How To Screen New VAs For Your Business

Hiring a virtual assistant (VA) isn’t just about offloading tasks; it’s about finding a long-term, high-quality team member who understands your business and helps you grow.

I’ve spent decades hiring, training, and managing VAs, and I’ve tested every method under the sun. After hiring thousands of VAs personally, and helping friends and business partners do the same. 

In this article, we’ll go over what a good VA looks like, how to hire them for your own business, and mistakes to avoid. And believe me – we’ve made plenty ourselves so you don’t have to.

What does a good VA look like?

A great VA isn’t just about technical skill—it’s about loyalty, understanding your business, and producing quality work consistently. The best VAs:

• Stay in their roles for years, giving you continuity and deeper expertise.
• Understand Google’s E-E-A-T framework (Experience, Expertise, Authority, Trustworthiness) and apply it to their work.
• Can handle multiple tools (Descript, ChatGPT, CapCut, etc.) and process content efficiently.
• Work full-time for you only, not juggling multiple clients.

There’s a big misconception that the reason why some VAs perform poorly is because of their limited spoken English. What we’ve found instead, is that it’s because they fail to practice active listening.

For example, if we have a problem with a VAs work related to a specific project, we want to hear that they understand why there’s a problem. This involves practicing MAA with everything they do.

Another misconception is that we’re only hiring VAs for cheap labor.

To be clear – it’s not about “paying less” for work, since what matters is how valuable their work is and how few iterations cycles it takes for work to be completed. If one VA never rises above the bare minimum, they can expect to be paid $3/hour, which is what we start our VAs out with.

If they rise to the occasion and overperform, they can be like our VA Muzamil, who started at $3/hour and is now being paid $3k/month.

A good VA is proactive and doesn’t wait for instructions for every small task. They anticipate needs, identify problems before they arise, and suggest solutions.

The best VAs are resourceful—they don’t just ask, “What should I do next?” Instead, they come with ideas and options for improving workflows and content.

They also take ownership of their work. A good VA doesn’t just complete tasks; they ensure tasks are done well. If an article needs improvement, they revise it without being told. If a process is inefficient, they look for a better way. They take initiative, which makes them an A Player rather than just an outsourced worker.

Perhaps most importantly, a great VA is eager to learn and grow. Instead of resisting feedback, they welcome it and implement changes immediately.

They follow existing guardrails like our article submission guidelines but also contribute insights to refine them over time. This ability to adapt and evolve is what separates a mediocre VA from a truly valuable one.

How To Hire VAs and From Where?

Finding the right VA starts with knowing where to look and how to evaluate potential hires effectively. The best platforms for hiring high-quality VAs include:

• OnlineJobs.ph – The best marketplace for hiring full-time Filipino VAs, offering a wide range of skilled professionals at competitive rates. I did a webinar with the owner of Online Jobs Jon Jonas which is worth watching by itself.
• Upwork – Great for project-based work, but less ideal for long-term hires due to fluctuating costs and inconsistent availability.
• Facebook Groups – We have a 43k member Facebook group which we often source from internally. This is great because most of these potential VAs already know who we are and what we do. 

When hiring, follow this structured approach:

1. Write a Detailed Job Description – Outline the responsibilities, skills required, and tools they need to be proficient in. You’re not hiring them to do their job for them or teach them how to Google.
2. Pre-Screen Candidates – Check their past work, responsiveness, and experience to filter out unqualified applicants.
3. Assign a Test Task – Give them a small project to evaluate their attention to detail, English proficiency, and ability to follow instructions.
4. Trial Period – Start them on a two-week probation to ensure they fit into your workflow and meet performance expectations.

Optimistically, even through following these standards, you can expect only 20% of your hires to meet your expectations. That’s okay – since the only way to get there is by testing and giving VAs a shot. We have a fleshed out VA hiring process we recommend for businesses looking to get a more detailed explanation.

What we want to do here is set a bare-bones standard for excellence and make sure no one totally unqualified slips through the cracks to unintentionally cause vandalism if we can avoid it.

Why VA Placement Agencies Are a Bad Idea

We ran a test last month, hiring VAs from multiple VA placement agencies and comparing them to VAs we sourced ourselves from OnlineJobs. As expected, almost every VA from an agency failed.

Here’s why:

1. Opaque Markups – Agencies often charge you $15–$17 an hour, but the VA is only getting $3–$5. That’s a 3x markup with no added value to you.
2. Lack of Direct Accountability – When issues arise, the VA doesn’t communicate directly with you. Instead, they go through the agency, creating unnecessary delays and miscommunications.
3. Misaligned Incentives – The agency’s goal is to keep you paying their markup, not necessarily to provide you with the best VA. Even if they replace a VA, it doesn’t solve the underlying issue.

Instead of paying ongoing markups, you should pay a one-time placement fee (typically $500–$1,000) to find the right VA and hire them directly. And even then, you should make sure they pass your internal tests first.

SOPs Make Life 100% Easier.

The reason we can know if a VA is performing well initially is based not only on their response time and attitude, but on their ability to follow our publicly available standards.

This leaves no room for ambiguity, since we can see in real time how they’re performing and what work is being completed. Since we know the 4 stage Content Factory is how we drive results for clients, we also have standards like our article guidelines and how to repurpose one-minute videos.

Your business is only as good as your people and your SOPs, so make sure you refine your SOPs so you have clear guidelines to compare your VAs work. Make sure you’re also keeping tabs of their work through Timecamp so you see how long it takes for tasks to be completed.

By following these steps, you can grow your business, gain team members who stick around for years, and create a culture which focuses on pushing the ball forward in everything you do.