This article was submitted by our friends at Get Staffed Up, a staffing company that provides virtual assistants to law firms and other small businesses to help you free up valuable time and get more done!
When talking about virtual assistants, particularly offshore ones, we tend to hear two sides of a story. On one side you hear “they are amazing” and on the other “it’s a waste of money.” What a dilemma… Luckily we have compiled the 7 deadly mistakes of Offshore Hiring for you. Learning from the mistakes of others is a great way to improve your business and learn from the experts the true benefits of remote staffing.
1. Not All VAs are the Same
If you have tried virtual assistants before and it did not work for you, you need to realize first that not all VAs are the same. Where you hire from matters a lot. Reaching out to a staffing company does not guarantee you’ll automatically find the perfect candidate, and knowing their vetting process is very important. VAs are not robots that you can plug in and expect to start performing, you need to onboard them and teach them your process and what YOU need help with.
2. Trying to Find the Cheapest Option
If your mind is set on always hiring the cheapest option, we would highly encourage you to change that mindset. Finding the best talent is not easy, but going with the cheapest option will not guarantee the results you are looking for. In the long run, sometimes the cheapest option is the most expensive one because you’ll end up looking for somebody else, and starting all over again can be very stressful and cost you a lot of mind space.
3. Legal Experience Doesn’t Exist
Offshore talent is NOT trained to perform legal work with US law firms, and every country practices law differently. You cannot expect them to understand your workflows from day 1, BUT you can definitely hire someone extremely talented and with the greatest attitude and willingness to learn and work. Remember it’s better to hire for attitude and train them for skill.
4. Not Knowing the Type of Assistant You Need
There’s an old saying, “If you don’t have an assistant, you are the assistant”. You need to be very protective of your time, and hiring the right type of VA is crucial for optimal delegation. You need to decide beforehand, for example, that you might need a marketing assistant, an executive assistant, an intake specialist, etc. Take a good panoramic view of your law firm and find what positions would be ideal to assign to amazing offshore staffing.
5. Not Integrating Your Teams
Different law firms usually implement a hybrid model when it comes to virtual and in-house employment. Integrating them makes every employee truly feel like a part of your business. We must remember that only because some might be working from home, that does not mean they are working any less. Handling both environments can be challenging but perfectly doable with well-thought-out processes. Your team can help you plan activities to further nurture a great working environment.
6. Not looking for Skilled Offshore Workforce for Traditional Roles
Take a good look at your accountability chart. There are very few positions that MUST be domestic or in-house. If you start hiring great offshore people, you’ll start saving money and realize how efficient it is to virtually get work done. Not only do you need personal assistants, but you also need to complement and reinforce your workforce, and what better way than with the top 1% talent of offshore virtual assistants?
7. Not Having an Objective Criteria for Success
We cannot stress the following statement enough: You need to plan for a position, any position, to be successful. Law firm owners are extremely busy, but that does not mean neglecting the importance of hiring extraordinary offshore talent. Particularly with VAs, having a good plan and roadmap of tasks will greatly improve the onboarding process and will allow your VA to start performing at once.
Scaling up your law firm is more than a possibility, it’s a reality. By fixing and improving upon these 7 secrets we’ve just shared, you will experience and confirm how easy it is to rapidly grow your law firm. Implement these strategies and apply the talent of high-quality international offshore virtual assistants. Great results are bound to happen, get ready, Get Staffed Up.
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