Virtual Assistant Checklist

Selecting Virtual Assistant

Try several virtual assistants at the same time.

Come up with a few basic tasks that will give you a good idea of their skill level.

Use tasks that require several skills.

Take the top candidates and give them a second, more difficult, project.

Settle on whomever you prefer to work with.

Key Skills of Your Virtual Assistant

Good spoken and written English.

Proactive.

Quick learner.

Well-organized.

Training Your Virtual Assistant

Have her/him go through some online video training that fits your project.

Keep your training resources organized.

Keep a document with links to everything you have asked your assistant to read as part of training.

Create a list of how to do tricky things step by step.

Have her/him create documentation of processes and the steps to do various things.

Managing Your Virtual Assistant

Set task duration expectations.

Make sure to give enough background information to work effectively.

Make sure you have some type of low priority task to work on if she/he run out of things to do.

Make sure that something isn't taking a lot longer than you expect.

Create a regular timesheet.

Create screen casts.

Set up screen sharing so you can take a peek at what your assistant is working on.