35 Interview Questions to Ask When Hiring Virtual Assistants [2024]

Common Interview Questions to Ask A Potential Virtual Assistant

Hiring new people can be overwhelming. Not only do you have to sift through piles of resumes to get to the right candidates, but the interview process requires questions that help the virtual assistants show their best qualities.  We’ve compiled 35 questions to help you in the process. How to hire a virtual assistant is made easier when you use this guide to help you vet them. 

General Virtual Assistant Questions

General questions are great icebreakers and help you determine the overall confidence of a candidate. They will help you determine if the candidate has done any homework about your company ahead of time and whether they meet the basic requirements.

1. Tell me about yourself.

Asking the candidates to share a little about themselves is a great launching point. It allows the candidate to focus on what they feel their strengths are and may even show a bit of their personality as well. You’ll be able to get a sense of their confidence that will translate to their work abilities. Keep in mind that there is no right or wrong answer here.

2. What are your strengths?

Good candidates will know where they shine and will be eager to share their strengths with you. Some virtual assistants will have stronger math skills than others. Some might list organization as their strength. By understanding their strengths, you can better assess whether they are the best fit for the role you are hiring for. 

3. What are your weaknesses?

No one likes to talk about weaknesses in an interview. It can make you feel unqualified for the role. However, a good virtual assistant understands where they can improve and will be able to articulate their weakness and even set out a plan they have to improve on. After all, it may just be experience that leads to the weakness, which is easily overcome with training and assignments. 

4. How might your coworkers describe you?

This question gets to the heart of how well the virtual assistant works as a team member. It also touches on self-awareness to see if they are able to perceive how others view them. You want to look for a virtual assistant who is well-received by peers and is able to work with those above and below them on the authority scale. 

5. How might your current manager describe you?

This is a question where you want to pay attention to body language. You’ll be able to tell right off the bat if the virtual assistant has a good relationship with their manager. Ideally, the virtual assistant is able to articulate a favorable view that their manager has from their perspective. If the answer is negative, take note as to why. A negative viewpoint isn’t necessarily a deal breaker. Sometimes personalities just don’t jive.

6. How did you hear about this position?

This is another icebreaker question that lets the virtual assistant take the lead. While it may be a simple answer such as a job board, you may realize that the virtual assistant got the information from another employee. This may open the door for you to get a personal reference from that employee to get a better sense of the virtual assistant. 

7. What made you decide to become a virtual assistant?

Learn more about their motivation to become a virtual assistant. This demonstrates their passion for their chosen career and helps you better understand their long-term goals and objectives. 

8. What defines good work ethics for you?

Every employer wants ethical employees. You need trustworthy people with your clients’ information and financial details. This question can catch candidates off guard as it isn’t a standard question but will help you get a sense of the candidate’s values and ethics. 

9. Tell me about a time when you set a goal for yourself (career or personal) and what you did to achieve it.

This question gets to the heart of what makes a candidate tick when it comes to self-improvement. Good answers will accentuate a person’s ability to set goals, how they develop plans through action items, and their discipline to follow through and succeed. It doesn’t matter if the goal is a personal or professional one. Good candidates are able to take goal-setting skills and apply them to professional areas.

10. Where do you see yourself in five or ten years?

Is this candidate ambitious and do they have long-term goals? This is important to understand as ambitious people tend to work harder and do a better job so that they have the opportunity to grow and get promoted. Good candidates have a plan and are able to articulate it so that you can understand if this role fits into their long-term goals. 

11. Why do you want to work for us?

This question helps you identify a few things. You’ll be able to tell if the virtual assistant did any research on the company and how familiar they are with your organization. It also helps you identify their enthusiasm for being part of the team. Is this just another job that pays the bills or is it somewhere they feel they would get job fulfillment? You want employees who are excited to work with you because that resonates with other team members and clients. 

12. What’s your preferred salary range for this position?

Are you and the virtual assistant on the same page when it comes to compensation? You may not be able to meet their salary expectations and that should be made clear as early on in the process as possible. You don’t want to waste their time or yours continuing an interview where you can’t afford the virtual assistant. 

13. What’s your preferred schedule?

You might have a lot of flexibility in scheduling your virtual assistant. On the other hand, you may need someone for very specific hours to meet client needs. This question opens the dialogue for you and the virtual assistant to get on the same page when it comes to scheduling.

14. How soon are you available to start work?

Get a sense of when the virtual assistant can start. Do they have prior engagements that will delay their starting date, or can they jump in immediately? This helps you plan your next few weeks or months and be prepared for all staffing circumstances. 

15. Do you have any questions for me?

Open the floor up to the virtual assistant. They may have a lot of questions about the role and the company. This can really help you determine the excitement the employee has for the role and what information they need to do their job properly. 

Skills and Experience Questions for Virtual Assistants

Questions pertaining to skills and experience will help you determine if the virtual assistant has the necessary skills to perform the job well. You’ll want to know what they are already good at and get a sense for their ability to learn new skills in a timely fashion.

1. How did you become a virtual assistant?

Some people became virtual assistants after having practical experience in a certain field and found they were better suited personally and professionally as virtual assistants. Listen to their story and get a sense of how excited they are to do what they do and help you achieve your goals. 

