The way we hire and manage executive assistants has changed dramatically over the years. In the past, hiring an executive assistant was just like hiring any other employee. It was a simple process that involved posting jobs on job boards and receiving applications from candidates interested in working for your company. Then, it would take weeks or months before you finally found someone who would accept your offer. 

However, things have changed dramatically in recent years because of how competitive the job market is today—and it’s not getting any easier as time goes on! 

Companies will have to be more creative than ever 

Companies will have to be more creative than ever in a world with a surplus of talented workers. As the job market heats up and competition for talent increases, employers must find new ways to attract top candidates. 

One way they can do this is by hiring an executive assistant who helps set the tone for their company culture. This means ensuring they’re meeting candidates’ needs and giving them an experience that makes them want to work at your company above all others—and if you do it right, word-of-mouth will spread from there!

The best candidates won’t apply for your job posting 

So, you want to hire an elite executive assistant? You’ve come to the right place. But before we get into how to find these elusive candidates, let’s talk about why finding them can be so tricky. 

The best candidates won’t apply for your job posting. 

While this may seem like an obvious statement (and it is), it’s also important to realize that most people don’t understand why this is true and therefore don’t take steps to correct it in their hiring strategies. The fact is: if someone doesn’t know about your job posting because they haven’t seen it or heard about it yet, then they’re not going to apply unless they happen upon your company organically through a different source (more on this later).

The best candidates might not even have a resume or LinkedIn profile 

You will find the best candidates on social media.

You’ll also want to look at other places where you can find them, such as job boards and niche job boards. 

And you may even find that your current employees know some people who would be great for the role.

Spend the time to think about what you need

• What kind of skills do you need?
• What type of personality do you need?
• What kind of work ethic do you need?
• What kind of attitude does your company need?

It would help if you offered exceptional benefits and competitive pay, but that’s not all

It would be best if you offered exceptional benefits and competitive pay to attract elite

executive assistants. But this is just scratching the surface.

How do you find elite candidates? 

If you’re like most executives, finding a new hire can be a long and arduous process. It’s not uncommon for the search to take months or even years. However, in our experience at GoVirtuals, we’ve found that one thing can make this process go much faster: asking the right questions during the interview process. 

Here are some examples of the kinds of questions you should ask when vetting potential candidates: 

• What is your greatest accomplishment?
• What have been some of your most significant professional failures? And what did you learn from them?
• What separates an “A” executive assistant from an “A+” executive assistant? And what do I need from my EA for them to achieve this goal?

You will receive more applications than you can handle, but less than a third of those applicants will be qualified

If you’re looking to hire an executive assistant, you will receive more applications than you can handle. The good news is that a qualified candidate won’t be hard to find; the bad news is that it’s not easy to find someone who meets all your criteria and fits in well with your company culture.

The average executive assistant salary in the United States is $49,000 per year (according to Payscale), but this can vary greatly depending on where you live and what business you run. Some companies only need one or two assistants, while others have teams of over ten working for them at any time. Regardless of how many applicants apply for each position, most companies receive more applications than the positions available. And even though they want to hire someone as soon as possible, they still need their day-to-day duties to go through all these resumes themselves!

Although taking care of yourself should always be the priority when looking for an assistant manager (or whatever title fits best), hiring new staff members also removes resources from other areas within your company. It is especially if multiple openings are being filled simultaneously (which seems unlikely). Finding qualified candidates without wasting money on unnecessary interviews takes time away.

A very competitive process and takes so many resources away from business

Hiring a new employee can take a lot of time and money, and with the competition in the job market today, it can be even more difficult. Many people are looking for jobs, meaning you have to find someone qualified and willing to work for what you’re offering.

It is an issue because there are so many applicants, and finding the right person isn’t always easy. You may spend months or even years looking for someone that fits your requirements—and then one day, when they see your job posting on LinkedIn or Facebook (or wherever), they decide to apply! They might not even be aware that this is their dream job; they need a paycheck to pay their rent. In other words: Not all candidates are equal—some are more qualified than others!

This problem leads us to our original question: “How do I find an elite executive assistant?” Well, friends… If there were an easy answer, I wouldn’t be writing this article!

The truth is there isn’t one perfect solution–but don’t worry; there IS something we can do about it!

Your next option is to take on a remote employee 

Now, let’s be honest: this isn’t for everyone. You have to find and hire the right person, and you also need to understand your own needs as an employer. Are you prepared to manage a team of people who aren’t physically present in your office? Can you handle the occasional video call or WhatsApp message at midnight? Is it worth it if they can’t participate in company events because their family lives in other countries and they’ll be traveling there for Christmas?

If you’ve ever hired a new employee before, either through your company or in another capacity, you know how difficult it is to find the right person for the job. Finding someone with the right skills, a good personality, and a work ethic is strenuous. It’s even more complicated when hundreds of people are vying for those positions. And finding someone who fits into your culture. It’s like looking for a needle in a haystack (or maybe more accurately: a needle in several hundred haystacks).

That said, if you’re looking to fill an executive assistant role or otherwise improve operations within your company, bring on board some outside help from an experienced staffing agency like us here at GoVirtuals. We’ve got to tell you that we’ve got everything under control—and we’ll prove it!

Conclusions

At GoVirtuals, we know how to bridge the gap between different cultures and establish a more comfortable and diverse remote workplace environment.

Our process of hiring is not simple. We don’t just pick someone to work with us, though all are welcome to apply. However, they must pass our screening process and undergo rigid training to be able to perform their assigned tasks.

Although it takes a lot of time on our part, we stick to our hiring procedure to ensure quality work in meeting our client’s expectations. We want to be sure that the VAs who will work for our clients are a good fit for their business and are more than capable of doing the work. So, in addition to reviewing their applications and interviewing them, we give our top candidates a test task. And the best candidate who comes forward will have a chance to show what they can do.

If you need a rockstar executive assistant, then GoVirtuals should be your first choice. We are ready to help you bring your business to the next level. Book a discovery call now, and let us help you identify the tasks you need to delegate to us!