I’ve said it so many times, and I’m sure if you’re a Virtual Assistant and reading this that you have heard it many times yourself. “I’m looking to hire a Virtual Assistant; how do I hire a Virtual Assistant?” Unless you are going to be my employer and provide me all the entitlements that go with it, you don’t get to hire me.

A Virtual Assistant is:

  • A Business Person
  • A Contractor
  • A Consultant
  • A Freelancer
  • An SME

I often see people asking for Virtual Assistants to send through their resume and I’m often astounded that they appear to oblige. I look at it like this, if I want a plumber, do I ask to see their resume? If I need a carpenter do I ask them for their references? No, of course I don’t and I certainly don’t pay their super, holiday pay etc. But I do check them out. I visit their website, I ask about them, if they are local to me, I may ask around, friends, family, and my network before contacting them to make a time to talk about what help I may need.

Anyone who has done any work for their clients’ will have testimonials on their website.  I also firmly believe that ‘any testimonial that doesn’t have a name against it, isn’t  a testimonial, it is simply a statement’. It’s faceless, if you can’t put a face to it, how can you trust it?  In my view, for a testimonial to carry weight there has to be a first and surname or business name attached to it or it needs to be a video testimonial.  You need something tangible that you can search to find out more. Testimonials are testaments to the work a business does, they are, business references.

Remember if someone has taken the time to write or video a testimonial, then the person they did this for must have done a great job.  This, along with your own checking should be enough to give you a good indication of what this person is like to partner with. Whether you meet with them in person, or over a video call, you will get a vibe for them. Yes, you ask questions, just like you would if you were contracting a tradesperson, you want to know they have done the work before.

I have never sent my resume anywhere since I started my first business  JMJ – EA for a Day, in fact it is extremely out of date. My website and testimonials, say what I do, who I am and how I work with others. My client’s have never asked for one and if they had, I would have politely refused and reminded them that only employees submit a resume.

Having a website that looks good, conveys the right information, and serves as a professional one stop shop will go a long way to helping you secure your next client. Your website needs to be an effective tool for your business.

The difference between partnering and hiring:

If you use the term HIRE you are talking about EMPLOYING, that means you pay tax, superannuation, sick leave, holiday pay, bonuses etc.

If you use the term CONTRACTOR you are talking about being independent, a freelancer, a business person. Where you don’t get any of the above perks unless you pay them to yourself.

PARTNERING is a team word. In my network we partner, we don’t work for each other, we support and nurture, we talk regularly, we partner together to find better ways to do things and support our clients, we are business people, each running our own businesses, each with our own ABN numbers. We don’t get hired, we partner with clients.

Remember, when you are looking for me to help you with your business, you don’t hire me, you partner with me.

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