Why you should not hire VAs

Here's why you need to use this talent type instead...

Author

Calvin Manik
July 12, 2024

Summary

Welcome to the FullFind Hiring Newsletter. Calvin here from FullFind.

In today’s newsletter, we will go over:

  • One trick to increase the quality of your remote hires

  • Why you should not hire VAs

  • Tutorials on building and running a remote team

Let’s go!

Actionable Tip of the Day

The next time you post a job opening on LinkedIn, be sure to include the salary of the position you’re hiring for. Put the salary in dollars ($$$) instead of the talent’s local currency.

This will lead to:

  • More applicants

  • Faster hirings

  • English-speaking remote talent

Remember: Working for a Western company and paying in dollars is prestigious for remote talent, especially in the South East Asia region.

Deep Dive

A lot of companies hire VAs, when they should be hiring independent contractors.

So, what is the difference?

Virtual Assistants are very popular with businesses because they can do a bit of everything. For example, a Creative VA can do your editing, design, landing page even copywriting.

If these tasks are not part of your core business then that's fine.

It's smart to use VAs for important tasks that does NOT move the business forward.

But, what a lot of companies get wrong is using VAs to do very important work.

Let's say you are a paid ads agency for E-com brands that create ad creatives for your clients.

If you use a $500/month VA to script and edit for all your clients, then you're asking for trouble.

Why?

Because most VAs are generalists, not specialists. They can do a bit of everything, but not the best at anything.

If you want someone to do those high-level tasks like ad scripting or editing, but you still want to save money, then...

Hire independent contractors.

Independent contractors don't label themselves as VAs. They are college graduates that are looking to build an actual career. They're not looking to make 'side income' on the internet (unlike VAs).

Heck, I've enrolled to a VA training program for fun, and most of them are stay-at-home mums.

These independent contractors are specialists. They label themselves as their specialized role.

For example: Video Editors, Client Success Managers, Creative Project Managers, Creative Director, etc.

But, they're not in VA groups nor Fiverr nor Upwork. They're on LinkedIn, like you and me.

These independent contractors (ICs) could be working at big companies' Asian branch. E.g. Ogilvy Indonesia or Uber Philippines.

They would have been hired by these companies but are also interested in working for you.

Why? because being a US company makes you prestigious in their eyes.

So, to take care of your high-level tasks:

Would you rather hire talent that could work for Ogilvy? Or VAs that were stay-at-home-moms?

You decide.

How I Can Help You

I can help you hire these full-time independent contractors. For $100 to start.

Each candidate will give you FREE samples of their work before you even interview them.

If you don’t like the talent within 30 days of hiring them you hire, we will REFUND you.

We can also replace the talent for free anytime.

Schedule a no-obligation call ​​here​​ if you’re looking to hire editors, designers, project managers, etc in the near future.

Catch you all soon,

Calvin

FullFind