How I Hired My Virtual Assistant

Here are the exact scripts I used to hire a personal assistant!

The Perfect Job Description

This job description attracted 246 candidates to apply for the role, and about 10% made it to later interview/consideration stages, etc.

Personal Assistant to the CEO (Remote)

Museum Hack’s CEO is looking for a phenomenal Personal Assistant or virtual assistant. This is a remote, contract position.

ABOUT NICK GRAY

Nick Gray is the founder and CEO of Museum Hack, an American company of educators and actors who give renegade tours at some of the best museums in the world. Gray lives in New York City and is a former techie. He doesn’t come from an arts background, and he claims to “hate” most museums. His company Museum Hack has been featured in publications such as Forbes, The Wall Street Journal, and Newsweek. Nick was named “The Best” by his mother in 2012, 2014, and 2015 (runner-up).

MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS

Please do NOT continue if you do not meet the minimum requirements for this position.

• Based in the USA or Canada
• Able to work Eastern USA time zone hours
• High School Diploma or Equivalent
• Can type at least 80 WPM
• 1+ years experience in an administrative role
• 1+ years experience as a virtual assistant or work-from-home
• Flexible schedule between 9a and 5p Eastern USA time that would allow you to take 1 or 2 short incoming phone calls per day

MORE REQUIREMENTS

• Extremely tech-savvy. You fix your family’s phones and computers.
• FANTASTIC organizational and communication skills.
• Extreme attention to detail. You get annoyed by people who mess up their / there / they’re.
• Resourceful: you can find at least 1, maybe 2 email addresses for Nick on the internet. Include them as a postscript in your cover letter.
• Have written publicly in some capacity: for a blog, newsletter, etc.

BONUS POINTS IF YOU…

• have experience with Trello, Slack, LastPass, and Google Apps.
• have watched Nick’s TEDx talk.

JOB RESPONSIBILITIES

• Email support
• Calendar management
• Sporadic inbound & outbound phone calls, Mon-Fri between 9am and 5pm
• Personal correspondence on behalf of the CEO
• Copywriting: co-authoring blog posts for Nick’s personal blog
• Special projects
• Other duties as they arise

PERKS

• Freedom to work remotely
• Flexible schedule, with the exception of a daily phone call sometime between 9a and 5p each day (exact time each day is unknown and depending on Nick’s schedule)
• Performance-based rewards & incentives
• Opportunity for growth into Museum Hack roles such as Sales Support Representative, Marketing Associate, Customer Service, etc.

PAY RATE

$13-$16/hr, depending on experience. We estimate 10-15 hours per week of regular work.

Please no phone calls about this position.

Email Templates for “Testing” Top Candidates

Email #1

There is a risk of losing great candidates that may be applying elsewhere, so the goal of this email is to keep up the excitement about working together. It also acts as a “filter” for people that are willing to put in a little work, and to see that they reply quickly, concisely, etc.

Hi NAME,

We’ve had over 200 applicants now for the Personal Assistant to the CEO (Remote) position posted last week. I am truly humbled by all the great people who have applied. It was hard to eliminate so many people…

And good news: You’re in the Top 10!

I appreciate the time you took with your cover letter, your typing speeds, etc.

You have been selected, with a few others, to proceed to the next round of interviews.

Very soon I will send you some screening questions that I’d like you to answer at your earliest convenience. Bear with me: we may have already spoken about some of the questions. Short, fast answers to all questions are preferable to longer, detailed messages.

Based on your answers, I will select a few people for telephone interviews.

I hope to hire someone later this week.

I’ll work up the next email now with my screening questions and send it to you soon.

Sincerely,
Nick Gray

Email #2

This email is an example of how I assign test projects to top candidates. In this case I wanted to go through a very real project of managing my inbox, something that the VA I hired now does with me daily.

Hi NAME!

I really enjoyed our chat today. I like that you’re currently working as a
VA, you have a really high attention to detail, you called 1 minute early
:-) and you are a fast learner.

I’d like to continue the interview process.

Are you available tomorrow morning to work with me for 1-2 hours?

The main thing we’ll be doing is looking at my In Box. I’ll dictate some
replies to you, or assign some messages that I’d like your help with.

I’ll pay you $15/hr for all work that we do together tomorrow.

How does that sound?

I’m available tomorrow 8am to 1pm.

LMK and thank you,

Nick

Want to be friends?

Hey! Nothing for sale here. If you sign up for my newsletter I’ll send you my best book recommendations, ideas I have about business/growth and some of the gadgets I travel with. Enter your email below or email me at hello@nickgray.net