Finding and Hiring the right Virtual Assistant (VA)

TommyCarey Level X³

August 24, 2016, 11:11 am

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Hiring a VA (Virtual Assistant) can be a tedious task since there are a lot of people out there looking to do this type of job. There's a lot of people trying to get these jobs because it's usually pretty easy to do and they can work from home.

Now since it's a digital job and you can work from home, you get all types of people who will apply for this, and that's usually a good thing. You'll have to sift through a lot of bad applicants, but the ones you do find that you like will usually be pretty awesome Finding and Hiring the right Virtual Assistant (VA)

Finding and Hiring the right Virtual Assistant (VA)

When I need a VA it's usually for smaller tasks that I need done every day of the week for my marketing purposes. Right now I'm looking for a VA to do LinkedIn marketing for me and all that consists of is building connections, sending new connections messages, commenting on posts, and being active on LinkedIn. So it's a pretty easy job, but I just don't have the time to do it myself.

One of the best things about hiring a VA is that you can usually get them for pretty cheap. I'm actually talking to a girl right now who is in the Philippines who will work full time on LinkedIn for $11.00 an hour. So if she were to work 40 hours a week, for 1 month, I'd be spending roughly $990 a month. If I were to hire someone in the United States I would be paying at least $6,000 for something like this. There are even some people in the US wanting upwards of $10,000 to $11,000 a month to be a dedicated VA lol.

The best thing about hiring a VA from the Philippines is that most of the people there are fluent in English, and that's what I need Finding and Hiring the right Virtual Assistant (VA)

The currency conversion rate works in my favor and they are fluent in English which makes it a win win for everyone Finding and Hiring the right Virtual Assistant (VA)

When you're looking for a VA you can usually post on Seocheckout or other big marketplaces and make your own rates. You can actually get a VA for cheaper than $11.00 an hour if you want, but you may be cutting out some quality assistants and only getting the people who are just starting out in the field. I've had VA's who cost $100 a week and I wasn't too happy with their performance so I did not rehire them. Pay a little extra and you'll be happy you did Finding and Hiring the right Virtual Assistant (VA)

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Cristian

$990 a month? You are actually paying a pretty nice salary here Razzy. I would jump on the offer if I didn't have a 8 hours job already.
I actually just did a conversion rate and it turns out you're are paying almost my exact current net salary lol, give or take a few bucks.

I would love to have my personal assistant! But I'm not at a point where I can hire someone full time, I also don't have that much work to give and outsource. I have a couple of Indian guys on my payroll, but I don't always need them.

10 years ago

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TommyCarey

Well $990 is on the high end of what I would pay. Normally I pay around $450 if I can get a good VA for cheaper, but that's rare. I'll test a few VA's on a weekly basis and I'll pay them $115 a week to start off. After a few months if they've never messed anything up and go above and beyond what I need, I'll give them a boost to $600. After that I'll increase it little by little to keep them happy.

Doing this will increase the activity of the VA and they'll be happy to work non stop for you Finding and Hiring the right Virtual Assistant (VA)

My clients are usually paying me $850 a month so if if my VA can get just 1 in a month, I profit Finding and Hiring the right Virtual Assistant (VA)

If I'm paying them well, at $990 a month, I only need 2 clients to sign up in order to profit Finding and Hiring the right Virtual Assistant (VA)

10 years ago

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Cristian

Seems like a cool system. So basically you outsourcing right? You find some high paying clients and outsource all the work to just one VA?
You really have to teach me sometimes!

Just joking, I know the tools of the trade are never "leaked".

10 years ago

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TommyCarey

Well when I'm hiring a VA I don't have them work on stuff for clients really. When I need something done with a client I'll hire someone off of Seocheckout who has a high rating and knows what they're doing already Finding and Hiring the right Virtual Assistant (VA)

With VA's I normally only have them do small things that usually revolve around data entry jobs or lead generation from certain platforms.

10 years ago

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Lynne

Razzy you mentioned that you are using a Virtual Assistant to network for you on LinkedIn, how do you feel about giving your login details to someone?

I've got just a teeny weeny control problem. I am not comfortable giving my login details to my social networks to someone else. Like for Facebook you can just make them an admin of your group and your page but still this is your company.

And then of course what about giving someone login details to your website.. oh my I would not want to LOL.

Then my next question is how do you track how much work your Virtual Assistant is doing in the hours you are paying them for?

I totally agree with you that finding a virtual assistant is a time consuming task and when you find one that is a good fit you need to pay them more. I mean logically you can only expect someone to do a quality job if they are being paid a decent amount.

10 years ago

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TommyCarey

I've never given anyone my login details of my personal profile. They can access my fake profiles if they want lol Finding and Hiring the right Virtual Assistant (VA)

But normally I just tell them to add my business as where they're working at the moment while they're generating leads for me.

I track the amount of leads a person is sending me, not their actually time invested because it's almost impossible to do so unless I pay for a third party service. And even then it might not be 100% accurate on the tracking of time side.

Basically if it costs me more to have them work than what they're making me, I don't hire them for a second round of work Finding and Hiring the right Virtual Assistant (VA)

10 years ago

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EliteWriter

Having a virtual assistant is something that some freelancers need to consider when they reach a certain point that they just cannot cope with all the work that needs to get done. I enjoyed reading your version of how you go about it Razzy. I think that it is a good idea to offer a relatively good rate, so as to make sure to have the VA do a good job. Otherwise you would end up getting low quality work and more trouble and hassle which you need to avoid. Certain countries like the Philippines and India offer a good opportunity to find people who are willing to work even at slightly lower rates, because for them it is still profitable. So as long as they have the skills, and good communication skills especially in the english language, it is indeed a good idea.

10 years ago

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TommyCarey

Normally I won't hire anyone out of India because of the language barrier. Their prices are a little lower than what I get in the Philippines, but I don't have to explain anything to the people in the Philippines 10+ times before they understand what I'm talking about lol Finding and Hiring the right Virtual Assistant (VA)

I have found a few good people from India, but they are web designers and programmers. With those types of jobs I can just show them an example of what I want and they code up what I need Finding and Hiring the right Virtual Assistant (VA)

10 years ago

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overcast

I know there philipines va finder website for hiring their countries talent. I think there lacks a website that sorts out the people from the US and other countries. I have seen some people making use of those sites for the search basis. I think finding a good person that can work as VA is not easy. You need to constantly search for some good guys out there. And test them on small tasks.

9 years ago

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coolavender

Wow, that was a competitive rate for such tasks. I wanted to try offering my services as an accountant online but I noticed that the job is almost always tied to a VA job and the rate is even less than what you've quoted. I guess prospective clients will always want to make the most of their money but what kind of accountant/VA can they get with such low rates? I think you've made the right decision. Your VA will likely stick with you and not look elsewhere for better opportunities.

9 years ago

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Corzhens

Maybe in the future when my plans for the blog and website have materialized, I will be needing a Virtual Assistant to help me with the chore of uploading the blogs and monitoring the traffic of the website. On the other side of the fence, I had an invitation to work as Virtual Assistant but there was no details yet. Of course, I had to decline because time is of the essence for me. I wouldn’t have the time to be working as a VA for now.

9 years ago

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