My Outsourced Job Search
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The Team’s Growing and Growing
by Francis
(December 11, 2012)
I have four virtual assistants at the same time on my team right now. This is a new record for some time. Let’s see who we have on our team.
We have my main virtual assistant; then we have my main transcriptionist and then two web researchers from my project of outsourcing the web research for job openings in the area of Chemistry and Biochemistry that I just recently started.
Roman has done a pretty solid job after some rough start where I really shook my head a few times. But the latest results of his research looks pretty solid, I have to say.
I already have a list of 60 enterprises where I could apply. This already helps a lot.
And now we have a double whammy.
Muhammad has joined the team. He is from Pakistan like my main virtual assistant and the good thing about him, he knows his way around in the area of Chemistry and has a basic knowledge of German language which is an awesome asset if you have to research in a German city for local enterprises.
I expect his work to go extremely efficient. I compared his results with Roman directly. My virtual assistant has taken the time to interview Muhammad and gave him some few test questions and then set up a limited contract for 5 hours only to test out how Muhammad will do.
I’m really excited!
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Comments for The Team’s Growing and Growing
| Jan 18, 2013 | Grow your team slowly by: Francis As it turned out, it was a good thing that we proceeded carefully. Before committing to a new team member, make sure to assess their work quality and ethics first. |
| Aug 19, 2014 | right on track by: John It can actually create chaos if you hurry things out. But I can see you’re doing great in dealing with your team of virtual assistants. So, let’s say, you’re right on track =) |
The List of Researched Chemistry Companies is Growing, It’s Looking Good
by Francis
(December 11, 2012)
After many downs and a few ups, I think that the first researcher, Roman, has now fully understood the concept of the task.
He has researched 30 companies up until now and things are looking good.
This is working way better now and if the end results really looked like they should, I should have a list of a few hundred companies in the end which I could use one after the other.
Simply contact research for a job opportunity and apply one after the other. If all that doesn’t work out then I will finally be out of luck.
I will have then really tried everything.
So wish me luck.
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Comments for The List of Researched Chemistry Companies is Growing, It’s Looking Good
| Aug 20, 2014 | Newbie on a promising career..? Roman is getting his hands on fire. Since he’s just started this online career, maybe that’s why he isn’t able or having a hard time making it from point A to B. But the good thing is, he landed right in your hands where he can truly learn even if it’s a short span of time. |
A New Challenger Appears
by Francis
(December 11, 2012)
German skilled chemist comes to the rescue. I was a little bit worried if we would be able to set up a cooperation with Muhammad from Pakistan.
The good thing about him is he has basic German understanding, which is a huge plus for the job of researching chemistry job opportunities for me; and he’s a chemist so he has knowledge about which job openings actually have meaning for me.
This is a world of difference between the normal researcher, who will only compile a list of items as fast as possible, and the specialist. As a specialist, he will be able to pre-screen the results for me.
My virtual assistant who is also from Pakistan and me still has some concerns about him. He has no work history and his bid price is surprisingly low especially if one considers his work background in his profile.
Here is what my main virtual assistant wrote about his profile!
“Please have a review of his most recent employment history. There he has mentioned some companies (Dawood Hercules and Glaxo), these companies are one of the most reputed companies here in Pakistan.
But on the other hand I know if he is working as a Team leader in Dawood Hercules, he will be at least getting $1000 per month, so I can’t say why he is applying a job for only $1.
So he actually has a lot of pros and cons, I am really confused, but I think he is a good resource for a case study.”
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Comments for A New Challenger Appears
| Aug 19, 2014 | on the sideline I think Muhammad wants to experience some online stuff or just a sideline for additional income. I, too, would like to take some sideline if only time bids. But, as of the moment, I have a fixed job to take care of and I am still on the stage of absorbing things and learning from it. |
Finally the Project Starts
by Francis
(December 11, 2012)
Roman finally got into gears. I’m really anxious to receive the results of his research.
Because he does not know his way around the area of Munich, of course; I gave him a few pointers via video using the free screen recording software Jing to clarify how he should best conduct his research.
For this, I simply sent him to a web presence of the Munich train system and explain to him how he should work each train line one at a time.
Also, some of his results really were not that bad at all.
However, I think this research project of manually picking out job application opportunities for a chemist will really be a bigger one than I thought. So I better work up on the results while new results are added every day.
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Comments for Finally the Project Starts
| Aug 19, 2014 | Jing makes it easier The reason why I like Jing so much because it gives clarity when it comes to giving instructions especially those task that needs critical understanding—Jing is the answer =) |
How the First Freelancer Didn’t Do Such a Good Job of Researching Job Opportunities Quickly
by Francis
(December 11, 2012)
Roman got me to have quite a headache to be honest. Right after we hired him, he said he would start working. It took one day for him to complete the initial two-hour assignment which mainly consisted of watching the videos of me giving instructions on how to do the task.
As a sign of goodwill and to compensate the virtual assistant for the training, which took those 1-2 hours, I agreed to have that training be paid. In other words, Roman receives his hourly rate even for only watching the training.
