Ace Your Virtual Assistant Interview – Prep Questions and Tips
Maybe you’ve recently started freelancing and you want to specialize as a virtual assistant.
Your freelancer profile looks great.
You’ve been cold pitching to several clients and finally one of them responded and has scheduled an interview.
How do you ace the interview?
One way is to study interview question and answers for virtual assistant. This will help you to prepare and build your confidence.
As you go into the interview, you need to demonstrate an understanding of what a virtual assistant does. By proving that you understand how to work as a virtual assistant, and the different duties of a virtual assistant gives the hiring manager confidence that you are the right candidate for the job. And, this increases the chances of being hired as a virtual assistant.
How To Prepare For A Virtual Assistant Interview
Organize your work station
This being a virtual position, the interview is also going to be virtual. Make sure your work station or your interview station is neat. You don’t want your prospective employer to see utensils strewn all over the place or an untidy bed in the background.
Having a neat and professional background will also help boost your confidence. Remember you are in control of the interview environment and first impressions matter a lot.
Showcase your technology proficiency
You’ll need to demonstrate that you can actually work virtually, you have all the required technology set up and working properly for the interview. Find out which platform the employer is likely to use; Zoom, Skype, WhatsApp, if you’ve never used it, now its time to practice with maybe a friend. Test your audio and video to be sure they are working before the interview time.
Do your research
Before going in for the interview, its always a good idea to research about your prospective client. Get to know more about their organization. If they have a website, this is a great place to get the info you need. What is the company’s mission? How inclusive is it? LinkedIn is also a good place to find information about an individual or company.
Now that you have an idea who your employer is, you also need to research job interviewing tips. If you have any gaps in your resume, now is the time to prepare on how to answer why. Body language is also something you’ll need to look into. You don’t want to give unfavorable or mixed signals during the interview.
Common Interview Questions For Virtual Assistant
You’ve set up the station. You’ve done your research about your employer. The last thing to help you prepare is to look at possible virtual assistant interview questions and how to respond to them.
The exact virtual assistant interview questions you’ll be asked may vary depending on the role the employer is looking to fill.
Beyond being asked about your education, work history and references, here’s a list of some of the most common interview questions and answers for virtual assistant.
What is your area of expertise?
Virtual assistants fall under different categories. We have general virtual assistants who perform administrative tasks and those who have specialized in different areas such as sales, bookkeeping. If you are just starting out and haven’t specialized yet, you can focus on what you are good at doing. You can let the client know you can handle various tasks ranging from X to Z but you excel more at doing Y. Here Y can be anything like social media, email response, travel booking, research etc.
How long have you been a virtual assistant?
This is where you get to share your experience as a virtual assistant. Honesty is key. Don’t lie about your experience. You may have knowledge in handling virtual assistant related tasks but you’ve never worked as a virtual assistant. Its okay to let the client know if this is your first virtual assistant gig.
What are your favorite communication platforms?
This is a question that gives you a chance to share your previous experience using different virtual tools. If you have workflow tools, time management apps that have worked for you in the past, this is your chance to share what you have used in the past that you liked.
How flexible is your schedule?
This is your chance to let the client know your preferred working hours. Are you flexible enough to work extra hours on as needed basis? Can you work during weekends? Be very clear about your hours to avoid confusion in the future if you get hired.
How do you balance multiple tasks?
As a virtual assistant you may find yourself having to juggle different assignments from one or multiple clients. If you have previous experience, this is your chance to share past work related examples on how you were able to handle multiple tasks in the past. Share how you were able to coordinate the tasks and managed a successful outcome.
If you were assigned a task that you didn’t understand, how would you handle that?
As a virtual assistant there is always a likelihood of being assigned something that you have no idea how to handle. This question gives you an opportunity to showcase how well you can relate with other teammates or your boss. Its also an opportunity to show if you are someone who is always eager to learn or you portray an attitude of “if I don’t know then I won’t bother.”
The best way to handle this is to share a specific example of when you were handed a task that you had no idea how to handle and how you ended up resolving it. Did you go back to seek clarification? Did you sit down and do your own research and found ways to get it done? Share what you did and if the outcome was a success.
How do you prioritize your work?
This is your opportunity to showcase your virtual assistant organization skills. How do you decide what tasks are to be given the highest priority? As a virtual assistant, what measures do you put in place to avoid taking on more work than you can handle?
Do you have any additional skills and qualifications that weren’t covered in your resume?
This is your chance to talk about your soft skills like interpersonal skills, being a team player. You could also bring up your problem-solving skills and share an example where you had to deal with a difficult client and how you resolved the issue and turned the client into your brand ambassador.
Grab this opportunity to highlight the traits that make you a great virtual assistant. Do you have any tech skills that come in handy in such situations? This is the time to share them. These could be skills you learned on the job or from earning a Google IT Certificate or any other tech related course you’ve taken.
What are some of the security measures you put in place when working?
Security is always a priority for everyone as no one wants their data in wrong hands. You can respond to this question by letting the client know some of the measures that you use such as the use of a two factor authentication, having an up to date anti-virus software and only logging into client apps using private WIFI connections.
What are your salary expectations?
This is often a tricky question. We live in a connected world. Where anyone can hire from any part of the world and get the job done while they are asleep at a fraction of the cost. While $5 maybe above minimum wage in some countries, it may not be sustainable in others.
Don’t underprice yourself. Look at your skills, consider the industry rates and offer your client a rate that isn’t too high for their budget and at the same time isn’t too low for you. After all you need to earn enough to pay your bills and even save some.
Do you have any questions?
This is likely to come at the very end of the interview. This is your chance to ask the client any questions and get clarifications.
What are their expectations of a virtual assistant?
When are they likely to hire? This gives you an idea on when you should hear back from them if you’ve been hired or not.
Conclusion
One of the best ways to ace an interview is to prepare. I hope the questions and answer choices above will help you prepare for your next virtual assistant interview.
