s self-employed and not someone working for or representing a VA service or agency. Why is this important? Because only another business owner can fully understand what you need and can truly appreciate and know how to best help you. Besides, a self-employed VA saves you money in the long run.
Je Ne Sais Quoi: That little something extra. An intangible that you can’t describe but you’ll know it when you see it. You may not be able to spot it right away, but you’ll know your VA has it after you’ve been working with her for a while. For now let’s say standards, ethics, honesty, dedication, accountability and responsibility are among those intangibles.
What do you think of my list of attributes for a great Human Resource Virtual Assistant (HRVA)? Did I miss anything? Please comment below, because I want to know what you think.
Until next time………..
=>Donna Caissie, the ExtraOrdinary HRVA
