Built for service firms whose founders are making their first 1–5 remote hires.Inspect the brief
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REMOTE RECRUITING WITH VISIBLE EVIDENCE

Hire a virtual assistant who closes loops without becoming another one to manage.

Recruit a remote assistant around the work interrupting your week, with communication, ownership, tools, schedule, and judgment assessed before your interviews.

Start your hiring brief Inspect the role evidence
Protect founder attentionKeep recurring administration currentTurn loose tasks into visible systems
Remote professional writing notes beside a laptop at a home desk
WORK IN CONTEXTA useful assistant role starts with visible work and clear boundaries.

Inbox, research, notes, next steps, and system upkeep become a durable role only when priorities, decision rights, access, and escalation rules are explicit.

PLAN THE ROLE

Check the scope, evidence, and handoff plan for the first 90 days before the search begins.

Choose each planning view to see what the role should own, what should earn an interview, and how a strong start will be measured.

Scope planning viewDefined at kickoff

What should a virtual assistant own first?

Protect founder attention

Inbox and calendar triage Research and meeting preparation CRM and project board upkeep

Turn the work into a role scorecard before sourcing begins.

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OWNERSHIP MAP

What this role should own, and what should be tested.

A title is only useful after responsibilities, tools, communication, and evidence are explicit.

Swipe to compare responsibilities, tools, and communication evidence

Typical responsibilities

  • Inbox and calendar triage
  • Research and meeting preparation
  • CRM and project board upkeep
  • Client and vendor coordination
  • Recurring reporting

Common tools

  • Google Workspace
  • Microsoft 365
  • Slack
  • Notion
  • Asana
  • HubSpot

Communication evidence

  • Concise status updates
  • Professional written tone for clients
  • Clarifying ambiguity
  • Escalating risk early
WORK SAMPLE FOR THE ROLE

Test a realistic moment, not trivia.

Prioritize a crowded inbox, draft two responses, and explain which commitments require the founder’s decision.

01 Structure02 Judgment03 Communication04 Reliability
The final exercise is tailored to the approved role and designed to respect candidate time.
INSIDE THE DELIVERABLE

Anatomy of the First Hire Brief.

Scroll through the six parts of the document every search produces. This is the document that supports your hiring decision.

01 / BRIEF SECTION

Role scorecard

Outcomes for the first 30, 60, and 90 days, decision rights, tools, schedule, and the constraints that can stop a search.

02 / BRIEF SECTION

Communication evidence

Notes from live conversations and written scenarios describe observed behavior in concrete terms.

03 / BRIEF SECTION

Work sample scoring

An exercise tied to the role and scored against anchors written before any answers were reviewed.

04 / BRIEF SECTION

Verification ledger

What was demonstrated, what the candidate reported, and what still needs checking are clearly labeled.

05 / BRIEF SECTION

Tradeoffs + probes

Strengths, tradeoffs, and specific interview questions to test each one.

06 / BRIEF SECTION

Handoff plan

Offer alignment, start logistics, and the onboarding plan that follows your decision.

30/60/90

Define progress before day one.

These milestones become specific only after the client approves the role scorecard.

Swipe through the milestones for days 30, 60, and 90

First 30 days

Learn priorities, access rules, and recurring queues; close supervised administrative loops with visible updates.

By day 60

Own the agreed inbox, calendar, CRM, research, or reporting cadence with predictable escalation.

By day 90

Run the core support rhythm with less prompting and improve one documented recurring workflow.

LIVE SCHEDULE CONTEXT

Compare local times across the Americas before you define the working hours.

Swipe to view local times

Your time--:--:-- --
Mexico City--:--:-- --
Bogotá--:--:-- --
Buenos Aires--:--:-- --

Swipe to compare fit and pause conditions

A strong fit when

  • Recurring work interrupts high value decisions
  • The manager can define priorities and decision rights
  • There is enough stable work for durable ownership

Pause the search when

  • The role is only an unstructured task dump
  • No one can onboard or manage the hire
  • The workload is sporadic and highly specialized
BUYER QUESTIONS

Clarify the relationship before the shortlist.

Who employs or contracts with the person?

First Hire is a direct hire recruiting partner. The client employs or contracts with the selected person and chooses its own payroll, EOR, or contractor solution.

How is communication assessed?

We evaluate the clarity, listening, written tone, comprehension, and judgment the job requires through live conversation and realistic scenarios. Accent is not a screening criterion.

Are working hours confirmed?

Yes. Required overlap, schedule, start date, and other availability constraints are confirmed before a candidate reaches the shortlist.

How is a virtual assistant different from an executive assistant?

A virtual assistant usually owns defined workflows across the business. An executive assistant operates with deeper leadership context, access, discretion, and delegated priority decisions. The scorecard should make that difference explicit.

See the sample candidate brief Understand the pricing model Walk the process
A CLEARER NEXT STEP

Turn the virtual assistant role into a search backed by evidence.

Start with the work that keeps interrupting your week, plus the timeline and schedule overlap you need.

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EVIDENCE BEFORE INTERVIEWS · YOU MAKE THE FINAL CALL