Entrepreneurs are depending more and more on virtual talents. Increased workload and rising daily demands mean that, eventually, you’ll need to hire an assistant to help you out. More likely than not, your hiree will be from a foreign country; someone you may never see in person. It can be difficult to gauge expertise and personality through video chats and emails. Therefore, asking the right questions during the interview process can ensure you select the right talent for your project.
- What do you consider your core skills and services?
This initial question will determine if the individual has the skills you need. Do you need someone to organize your schedule, arrange meetings, and book travel? The candidate’s responses should match your requirements. There are many different types of virtual assistants, and you must have a clear idea of what you’re looking for.
- Tell me about your experience as a virtual assistant
An open-ended question like this will help you assess the communication skills of your potential VA. Let your candidate tell you why they decided to be a VA and what they like most about it.
- What time zone are you in?
A virtual assistant can be based anywhere in the world, so it’s important to make sure they can work with you in your time zone. If you are based in the United States and your VA is in India, that’s a time difference of between 10 to 11 hours. It means your VA will have to stay awake at night, and not everyone is willing to do that.
- How many hours a day/week can you devote to my project?
You should already know how many hours you want from a virtual assistant each week. Aligning their availability with your needs will determine if it’s a good match.
- Do you have a preferred method of communication?
This question is to make sure your work styles align. The ideal VA candidate will be comfortable communicating with you through the channels you choose.
- What tools do you use in your work?
Instead of listing the tools you use in your business and asking “Do you know how to use this?” make it an open-ended question and see if there are matches. If your VA already uses tools such as Asana, WordPress, Basecamp, or any others, and those are the tools you use, that’s a plus.
There may be other questions you’d like to ask your VA specific to your industry and the tasks at hand. These questions are general and will prove useful in knowing more about a potential VA.
Thank you so much for this article! This was exactly what I needed.
You’re very welcome!