An increasing number of businesses are opening up to the idea of hiring a virtual assistant to handle their daily work flow.
Since these employees operate from their own place, it helps the business owner save a lot of time as well as money by not bothering to accommodate the employees in the limited office space.
Do you need a virtual assistant? This is an important question that you need to ask before hiring a virtual assistant.
After all, once you hire them, you are contract bound to pay them irrespective of the work that you are able to allot to them.
Therefore, our advice would be to do a thorough inspection of your business and determine whether or not you need a virtual assistant.
Only if the results are positive, should you proceed towards looking for options.
Now that you are familiar with the basics, here are a few tips to keep in mind when you are planning to hire a virtual assistant:

1. Start by searching on the internet

Your best bet at locating a virtual assistant is to search the internet.
Yes! A lot of the freelancers will advertise their skills on sites like LinkedIn and other social media forums.
Looking through such profiles will help you shortlist a few good options.
You can also look for options in the job listings of the local classifieds section.

2. Ask for bids

The freelancers that you shortlist will send you bids or an estimate of the fees that they will charge to accomplish the job profile that you allot to them.

3. Seek samples

In order to be able to compare the work of different freelancers, you should be able to see their work.
Therefore, ask for samples of previous work done.
Ideally, a reputed freelancer will always have an extensive portfolio to establish his or her area of expertise.

4. Compare the bids

Your budget is important, isn't it? Therefore, when you get bids from freelancers, take some time to compare them.
However, remember that in an endeavour to save the money, you should not compromise on the quality of work else it will hamper the growth of your business.

5. Be clear about the payment terms

The virtual assistant that you hire will cost money.
Before you finalize their job profile, make sure that you are absolutely clear about the payment terms and conditions.
What is the amount to be paid? When will it be paid?, etc.
These are the questions that you should answer before finalizing the contract.

6. Take an acknowledgement

When you are hiring a virtual assistant, there may be no legal contracts to be signed.
Therefore, it is best advised to take an acknowledgement of everything that is finalized.
This acknowledgement can be in the form of emails or even snail mail, whatever is best applicable in your situation.
Lastly, before hiring a virtual assistant, you need to understand that you will have to spare the time and effort to manage them else the entire exercise becomes futile.