Why Hire a Dedicated VA, Not a Freelancer?
Although hiring a freelance virtual assistant may be your only feasible option for small ad hoc projects, hiring a dedicated VA is a superior choice for more substantial requirements.
Here's Why
Stable staffing creates the opportunity to accumulate expertise
Our virtual assistants tend to be settled into
their jobs as permanent employees at our company and they benefit from the employment stability,
attractive pay and a supportive work environment. As a result, we have excellent staff retention. You can
benefit from this stability by having one of our VAs join your team for the long-term.
Due to this staffing stability, over time your carefully matched dedicated VA will become more and more of
an expert in your business, your industry, and the tasks assigned to them, so will bless your business
with greater value each day.
Freelancers, on the other hand, have a more fluid employment situation and, due to the nature of their
work, they usually need to make their decisions with a short-term time frame in mind. That means they may
not be available for the long term. They may switch to another client or to permanent employment at any
time. They may even go AWOL without notice.
Avoid wasting time with repeated recruitment campaigns
Finding a freelancer is time consuming. Finding a good one can be like finding a needle in a haystack.
Whether you advertise your position or search through resume repositories, you will need to wade through a
high volume of candidates. In fact it can take so much time and effort to complete this process that it
may defeat the purpose of hiring the VA in the first place.
In contrast, when you hire our dedicated VAs we take care of the entire recruitment process for you. We
find top VAs through an exhaustive talent search. The fact that our
clients have been with us for an average of 9.6 years shows how effective we are at finding the right
people. When you have a dedicated VA on hand, you simply assign work as the need arises – there is no need
to repeat the recruitment process for each new project.
Build a global team in one place
Enjoy the benefits of having your remote team in
the one place, making it easier for them to collaborate closely, train newcomers to the team (if needed)
and progress your projects efficiently.
When you hire a team of dedicated virtual assistants from Hire Virtual Assistants, we can add value by:
- Providing basic supervision of the team;
- Optimizing the workflow within your team;
- Handling shift schedules;
- Conducting team building activities;
- Developing leaders within your team;
- Ensuring team balance and harmony; and
- Monitoring team performance, attendance and compliance
The same benefits are just not available if you try to build your global team with a gaggle of disparate freelancers. If you attempt to construct a team with freelancers, you may find that you need to spend considerable time coordinating your team, improving cohesion and even resolving conflicts.
Your work is your dedicated VA’s only priority
Your dedicated virtual assistant will work exclusively for you so they will always treat your work as
their only priority. That means you will always be their first concern.
In contrast, freelancers usually juggle multiple clients and your work may lose priority if they have
higher paying, newer or more demanding clients.
Keep your data safe
Not many VA’s are IT security specialists. Left unassisted, the freelance VA may take risks with your data
that they don’t even realize they are taking. Even if they are aware of the risk, they may not know how to
eliminate it. When problems occur, they usually have no expert to turn to for help.
We understand IT security. Every dedicated VA’s workstation is fitted with commercial-grade Internet
security software and a fully-patched operating system. Other security measures include regular security
audits, data protection best practices and physical security measures. If a weakness is ever identified,
we have experienced system administrators on hand to harden the system and keep your data safe.
Escalate problems
If you ever have a concern with any aspect of your VA’s work, we provide an easy-to-access and effective
escalation pathway through which our senior staff can intervene and find appropriate solutions for you.
You will find us to be genuinely helpful. It is in our nature to feel compelled to comprehensively address
any problems that arise. Our senior managers will even roll up their sleeves and get personally involved
whenever needed, because we are determined to deliver quality service.
Freelancers work alone so if they are unable or unwilling to solve an issue for you then nobody will.
We provide basic supervision
All our virtual assistants are employees of our company. Although our VAs are motivated and hard working,
we oversee their attendance and ensure there are no barriers to them being as productive as possible for
you.
When working with freelancers, you will need to oversee their attendance and may need to identify and
resolve any problems occurring at the VA’s end, if you can.
Which is right for you?
In summary, freelancers may be helpful for short-term small projects which the VA can work on alone and
which do not require much prior knowledge about your business nor involve sensitive data.
Dedicated VAs are a better choice if you require:
- Longer-term VAs who can accumulate expertise about your business;
- A team of VAs;
- Somewhere to escalate problems;
- Data and IT security best practices; and/or
- A minimal recruitment burden.
The Next Step
Please schedule a consultation with us today to learn more about how we can provide the right VA for your team.