When business owners hire people remotely, they confront a different risk. Bad execution. Ghosting. False information. Not all of these problems come from scammers, yet they still cause real damage.
When you hire a freelancer or virtual assistant, you don’t have the safety net of office supervision, daily check-ins, or in-person oversight. You depend on trust, talking to each other, and mechanisms.
Most of the information you see online is about keeping freelancers safe from scam clients. That’s helpful, but it doesn’t look at the other side of the issue.
The main point of this post is simple: help you check someone’s credibility, skills, and fit before you give them money.
Most business owners hire freelancers or VAs to cut costs and that makes sense. Compared to in-house staff, outsourcing VAs help feels like a lower-risk option.
But hiring the wrong person can costs more than doing nothing.
You lose time when projects stall or deadlines get missed. You lose momentum when you have to pause and start over. You miss opportunities because execution didn’t happen when it mattered.
Then there’s rework. Cleaning up poorly done tasks takes longer than doing them right the first time. Fixing content, rebuilding campaigns, or undoing technical mistakes takes time away from your schedule.
There’s also the trust factor. You don’t want to delegate again after one lousy hire. You think twice about prospective candidates. You micromanage because you don’t want to get hurt again.
And finally, there’s the emotional cost. Managing frustration, chasing updates, and fixing mistakes drains energy that should go into running your business.
Not every bad hire is a scammer. A lot of them just aren’t a good fit or don’t have as much experience as they say they do.
They say yes to everything. Tight deadlines, complex tasks, unfamiliar tools. Delivery doesn’t match the promises.
They show impressive samples but struggle to explain how the work was done. Often, they didn’t do the work themselves.
They reply quickly before the onboarding process. Response slow down or stop completely after payment or start of the project.
They do what they’re told to do, but they never ask why. There’s no thinking beyond instructions.
They claim years of experience but can’t answer basic questions. Knowledge is shallow and inconsistent.
A colleague of mine works as an HR contractor, and one time a client asked for a Filipino virtual assistant. A resume came in that looked perfect. There were no red flags on paper; the skills matched the role, and the experience made sense.
But something didn’t feel right during the interview. The person’s accent didn’t sound like a typical Filipino English accent, whether it was neutral or strong. At first, it was simple to dismiss because accents can be different, but the feeling didn’t go away. They found out that this person had bought a Filipino resume and was using it to pretend to be someone else after looking into it more.
People don’t realize how often this kind of thing happens, which is why meeting the person is also important when recruiting remotely. Always ask for a video call meeting. A real video call can help you confirm you’re talking to the real person behind the profile and not just a well-written resume. There are other things that you should look into:
Look for consistency across platforms. Website, LinkedIn, Upwork, OnlineJobs, Freeup, and other portfolio links.
Check their profile if their services, positioning, and experience are the same. Small differences are normal but major contradictions are not.
It’s also a red flag if there is no evidence of anything other than one generic profile with multiple is having no trace beyond a single generic profile with vague descriptions.
Pay attention to how they explain what they do.
Do they talk about processes or just list tools? Can they explain why something worked, not just what they did?
Legit professionals talk about trade-offs, limits, and decision points. They don’t claim everything works all the time.
Context matters more because samples alone don’t prove real skill or integrity. Instead of stopping at portfolios, ask questions that reveal how the work was actually done. Start by asking what their role was in the project so you know whether they executed tasks or simply presented someone else’s work.
Find out what problem they were solving so you can see if they understand business goals, not just deliverables. These questions quickly filter out borrowed or inflated portfolios.
You should also avoid generic interview questions and use prompts that show how a freelancer or a VA thinks.
This shows how they think, plan, and prioritize before doing the work. You’ll quickly see whether they rely on a clear process or jump straight to execution without direction.
A strong professional freelancer understands that good results depend on clear inputs. If they ask about goals, access, timelines, and expectations, it shows they value preparation over assumptions.
Their answer often reveals real-world experience and awareness of where projects commonly break down. It also shows whether they can communicate gaps without blaming clients.
Honest answers here signal maturity and accountability. Pay attention to whether they explain what they learned and how they adjusted, not just what went wrong.
These questions shift the conversation away from selling and toward problem-solving. They help you understand how someone works before you trust them with your business.
Some warning signs appear early, even before work begins. They’re easy to overlook when you’re eager to move forward, but they often signal problems later. Avoiding contracts or written scopes usually leads to confusion, since clear terms protect both sides and set expectations from the start. Pushing for full payment upfront without milestones also raises risk, as it removes accountability once the project is underway.
Communication patterns matter just as much. Avoiding calls or insisting on chat-only communication limits transparency and makes it harder to resolve issues. Pay attention to how they explain past results. If they can’t clearly describe what they did and why it worked, the results may not truly be theirs. Notice how they respond when you ask clarifying questions, disappearing or becoming defensive under pressure often points to weak communication. One red flag alone may not mean much, but when several appear together, they usually tell you what to expect.
You can usually tell within the first conversation whether someone has real experience or is still figuring things out. It shows in how they communicate, what they prioritize, and how they handle boundaries before any work even begins.
A strong working relationship starts with mutual evaluation. Come prepared with your own questions and treat the call as a conversation, not a sales pitch.
When a hire isn’t working, it’s important to act early. Dragging things out and hoping for improvement without clear progress usually makes the situation worse. End the engagement professionally and keep communication respectful and direct.
Take time to document what didn’t work. Identify whether the issue came from unclear scope, weak communication, or a gap in skills. This step helps you avoid repeating the same mistake.
Before rehiring, fix your systems. Strengthen your onboarding, clarify tasks, and set expectations upfront so the next hire starts with clarity. Treat the experience as part of the process. Every hire that doesn’t work should help you refine how you evaluate, onboard, and manage the next one.
Trial periods and paid test tasks help reduce risk for both sides. They give you a clear view of how someone actually works before making a long-term commitment, while also respecting the freelancer’s time and effort. A fair test should be small, paid, and closely tied to the role so it reflects real work, not free labor.
Unpaid tests often lead to resentment or low-quality output, which is why experienced freelancers usually avoid them. Clear scope also matters at this stage. Defining deliverables, timelines, and communication rules upfront prevents misalignment later. A common and reasonable payment structure is a 50–50 down payment, as it creates shared commitment. If someone insists on 100 percent upfront and it doesn’t feel right, it’s okay to negotiate or walk away.
Hiring remote talent takes more than posting a job and reviewing resumes. The real challenges usually come from unclear expectations, weak vetting, and the absence of a solid process. Skilled and reliable freelancers and virtual assistants do exist, but finding them depends on how clearly you define roles, ask the right questions, and set systems in place from the start. When the process is clear, hiring becomes less stressful and more predictable.
If you’re looking for a marketing virtual assistant or a digital marketing specialist focusing on organic marketing and want support setting up clear systems for your marketing process, book a discovery call with us and start with clarity, alignment, and a structure that supports long-term results.
