When you’re in need of a Virtual Assistant, one of the best ways to find one is by tapping the experience of your network. If you’re going to find a Virtual Assistant by networking, here are 12 places to look:
Face to face
- Talk to people you meet at networking events
- Talk to the people who run networking events, they’ll probably know some Virtual Assistants or people who might be able to give you a lead
- Ask any Virtual Assistants you meet at networking events. If they can’t help you, they’ll probably have a network they can pass your details on to.
- Have conversations with people you meet on a day-to-day basis, including at school pickups, the grocery store, waiting on an elevator etc.
Online networking
- Post to groups on LinkedIn. There are groups specifically for finding a Virtual Assistant, plus you can post in any other relevant groups you’re in asking for recommendations
- Ask your LinkedIn network
- Do a LinkedIn search for Virtual Assistants in your network
- Ask your Facebook network – ask the question on both your personal & business pages
- Post to appropriate Facebook groups
- Ask your Twitter network
- Ask Google+
- Ask on any other social media site that has people like you
What to ask
When you’re talking to people, and to prospective Virtual Assistants, here are a few ideas about what you should ask about.
- What sort of jobs do they get their Virtual Assistant to do?
If you need a Virtual Assistant to help with social media, a Virtual Assistant who is great with formatting complex documents but who has little or no social media experience will be of little help to you. - Have they got any tips for a successful relationship?
Working with a Virtual Assistant can be hard to get your head around when you’re not used to working with remote staff. For example, I find people are often reluctant to give negative feedback about something in case they appear rude. However if they don’t give the feedback, I can’t pick up on visual and often auditory cues to know that they’re not 1000% happy. So honest and straightforward communication is something I always advise my clients to use. - How did they find their Virtual Assistant?
Sometimes a Virtual Assistant might be great for one person, but not for you. In that case, find out where your friend found their Virtual Assistant. It might be a Virtual Assistant Network, a LinkedIn or Facebook group, or from an online directory. Wherever it was, it may work for you too. - Are they recommending a Virtual Assistant they know, or one they’ve worked with before?
This can be a bit tricky, but just because someone is lovely it doesn’t necessarily make them competent, and it definitely doesn’t mean they’ll be a great fit. Finding out if someone is recommending someone they’ve used as opposed to someone they know can give you an idea of how much time you need to spend vetting them.
What to look for
No matter how much you value a friends opinion, you still need to vet the Virtual Assistant for yourself. If your prospective Virtual Assistant is someone you’ve met while networking, you’ll probably have a good handle on these questions already, but if the Virtual Assistant is a recommendation, it’s worth discussing these things up front:
- What you want them to do?
You need to find a Virtual Assistant who can do what you need done. It doesn’t matter how well you click with someone, if they’re not good at you want done, you’re not likely to have a successful working relationship. That doesn’t mean that you need a Virtual Assistant for each job you need done, but if you want specific things done you need to hire people who can do those specific things. - Do they work with direct competitors?
This may or may not matter to you. For the Virtual Assistant it shouldn’t make much difference unless their competitor client has a problem. A Virtual Assistant should remain discrete and professional to both parties. But, depending on your industry and the competitors it might make a difference to you. If it does, or if you feel slightly uneasy about it, bring it up to a prospective Virtual Assistant and talk about what you need to feel confident. - What is their availability?
I’m sure you want them to be available 24/7, but that’s not likely to be the case. There are really 2 issues to discuss here. Firstly, how many hours a week do you anticipate needing? If you need a lot of work done each week, you need a Virtual Assistant who has the time available to do that work. Secondly, you might want to discuss the Virtual Assistants turnaround times and how long it will take for your jobs to get done as well as what provision there is for rush jobs and urgent work outside of business hours. - What is their rate?
How much do they charge and how does that work with your budget? Do they have packages available or do they charge an hourly rate? Are there additional fees and charges for late payments, urgent work or work outside of business hours and on weekends?
Now that you know how to find a Virtual Assistant by networking and you know what to ask a prospective Virtual Assistant, I hope you feel more confident outsourcing your admin to a Virtual Assistant. If you’ve still got any questions, feel free to drop me a line and ask in the comments, on social media or through the contact form on my website.
