
How To Hire The Worst Virtual Assistant In 5 Easy Steps
The field of virtual assisting continues to grow rapidly. There is no shortage of companies around the world offering VA services. They boast low prices and make claims on how cheaply and quickly they can get the job done. Business owners aren’t checking references and instead relying on website testimonials alone.
Advice on how to hire a VA is dished out from all different sources including real estate professionals, marketers, writers, online entrepreneurs, etc. Since when did hiring your own VA make you an expert in the field? I’ve hired a realtor several times in my life. That doesn’t qualify me to write on the subject let alone be the expert.
What’s so wrong with the information being given? For starters, it’s all surface knowledge. It only treats symptoms which don’t relieve long-term ailments. Would you rather have a doctor treat your symptoms or cure you? Additionally, it’s one size fits all. Is your business generic? If so, then great! Should you believe you’re doing something different, offer a new perspective, or filling a gap too bad.
Here are 5 surefire steps to hire the worst virtual assistant:
- Don’t speak the same language.
No, really. Have huge communications gaps, misunderstandings, and misinterpretations. Think this is a no brainer? It is the most common mistake people make.
Another language barrier business owners fail to understand is even in our own speech we speak different languages. Do you speak C-Suite and your VA speaks Zen? Are you a Southerner and your VA is a Northerner? Is your verbiage worldly and the virtual assistant’s is small town? Good on paper means nothing until you open your mouths.
2. Have different communication strategies.
If you prefer to talk on the phone. Choose a virtual assistant who never answers the phone. Enjoy texting? Find the VA who will message you on Facebook or LinkedIn. Are you a fan of Skype? Hire a VA who doesn’t even have an account set up yet.
Making it really hard to reach one another is a perfect way to sabotage your working relationship before it even begins. You have just created more work for yourself and the added frustration is the cherry on top.
3. Hire a virtual assistant who doesn’t believe in your work.
Are you an executive coach? Hire a VA who believes corporations are evil. Do you offer a holistic approach? Hire a VA who thinks you’re a hippy freak. In the legal field? Find a VA who refers to lawyers as snakes.
Having your work undermined by the very person you are paying to support you is a quick path down a dead end road. It doesn’t matter if the work your virtual assistant performs is client facing or not. Would you want a member of the opposing team in your camp?
4. Find a VA who plans to drop you as soon as a better client comes along.
Doesn’t it feel good to be just a number? Your money is good, for now. You haven’t put a lot of time and effort into finding a virtual assistant so you can bet the VA isn’t going to put time and effort into you either. Set your watch for when you need the VA the most and watch her disappear for a bigger, better, deal.
Can you expect anything different? No relationship is being cultivated. There is no sign of collaboration. Your VA is used like another factory line worker and treated as easily replaceable. The VA thinks the same of you.
5. Make VAs submit proposals and then choose simply based on the lowest bid.
How important is your business? The lowest bid means they must be the best and saving a buck now (or even $20) is sure to guarantee results. Isn’t that what you tell your clients? Are you the mattress king who won’t be undersold?
Being a virtual assistant is a career choice. We are professionals. What company or corporation do you dream of doing business with? Imagine what the CEOs executive assistant must be like. Now imagine you get a meeting with the CEO. She is bringing her assistant and you are bringing yours. Would you be proud of the VA choice you made? Real leaders value whom they let into their inner circle.
Making bad decisions and poor choices are the easy way out. It’s the quick fix that saves you steps now and then costs you double or triple in the end. So if you want to write an article on your own VA horror story follow these simple steps.
Because you can’t do it all yourself….Melissa Smith, The PVA is the bestselling author of Hire the Right Virtual Assistant and host of the Admin to VA Summit. To learn more about working with a Virtual Assistant contact Melissa here.

