Updated January 5, 2023.
You might have plans to grow your property management business or real estate company with various individuals to fill different roles. However, hiring too many people before your business supports the increase in your payroll expenses can be a costly mistake!
How can property managers hire for current needs, then experience growth? Find out here and learn how to hire a virtual assistant to build your workforce.
When you hire a virtual assistant, start by considering your current needs. While building a workforce to support future growth is important, hiring for customer service and property management needs now is the best place to start.
Start by assessing a job description with the skills needed to get the work done for each area of responsibility within your company. Create an organizational chart with clearly defined responsibilities and job titles. Map out which of these positions can be fulfilled by yourself or someone else on staff and which ones require a support role (i.e., receptionist, accountant, marketing assistant, etc.). When determining where to hire a virtual assistant, make sure the position can be effectively filled by someone outside your company in a contractor role.
As you pinpoint roles to fill right away, note which roles on the organizational chart for your property management company can wait until your business starts to grow. Having a good idea of future needs is an excellent way to optimize your hiring strategy and save payroll dollars while building a team now that can handle current client loads and set you up for more success.
Building an effective team to manage properties for multiple clients or expand your real estate business requires the right mix of in-house W-2 employees and outsourced team members. Outsourcing through independent contractors allows business owners to reduce payroll costs without sacrificing quality and skills when adding new team members.
As you evaluate your hiring needs now, choose roles that are ideal for a virtual property management assistant. Your in-person team will need to handle tasks like property inspections and maintenance. However, VAs are ideal for bookkeeping, marketing and social media management, administrative assistants, various property management services, coordinating maintenance requests, handling leases and listings, and more!
Now that you know what to consider when building a team for current needs, it's time to start filling positions! Begin by advertising the open positions and reviewing resumes through a virtual assistant platform like VPM Solutions. Then, filter through the resumes to find the candidates with the best skills for a property manager virtual assistant job. With VPM Solutions, you'll notice that our Talent Match algorithm makes it easy to find qualified VA talent by sending excellent matches to your inbox!
Then, talk with the best candidates to see if they are a good fit for the job and your company culture. Remember, just because someone has all the required skills doesn't mean they will be a good fit for your team. Ask questions about their past experiences and how they handled difficult situations. This will help you determine if they have the emotional intelligence needed to succeed in your organization.
You may choose a virtual assistant to handle tasks currently being done by yourself or another team member. You can find someone to help with the workload now, then add more help as you grow. Starting with a team to fill current needs can save money on payroll expenses while allowing for future growth!
It depends on your current needs and future goals! As a property manager working through your staffing decisions, consider the tasks assigned to each role and the candidates you have in response to posted job descriptions.
With highly-skilled VAs, you might find that one property management virtual assistant can handle multiple tasks. However, with roles that don't have overlapping tasks or are unrelated, real estate industry professionals might need to consider hiring more than one VA.
Whether it's more than one VA or multiple in-house positions, we caution against adding too many people too soon. Building a team too quickly can lead to ineffective onboarding practices and new W-2 employees or contracted virtual assistants that aren't equipped to succeed in your business goals. It's also risky to take on too much overhead without the revenue to support your growing team.
Finding the right virtual assistant is one of the best ways to build an excellent support system within your company and serve customers better! With VPM Solutions and our TalentMatch software, it's easy to find VA talent that will be a great fit for your team and provide excellent service for your clients. The best virtual assistants have property management or real estate experience and can jump in as valuable team assets right away. They also have the resources to stay updated on current processes and property management software to be a long-term resource for your company.
Learn more about how VPM Solutions works and how to post a job for free! Schedule a consultation soon.
Get more insights into finding a virtual assistant for real estate! Download our free resource, "The Definitive Guide to Hiring a Virtual Assistant."