Plan your first offshore hire around the work

Plan your first offshore admin hire by defining the recurring work, the decisions the person can make and the support you will provide. Write a brief covering responsibilities, tools, working hours, manager and budget. Then meet candidates against that brief and prepare one clear handover before expanding the role.

1. Find the work that keeps coming back

For one working week, write down the tasks that repeatedly interrupt your day. Think about client follow-ups, scheduling, inbox handling, updating your CRM and keeping projects organised. Record the frequency, approximate time and consequence of a missed task.

Look for related responsibilities that form a coherent role. One person should not be expected to be an expert bookkeeper, designer and salesperson simply because all three areas need attention.

2. Write a brief someone can act on

Copy these prompts into a document and answer them in plain language:

• The work: Which three to five responsibilities will this person own?
• The result: What will be different when the work is being done well?
• The tools: Which systems will they use, and what experience is essential?
• The hours: When do they need to overlap with your team or clients?
• The manager: Who will answer questions and agree priorities?
• The budget: What total employment cost can the business support?
• The start: When could you provide access, training and regular feedback?

For example, a client coordination brief might cover confirming appointments, following up missing information and keeping the CRM current. “Help with everything” leaves both you and the candidate guessing.

A worked role brief: admin and client coordination

Imagine a small service business where the owner handles appointment confirmations, missing client information and CRM updates between customer calls. The aim of the role is to keep that recurring work moving, with clear rules for decisions that still need the owner.

This is an illustrative brief. Adapt the responsibilities, hours and review points to your business before discussing candidates.

Part of the brief	Example to adapt
Purpose	Keep appointments, client follow-ups and records organised so the owner can see what needs attention.
Responsibilities	Confirm appointments; follow up information requested from clients; update the CRM after each interaction.
What good work looks like	Each open item has an accurate status, a next action and an owner. Unresolved questions are visible before the agreed deadline.
Decisions the person can make	Use approved confirmation templates, update records from verified information and schedule within the availability rules you provide.
Decisions to bring back	Changes to prices or scope, complaints, conflicting instructions and requests outside the agreed scheduling rules.
Tools	The business’s CRM, shared inbox and calendar. Identify essential experience and what you can teach.
Working hours	Specify required overlap in your team’s local time, including how changes to the schedule will be agreed. Confirm feasibility with the candidate and provider.
Manager	One named person sets priorities, answers questions and reviews work. Name a backup for absences.
First responsibility	Appointment confirmations for one service type, reviewed before additional work is introduced.

A useful interview question follows directly from this brief: “A client asks to change an appointment, but the requested time is outside the available slots. What would you check, record and bring back to me?” Compare the candidate’s approach with the boundaries you have written, rather than looking only for familiarity with a tool.

3. Meet people against the same brief

Browse profiles for relevant experience and skills, then shortlist the people you want to meet. Ask each candidate to describe how they have handled similar responsibilities, how they organise work and when they ask for help.

Use the same core questions so you can compare evidence. If a task or work sample would help, agree its scope and arrangements with us first. Confirm current availability before planning a start date.

4. Agree the commercial details

Before committing, confirm the role, working arrangements, total employment cost, placement terms, support and any separate charges. Free access to Talent Hub does not mean employing a person is free.

See what is free and what is quoted separately, then use the offshore quote comparison checklist.

5. Make the first month practical

Start with one repeatable responsibility. Show an example, work through an exception and agree what happens when something fails. Add responsibilities when the work is understood and the review shows it is ready—not simply because another week has passed.

Before the start: name the manager and backup; agree the working schedule; prepare individual access to the required systems; and write down the first responsibility, its limits and a completed example. Share only the access needed for the agreed work.

At the first review: work through examples together. Check whether the person can explain the next action, where the result is recorded and when they should ask for help.

As responsibility grows: review a sample of completed work and the unresolved queue. Clarify recurring questions in the instructions before adding another responsibility.

At the end of the first month: compare actual work with the original brief. Discuss quality, missed or blocked items and the time the manager spends clarifying tasks. Agree the next responsibility or revise the scope. This review is a planning suggestion, not a guarantee of independence within a month.

Handover example: following up missing client information

Write the handover so someone can carry out the normal task and recognise when to stop. Here is an illustrative version to adapt.

Trigger: the CRM shows that a client has not supplied information requested for an upcoming appointment.

Inputs: the current appointment, the list of missing information, the approved contact method and message template, and the agreed follow-up schedule.

Normal case: check the latest client reply and CRM notes first. If the information is still missing and a follow-up is due, use the approved message, record that it was sent and set the next review date. When the client replies, update the record and identify any information still outstanding.

Important exception: if the reply changes the scope of the appointment, includes a complaint or contradicts an existing instruction, record the question and refer it to the manager. Do not promise a price, outcome or revised service you have not been authorised to offer.

Failure and retry: if the system reports an error while sending, check the sent folder or activity history before trying again. If you cannot tell whether the message was delivered, flag the uncertainty to the manager. Record the blocked item so it is not mistaken for a completed follow-up.

Definition of done: the record shows the current information status, the last verified action, the next action and who owns it. “Message sent” alone is not completion if the client information is still missing.

What if I am not ready to hire yet?

Use the brief to identify what is missing. If you cannot name the recurring work, the person who will manage it or the hours it needs covered, resolve those points first. You can still explore candidate experience and discuss the role without treating a profile or an indicative price as a commitment.

Talent Hub catalogue access, shortlists, introduction requests and MCP access are free. Employment and placement services are quoted separately.

Talk through your first hire or explore candidate profiles.