The 7-Step Process To Hiring a Virtual Assistant For Ecommerce Business

The eCommerce industry has seen rapid growth in the past few years. This has attracted many entrepreneurs to start online businesses. But, managing an eCommerce business is not an easy task; it requires a lot of effort and time. To manage your online business efficiently, you can hire a virtual assistant. He can perform many functions of the eCommerce business. 

An eCommerce Virtual Assistant (VA) is a remote expert who can perform many tasks of the business. He or she can perform administrative tasks of the business and also tasks that require specialized expertise. 

In an eCommerce business, there are many tasks to look upon. You may take pride in multitasking, but by dividing your attention so widely, you run the danger of tiredness and, eventually, burnout. Therefore, the best thing to do is to hire an eCommerce VA for your business. 

It is important to hire the right virtual assistant for your eCommerce business. So, in this content post, we will give you a 7-step process to hire a perfect virtual assistant for your business. 

Important steps to hiring a virtual assistant for eCommerce business

• Be clear about your requirements

The first step of hiring a virtual assistant starts with you. Before looking for virtual assistants, you need to be clear about what your requirements are from the assistant. 

There are many tasks that an assistant can perform, so you must be clear what are the tasks that you need to outsource to the VA. Some of the major tasks that you can outsource to the assistant are:

• SEO
• Website development
• Cold Calling
• Research
• Inventory Management
• Data entry
• Social media management

There are many more tasks that you can outsource to the virtual assistant. So, first, make a list of tasks or requirements for the virtual assistant. 

• Decide your budget

Budgeting is critical for all companies, large and small. As a result, you must set aside a budget for virtual assistant eCommerce. The budget can also help you in your hiring process as you can only consider the candidates whose charges are within your budget and reject the other ones. 

• Create a job description

Now, you need to create the job description for the eCommerce assistant. You need to create a detailed job description. A detailed job description will give clarity to the employees. A detailed job description also reduces the chances of misunderstandings. 

While creating the job description, make sure to include – Tasks to be performed by the employee, use of software or other technologies by the assistant, days and hours of work to be completed by the employee. Also, mention the required education and skills.

A good and detailed job description will attract suitable candidates and thus your time can be saved. 

• Post the description online

After creating the job description, you must post this description to multiple online job portals and invite the applications of the candidates. Try to post the description of all the job portals. If you post the description on more platforms, you will receive more suitable candidates. 

• Interview the candidates

Now, select the top 5 or 6 applicants that suit most of your requirements and skills, and then start interviewing these candidates. Try to conduct a video interview because you can know how confident he behaves in the interview from a video interview. 

In the interview, ask about their experience, skills, use of technologies, etc. To test a candidate properly, also ask his long-term goals. Try to select 2 or 3 candidates for the final round of practical tests. 

• Carry out a practical test

Taking the practical test of the candidates is very important. Many times, a candidate selected in the interview does not prove to be efficient for the company; therefore, it is important to take the practical test of the candidate. 

For whichever task you are hiring the employee, take the practical test of that task. Suppose, if you are hiring the candidate for SEO, then you can ask them to optimize a website with a page with keywords and other techniques. If you are hiring for multiple tasks, you can conduct multiple tests. 

• Keep the chosen individual on the trial period

You must not immediately place the chosen applicant as a part of your team. Instead, you can keep him for one month trial period and provide him little work every day. If you find the work of the candidate perfect, then you can provide all the important tasks of the business.  

Conclusion

In conclusion, we would say that hiring a virtual assistant for eCommerce can be very beneficial for your online business. But it is necessary to hire a good assistant for the company, and thus, you can use the above 7-step process to employ the eCommerce virtual assistant for your business.