Let’s be honest. Most of us are so busy in our day-to-day work life that we fail to step back and see what we are actually getting done.
For many of us, it can seem that even though we are occupied nonstop, we don’t see any results from our busyness.
What if you could change all that?
Do you know that a Workfront survey found that U.S. employees at companies of 1000+ workers only spent 45% of their workweek on their primary job duties?
So, what happened the rest of the time? It would appear that between conversations, trips to the water cooler, and checking emails productivity waned.
This is where it’s a good idea to hire a Virtual Assistant. Someone to come in and help to handle things such as data entry, pushing paperwork, answering emails, and calendar management.
That frees up both employees and management to have more time to do their jobs.
How do you know if you need a Virtual Assistant?
It can be tempting to want to do everything; however, that can result in you wasting your time and energy.
If you’ve ever found yourself doing the same jobs over and (answering emails or entering data), then you need a VA.
However, hiring a VA may seem a little daunting, so what do you look for when you do decide to hire one?
Three things to look for when hiring a VA.
- Create a job description. Document what you do every day and find the areas that you need help in. To create an advertisement for the VA job, you need to know what you are going to list for them to do. Excel? Answering emails? Powerpoint? Make sure that you are clear on what you need them to do for you.
- Hold the interview. The next step is the interview process. Don’t be shy. Ask a lot of questions and give them real-life scenarios, such as “How would you handle confrontation?”, or “How do you stay productive?” Ask questions that are outside of the assistant profile and are more personal qualities.
- Be realistic. You are going to need to take the time to train your VA and make sure they are prepared for the role in your company. Educate them on the job for the first week or so, and once they are trained, they will be able to perform their duties as needed.
Start with a trial period, that works for both of you, to ensure that you are a good fit for each other. If you find that things aren’t working, let them know, be honest, and don’t be afraid to move on and find someone else.
Make sure that you do your research. When you are looking for a Virtual Assistant shop around and look at the qualifications. Companies like Life of Automation offer full Virtual Assistant services, such as scheduling management, general research, cloud organization, email management, social media, office, project, and vendor management, email campaign coordination, proofreading, and editing, invoice follow-ups, price comparison, market research and much, much more.
Make sure that you not only know what you are looking for but look for a company that offers everything that you need, like Life of Automation. We can help you get a head start on what’s the right fit for your business.