As the owner/manager of a well established Virtual Assistant Network I get many requests from people who want to join my team of VAs.  I would love to help them all but there are some who really disqualify themselves very early in the process, which is a shame. I know they’re anxious to get work and anxious to establish their businesses but it’s important they pay attention to detail.

One of the most common mistakes a potential VA makes is they fill out the wrong form.  They fill out the form intended for clients seeking VA support and it’s not till the comments section I realise that’s what is happening – when they ask for work, rather than outlining the work to be done.

We’ve recently restructured our whole website but even in the old format I had thought that ‘Client Support‘ and ‘Join Our Team’ were quite obvious but perhaps that’s not the case.  So I’ve renamed one tab to ‘Become a Member‘ and shifted the order they’re in on our menu.

Another mistake they make is using sms type text when writing their emails to me, and including their resumes.  It is very important that a VA presents themselves as professionally as possible when communicating with others online and unfortunately this type of typing makes me feel they don’t have the ability to present themselves adequately for clients.  Ultimately when a client contacts “A Clayton’s Secretary” for VA support it is our name that is on show.   So it’s important that they are getting the quality support they are expecting.

If you’re a new VA and looking to join our Virtual Assistant Network (or any VA Network) I encourage you to take care and give yourself the best possible chance – just as you would when applying for a job elsewhere.  Clients appreciate the care taken with their work and it starts at the beginning – a good habit to develop.