Hire the Perfect Virtual Assistant With the Right Questions
The days of being able to hire a virtual assistant are here. With the advancements in technology, people are now able to work from home as their primary job or supplement their income with some work-from-home tasks. Virtual assistants have many different responsibilities and it is important that you know what your needs are before you start interviewing them for any position.
It’s time to make sure that the next person who works for you can get things done!
Interviewing a virtual assistant is not as easy as you might think. There are many factors to consider before making your decision on who to hire.
Asking the right questions can help you find the perfect candidate for your business needs. I’ve been lucky enough to interview a few of the best team members I’ve come across and having a good interview outline has been really helpful.
I recently talked to one of our clients, Aleksandra Gontaryuk. Her company AG Law Firm is a boutique law firm that concentrates on immigration and family law, among certain other general civil areas of law. Their tech-forward efficiency approach as well as the individualized attention they provide to each one of their clients is what makes them stand out as a Law Firm.
Aleksandra hired an admin virtual assistant from Virtual Latinos and she did an amazing job interviewing Mario from Colombia. I found all the questions she asked so incredibly interesting that I had to share them to help other small business owners find their perfect match!
Here are 17 questions Aleksandra shared with us which I believe every small business owner should ask when interviewing their next virtual assistant:
1. What one skill makes you the most qualified for this position?
This is a great way to start, it allows you to identify if the candidate is aware of the position and the skills required to perform it.
2. To date, what professional achievement are you most proud of?
This is a good way to get to know your new potential VA, find out their achievements and what they did to make that happen.
3. Can you tell me about a time when you overcame a challenge?
This will help you see how past experiences have shaped the candidates as a professional and how well suited they will be to make good decisions.
4. How would you describe your own working style?
This question will help you decide whether the candidate fits in well with the company culture and the requirements of the job.
5. What three words would you use to describe your ideal work environment?
This is a complementary question from the one above, it will give you a hint of the candidate’s personality and if he/she is a team player or not.
6. If hired, what is the first thing you would tackle in this position?
What you’re looking for here is the candidate’s creativity in his approach to adding value to the company.
7. Why did you leave your last employer/your current employer?
This question is very important, you’ll discover more about what’s important to the candidate in a job and how they handle undesirable situations.
8. What’s one skill you would like to improve?
The important thing here is the candidate’s honesty about their improvement path, nobody is perfect and we always have room to learn. So, it’s an opportunity to know what their plan is for improvement.
9. What excites you most about this position?
With this question, you can ensure the candidate understands the job position they’re applying for, their comprehension of the key requirements and skills to do the job. You will be able to see if they did good research of the company’s product/services.
10. Is it better to be perfect and late or good and on time?
This answer is useful in understanding where a candidate may thrive or fail and their attitudes to their own work. Normally, the best answer is good and on time, as perfection doesn’t really exist and punctuality is normally very important for a business, but that will depend on what you’re looking for.
11. In five minutes, could you explain something to me that is complicated but you know well?
You’re just looking to see what the candidate considers ‘complicated’ and how well they can communicate and explain complex ideas.
12. Who is the smartest person you know personally? Why?
This question aims to make the candidate think about what intelligence is and how it’s used, without thinking of someone famous.
13. What is something you’d be happy doing every single day for the rest of your career?
This question emphasizes areas of strength, as well as areas of personal interest. What makes the candidate happy and what they enjoy about their career.
14. What’s the biggest decision you’ve had to make in the past year? Why?
The main point here is to let the candidate talk through how they handle a difficult or stressful situation and this is a good way to predict how the candidate will face similar situations in the future.
15. What surprised you about the interview process so far?
This is a good way to receive feedback from the candidate, have they felt the interview process challenging and exciting or difficult and tiresome?
16. Tell me about a time you disagreed with your boss and how you handle it?
A question that will give you great insight into how the candidate handled a disagreement demonstrating their maturity level, communication skills, and willingness to speak up against authority figures.
17. What was a time you received negative feedback from your boss? How did you handle it?
You are looking at their ability to handle disappointment, rejection, and criticism, and how they respond to feedback.
Interviewing your next virtual assistant or professional is the time when you get to dig deep and ask as many questions as you see fit to determine the candidate’s skills, cultural fit, and intelligence. With this, you’ll be able to discover if they are a good fit for the job they’re being interviewed for and your company. Each of these questions serves a purpose, the more you get to know your candidate the better. Choose the ones that are more relevant to you, add some new ones if you’d like, and start hiring high-qualified professionals. Who knows, your next virtual assistant might be right around the corner!
Have a Stress-Free Hiring Process with Virtual Latinos
Many clients have hired their first virtual professional with us. We know that doing something for the first time can be stressful & also scary. Have no doubt that the Virtual Latinos team makes sure every client has a quality experience with our virtual assistant services at the beginning, during, and after they hire their remote assistant or professional.
Contact Virtual Latinos today to learn more about the hiring process we have developed and how it can improve your hiring experience and interview processes while saving time!