2. What classes have you taken to prepare yourself to be a virtual assistant?

Good virtual assistants want to have better skills and will take classes to improve and become experts in some areas. You may find that the virtual assistant took a bookkeeping course or an Excel class. Understanding this will also help you understand their strengths as virtual assistants.

3. Which technologies are you proficient in?

While it would be great to get a candidate who can do it all, most candidates have areas where they are most proficient. You might have a virtual assistant candidate who is well-versed in graphics and social media posts when you need someone to handle the bookkeeping. Understanding what technologies they excel in will help you determine whether they fit your role well. 

4. If you’re confronted with multiple tasks, how do you organize and determine your priorities?

A virtual assistant has to juggle a lot of things. You may not always say that certain tasks are a priority. This question helps you understand how the candidate thinks and what they view as important tasks. This can help you better manage a virtual assistant. 

5. If faced with a task or job you do not want to do, how do you motivate yourself to do it and do it well?

While this doesn’t refer to a skill set, per se, it does reference a valuable skill of motivation and getting work done. Everyone has tasks they don’t like. It’s part of the job. But getting through them is important and you don’t want the work to suffer just because the virtual assistant doesn’t like the task. 

6. How do you keep your skills up to date?

Learning skills is one thing, but technology is constantly changing. What does the virtual assistant do to stay on top of changes and keep skills fresh and up to date with the latest technology? This might involve working with other virtual assistants, attending classes, or hitting the internet to see what updates involve. 

7. What tools are your favorite to use as a virtual assistant?

This question not only tells you what they are proficient in but also gives you insight into how they complete their tasks. They may say using a kanban board is key to staying organized. If your organization doesn’t use a kanban board, you may consider it to improve overall productivity and project management. This would help a virtual assistant better manage their tasks as well. 

8. What do you think is the most important skill for a virtual assistant?

While there isn’t a right or wrong answer here, this question is designed to help you understand how the candidate thinks about work. Someone who lists a technical skill may be best suited for technical tasks while someone listing an intangible skill like organization might be best for a multi-task role. 

9. Do you have social media experience?

While many virtual assistants are well-versed in social media tasks, not all are. This question will pinpoint whether or not the candidate is able to jump into a social media campaign quickly and help you get the results that you need. 

10. Which core skills and services are outside of your scope as a virtual assistant?

Just like asking about a person’s strengths and weaknesses, finding out what they don’t do is important. You don’t want to make assumptions here about what someone can do for you.  If you get stuck on just talking about strengths, you may fall into the trap of thinking they are still able to do some tasks even though they are not in their service line.

In-Depth/Problem Solving Questions for Virtual Assistants

In-depth questions help you determine if the candidate is a good fit for the role and whether or not they have the intangible skills needed to fit into the team. These questions go deeper than basic skills questions.

1. Explain your process for prioritizing your work.

This is important because virtual assistants often have multiple tasks that span different areas of expertise. You want a candidate who can set priorities and work with the team to get things done efficiently and on time. 

2. What’s your preferred communication method?

Because the employee is working remotely, you want to know how they plan on staying in communication. You may have your own ideas, such as using Slack and Zoom. You want to ensure that the virtual assistant is on the same page as you with communication. 

3. How do you handle an upset customer/caller?

A good virtual assistant can diffuse negative situations. Good candidates express a sense of empathy with upset callers and want to find a solution to the problem as quickly as possible. Your customers want to be heard, and your virtual assistant may be the first person to hear the good and the bad. 

4. Why are you a strong fit for this position?

This is another question that opens the door for the candidate to show their confidence. It will give you a sense of whether the candidate has a good grasp of the job at hand and whether they can really do it. Enthusiasm is a critical factor when answering this question. 

5. Tell me about a time you disagreed with a coworker and how you resolved the dispute.

People will not always get along but you want to have a team filled with people who have the emotional intelligence to deal with conflict in a healthy and mature manner. 

6. Have you ever disagreed with your supervisor? What happened?

While expecting employees to always agree with you is unreasonable, you want disagreements to be handled with maturity. How doesn’t the candidate go about making their voice heard while still getting the work done? In some cases, supervisors will not change things to appease the virtual assistant. 

7. Explain how you proactively address client needs.

Many virtual assistants are client-facing to some degree. You want to know how they approach clients and take care of them. A good answer here will help you feel confident in using the virtual assistant and trusting them with your book of business. 

8. Tell me about a time when you had to work with people with different communication styles.

You may have asked the virtual assistant what their preferred communication styles are but what happens if that doesn’t fit with the company profile? You want a virtual assistant that can adapt to other styles so that work continues to flow and productivity is not halted because of poor communication. 

9. Provide an example of your time management skills.

This gets into the nitty gritty of how the candidate uses their time. While it may be easy to talk about prioritizing tasks, getting a hard example gives you a better idea of whether or not the candidate successfully manages time. 

10. Look back on a big mistake you made (career or personal). Tell me about it.

No one is perfect. But how do they learn from mistakes? This gives you a sense of problem-solving skills and helps you better understand how mature the virtual assistant is. Mature people will grow from mistakes and take action not to make the same mistake twice. 

Conclusion

An interview is a process that requires asking probing questions to understand a candidate’s mindset better. If you want pre vetted virtual assistants who have already been interviewed, MyOutDesk has an army of candidates that will meet your organization’s needs. Contact us for a free consultation.