Hiring a VA

illmill

Banned
Feb 20, 2009
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Planet Earth
Hey, just curious what you guys recommend for hiring a VA. I'm looking for one, but the way I see it there are two ways to go about it. Either hire someone from a company that offers VA's (this will be for SEO, btw, just content writing, profile creation, linkbuilding, etc.). If you do it this way they probably already have training on some software like senuke and they are managed by someone who keeps them productive. On the other hand, you could just hire someone from a job board that's popular in the Philippines (that's where I'm looking). You can train them to do exactly what you need them to do and there's not an SOP set up yet, so basically it's more work for you.

I'm also worried about hiring someone from a shitty company that doesn't respond to you and communicate effectively. This will be my first time hiring a VA. Please share your experiences and recommendations.
 


I use oDesk.com
They take a small percentage but gives you a built in billing and management platform.
You can even see screenshots while your VA's are working to make sure they are not fucking around on your paid time.

What I do is create a small sample task, something that would take you about an hour that requires a lot of the skills you are looking for.
Farm it out to 3 or 4 of them and see who does it the fastest, has the best quality of work.

Make sure you have a Skype chat with them on the phone before you hire them for any real work. I just like to make sure they are a coherent human being and have a decent understanding of English.

I also like to use screenshots edited in Microsoft Paint to help explain things if they are having trouble understanding a task/requirement.
 
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