A lot of owners stick with a virtual assistant way longer than they should. Firing someone feels awful, and starting over feels like more work than putting up with the problem. So the tasks keep slipping and you quietly start doing them yourself again.
If that is where you are, this post is for you. I will cover how to tell whether it is fixable, how to make the switch without dropping balls and how to set the next person up so you are not back here in three months.
First, is it the person or the setup?
Before you replace anyone, be honest about whether they had a fair shot. A surprising number of placements fail because the role was never clearly defined. The assistant was told to "help out" and then judged on things nobody asked them to do.
Ask yourself a few questions. Did they have a written list of what they own? Did they have access to every tool the work needs? Did you give feedback early and in writing, or did you let things pile up? If the answer to most of those is no, a reset conversation might fix it faster than a new hire.
On the other hand, some things are not a setup problem. Missing deadlines after clear instructions is one. So is billing hours that do not match the work, or going quiet for days at a time, or repeating the same mistakes after you have pointed them out. Those are signs to move on.
Get your house in order before you switch
The handover is where most switches go wrong. The old assistant leaves, half the work in progress disappears with them and the new person spends two weeks figuring out what was going on.
Before you end anything, make a list of every account and tool your current assistant can get into. Email, calendar, your CRM, accounting software, shared drives and any client portals. You will need it to change passwords and remove access on their last day.
Then ask them to write down what they are working on right now and how they do their recurring tasks. Most people will do this professionally if you ask clearly. If you do not think they will, quietly gather what you can from your shared folders and sent mail first.
Change access the same day
When the relationship ends, remove their access that day. Reset shared passwords and sign them out of every session you can. If you use a password manager this takes minutes. If passwords live in a spreadsheet, this is a great moment to fix that.
It is not about assuming bad intent. It is just basic hygiene, and it protects you and them.
Write the role down properly this time
Here is the single most useful thing you can do before hiring again. Write a one page role description with the actual tasks, how often they happen and what good looks like for each one.
"Manage my inbox" is vague. "Sort the inbox twice a day, draft replies to anything routine for my review and flag anything from these five clients right away" is something a person can actually deliver on. Do that for every task and you have a role description and a training guide in one.
Add the hours you need them online and how much overlap you want with your own workday. That shapes who is a fit.
Screen for the thing that broke last time
Whatever went wrong with the last hire, test for it directly. If they were sloppy with details, give candidates a short task with details that are easy to miss. If they went quiet, ask finalists how they handle being stuck and listen for whether they say they would reach out.
Interview at least two or three finalists yourself even if you are using an agency. You are the one who will work with them every day.
Plan the first two weeks
Give the new person a short list of tasks they own from day one, plus the written role description. Check their work daily at first and give feedback in writing. Ask them to add to your process notes as they learn, so the knowledge ends up in a document and not just in someone's head.
A short check in at the end of each of the first two weeks goes a long way. Ask what is unclear to them and what they would change. Small fixes early prevent the slow slide that ended the last placement.
How we handle switches at delegateit
A lot of our clients come to us after a VA did not work out, so we have done this a fair bit. On the first call we scope the role with you and help you write it down. We test and interview candidates, then you interview the finalists and make the call. We can help hand over any work in progress so the switch is smooth.
After that you have a dedicated client success manager who runs onboarding and regular check ins. If your hire is not the right fit, you tell them and we replace the person and keep recruiting until you are happy. That is a replacement promise and it does not refund time already worked. The guarantee terms spell it out.
Pricing starts at $1,500 a month for a full time assistant, $900 a month part time and $2,200 a month for a specialist. It is month to month with no placement fees. You can see the details on our pricing page.
The short version
Figure out whether the problem is the person or the setup. If it is the person, collect the work in progress and lock down access the day it ends. Write the role down properly before you hire again, and screen for whatever broke last time.
If you want help making the switch, book a free call and tell us what has not been working.