I assumed that the task would be crystal clear as I really have put much much thoughts in to the training.
What did I get as a result?
An email saying that he forgot the first gist of the project.
The first gist, seriously?
Did he even watch the videos?
I was a little bit disgruntled. However, managing this provider was mainly the task of my virtual assistant.
So I gave him a piece of my mind and asked him to motivate Roman to work a little faster. Two to three days later, Roman finally got to start the task.
Sidenote:
This sounds as if I was yelling at my VA. I was not. But since we work together very closely for quite some time, I am free to express myself freely when I’m not happy about anything to my VA – without having to fear him taking it personally.
To be honest, at that time of writing while Roman was working on the project; I was also a little bit ill. So I had to lie in bed and could not do much research on my own and I was expecting somehow this outsourced job research task to go well.
When I saw what sort of businesses and firms Roman was researching in the actual excel sheet, I was not greatly impressed either.
However, this much is not his fault. He is researching in a foreign language after all.
The good thing is my virtual assistant has reposted the same job opening a second time in order to find a fallback option provider for this project. In other words, if Roman should fail; we would be able to hire someone else right away.
Now for the awesome part, one applicant who is interestingly from Pakistan actually tells me that he has basic understanding of Germany and he has a diploma in Chemistry. How much more could I ask for?
I’ll start the competition of both providers next week. Let’s see who gets me the better and more results and makes the race. It’s always good to have a healthy competition. Not so much to put pressure on the applicants. Roman doesn’t know about his competition, but more to find the perfect fit of a virtual assistant for your project.
That’s what I’m going to do.
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Comments for How the First Freelancer Didn’t Do Such a Good Job of Researching Job Opportunities Quickly
| Aug 20, 2014 | online worker’s downsides It’s one of an online worker’s downsides. You can never imply as much as you want and no matter how much you want it—I’m not talking in general, there’s still more or less who can follow the instructions so well and less complications on both sides and often times, there’s miscommunication. And I am actually speaking in behalf of my own experiences. |
Give Your Freshly Hired Virtual Worker an Initial Boost Right After You Hire Him
by Francis
(December 11, 2012)
So, Roman is on our team now and I’m really looking forward to what sort of work he is about to deliver.
He’s going to deliver, right?
Well, perhaps I should have some patience.
Right after my hiring manager and main virtual assistant opened the job for him and also right after they had a lively discussion via chat; I don’t see Roman starting to work yet. This surprised me a little but this is not the first time it happened.
Right after you have opened a contract with a provider, it’s not rare that a provider will start working right away. His job is sort of done. He got you, the employer, to take the time and open a contract with him. So now you want something from him – his work.
Of course the employee cannot play that game in definitively since the employer will fire him. But for some time, it’s okay. I have experienced this more than once. So there’s no point in getting angry especially since my hiring manager gave him until tomorrow as a deadline to update us.
So, I’ll patiently wait for tomorrow.
If I would have wanted the work to start right away, I would have needed to spell it out. Never leave any doubt to anything. If you need to get work done now; say so, in the job opening, right after you hired the person and in all subsequent communication.
That’s the only way to stay on track. Else, you will have to adjust to the schedule of your virtual worker not the other way around.
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Comments for Give Your Freshly Hired Virtual Worker an Initial Boost Right After You Hire Him
| Jan 31, 2013 | There are different ways to motivate your worker. You don’t even have to invest money in the form of bonuses, if you want to motivate your workers.Especially at the beginning, what your newly hired assistant wants is close guidance.So if you send him several emails a day, clarification with screen recordings, and voice mails, then you’ll make your assistant happy.Working with no clear instructions is a pain.Working with clear expectations of what you have to do is much more pleasurable 🙂 |
| Aug 20, 2014 | bonus is an open subject 😀 I do agree with the fact that as an online provider, a reminder of do’s and don’ts, constructive criticism is a good thing to get us on the right track, especially me starting on a new career path as a virtual assistant—these things are pretty helpful for me to get from one point onto the next.And the reason why they are called “bonus” is that it’s a bonus from what has been imparted to us from our employer—from training a person across the globe, to breaking someone’s old habits. It’s never that easy.But, if the employer permits, we would love some bonuses also 😀 |
| Aug 21, 2014 | Bonus for work exceeding expectations vs Bonus for motivation If you are employing a VA, you can choose to give a bonus if your VA exceeds your expectations. He will feel validated and will continue to give 110% for you.Or, if you feel your VA is losing motivation, you can try to show your appreciation for good work done so far with a bonus, and the request to keep it up. However, be careful with this second type of bonus, because it can be that your VA will come to “expect” this bonus.Although I haven’t noticed this behavior from my VAs so far, such expectations can also be purely “in your head” (if you are the employer). And if something is in your head, or you feel an obligation of any sort, it’s not less real – to you.This is an advanced topic and some aspects of psychology play a part in bonuses, too. Be sure to experiment and find out what
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