Where do you find good Virtual Assistants?

Many times when members of the She’s Got Systems community have finished the 5 Days to Finding Fabulous Help video series the question comes up, “Where do I find good people to support my business?” Sometimes members are looking for in-person support for their online business so here some things to consider when you’re looking.

Do I need someone in my time zone or city or will anywhere in the world work? You may request applicants from a specific time zone or area and still get applicants outside of that region. When recruiting for the most recent She’s Got Systems team member over 90% of applicants applied from outside the requested region.

Local job boards, Facebook and in-person networking events are great places to find local talent. Positions that are location independent can be shared on a variety of job boards.

Action Step: ask people in your network where they have found their local hires if that’s important to the role.

Are you looking for someone you can train or an existing expert? It doesn’t take much training to teach simple assistant work but if you need someone who is already an expert on SEO or copywriting then you may need to go beyond the basic sites.

The more expertise you’re looking for, the harder it may be to find a qualified candidate. This is where having a process for hiring and training comes in really handy. If you have the 5 Days Videos this is covered in the Day 4 video.

Action Step: Consider before you start looking if you need a beginner or an expert.

Is this a long term hire or short term contract? While it’s not uncommon for oDesk and eLance contractors to end up staying with one client for an extended period you may also find that searching first for a long term relationship is easier. You may also check out GetHired.com for longer term hires.

Action Step: Wherever you’re looking, be clear about the expertise you require and establish a test of applicant’s abilities before hiring.

Do you have systems for training ready or will you build them as you go? If you’ll be creating training materials live with your new team member then you may want someone who is available when you are. Just a suggestion. Because if they can only be online to ask questions from midnight to 5am in your time zone then it may not be the most productive working zone.

Most sites and placement agencies have a mix of people with these qualities – some are local, some are international. Some people will want short term contracts and others long. Some are beginners to contracting and others experts. So no matter where you choose to begin your search, the most important thing you can do is get specific about what you need (Hiring Series Day 1) and communicate that very clearly to the applicants (Hiring Series Day 3).

Ya know, just go grab the hiring series if you don’t have it already, it’ll fill in a lot of the gaps and give you a step by step system for finding the right team members for your business.

One last thing to note: all sites have superstars and duds, not because they have good and bad people but because there will always be team members who would work great with you and team members that would not work for your business. It’s your job to sort through the options and find your ideal virtual assistant.