The remote executive assistant hiring kit

Everything we use to screen executive assistants, rewritten so you can run the hire yourself. Copy the parts you need: no email, no sign-up. If you would rather have us do the screening, there is one link at the bottom.

1. Job description template
2. Interview scorecard
3. Three short test tasks
4. 30-day onboarding plan
5. Paying an overseas hire

1. Job description template

Replace everything in [brackets]. Be specific about the overlap hours: it filters out more wrong candidates than any other line.

Remote Executive Assistant (full-time, contractor)

About us
[Company] is a [size]-person [e-commerce brand / agency / startup] based in [city]. Our founder spends too many hours on email, scheduling and follow-ups. We are hiring a full-time executive assistant to take that work over.

What you will do
- Run the founder's inbox: triage, draft replies, follow up on open threads.
- Manage the calendar across time zones; prepare agendas and meeting notes.
- Book travel and track expenses.
- Prepare weekly reports and keep the CRM and shared documents up to date.
- Chase vendors and contractors, track deadlines, send reminders.

What you need
- Fluent written and spoken English. We test both: a short written task and a live video call.
- At least 2 years as an executive assistant, office manager or operations assistant.
- Daily use of [Google Workspace / Microsoft 365], [Notion / Asana / ClickUp], [HubSpot / Pipedrive] and Slack.
- At least [4] hours of overlap with [our time zone], e.g. [9:00-13:00 New York time].
- Your own laptop, a stable internet connection and a quiet place for calls.

Terms
- Full-time, remote, long-term independent contractor agreement with [Company].
- [USD amount] per month, paid monthly via [Deel / Wise / Payoneer].
- [2-week] paid trial period.

How to apply
Reply with your CV and a 5-line answer to this task: [paste one of the test tasks below].

2. Interview scorecard

This is the scorecard we use, in the client version. Score each line 0, 1 or 2 after the test tasks and the call. Our pass mark is 11 of 16, and any 0 on English or hours is a stop on its own.

Inside our own screening the same criteria feed a 0-100 fit score. These are the weights:

Questions for a 20-minute call

• Walk me through your last working week, hour by hour, briefly.
• What did your manager last criticise you for, and what did you change?
• A client is angry in chat and uses rude words. What are your first two sentences?
• You have 30 open items. How do you keep track of them?
• Role-play: "I'm the founder. I have three suppliers to chase and a conference in a week. What do you do in the first two days?"
• What monthly rate do you expect, and what is the lowest you would accept for a stable 12-month contract?

Red flags

• A flawless written answer next to weak spoken English: the text was probably written by an AI tool. Ask them to explain their answer on the call.
• No quiet place to work, or plans to work from a café.
• Hesitation about the hours. A full-time assistant who cannot hold your overlap will not work out.
• Expectations far above the range for the role without matching experience with US or European companies.
• Skipping your process: applying by direct message instead of doing the task.

3. Three short test tasks

Send them before the call, all three or the one closest to the job. Keep the total under 45 minutes; if you want a longer trial task, pay for it. Tell candidates not to use AI tools, then check on the call that they can explain what they wrote.

Task 1. Inbox triage (15 minutes)

You start on Monday at 9:00. These 8 emails arrived over the weekend. For each one, write one line: reply now, schedule, delegate (to whom), or archive, and why. Then write the reply to the most urgent one (up to 120 words).

1. Investor: "Can we move Thursday's call to Wednesday? Same time works."
2. Shopify: "Your payout of $4,210 has been sent."
3. Customer: "Third email, still no answer about my damaged order #1187."
4. Accountant: "I need last month's receipts by Tuesday noon to file on time."
5. Newsletter: "10 productivity tips for founders."
6. Supplier: "Price increase of 6% from the 1st of next month. Please confirm."
7. Team member: "Can I take Friday off? Coverage is arranged."
8. Conference: "Last day for the early-bird ticket price is today."

What good looks like: the customer's third email (3) and the accountant's deadline (4) come first; the investor (1) is answered today; the supplier's price rise (6) goes to you with a short note, not straight to "confirm"; the newsletter is archived. The reply to the customer apologises once, says what happens next and when, and does not invent a policy.

Task 2. Calendar puzzle (15 minutes)

The founder works in New York. Tomorrow (Tuesday) already has:
- 9:00-10:00 weekly team meeting (can move to the afternoon, not to another day);
- 11:00-11:30 call with a supplier in Shenzhen (their evening; cannot move later);
- 13:00-14:00 lunch with a client (fixed);
- 15:00-15:30 interview with a candidate in London (their evening; cannot move later).

At 18:00 today an investor asks for a 45-minute call tomorrow, any time before 12:00 New York time.

Propose the new schedule for Tuesday. Then write the message to the founder (up to 80 words) that explains the change and what you need from them.

What good looks like: the investor call goes to 9:15-10:00 or 10:00-10:45, the team meeting moves to the afternoon (for example 14:00-15:00 or 15:30-16:30), and the Shenzhen and London calls stay where they are. The message to the founder is short, says what moved and why, and asks for one confirmation.

Task 3. Customer reply (10 minutes)

A customer writes: "I received my order 40 days ago. The jacket is too small and I want to return it." Your store's policy: returns within 30 days of delivery. The founder allows store credit as a one-time goodwill gesture.

Write the reply to the customer (up to 120 words).

What good looks like: a friendly first line, the 30-day policy stated plainly, store credit offered as an exception, clear next steps (how to send the jacket back, when the credit appears), and no promise of a refund the store does not give.

4. 30-day onboarding plan

Plan for two to four weeks before a new assistant works on their own. Most of that time goes into writing down how you already do things.

Before day 1

• Create a separate work email for them and add it to your password manager (1Password, Bitwarden): share access to vaults, never passwords in chat.
• Calendar delegation, Slack, the CRM and shared drives with the least access they need.
• Sign the contractor agreement, an NDA and an IP assignment directly with the person; US companies also collect Form W-8BEN.
• Write a one-page list of the 10-15 recurring tasks you want to hand over, and the tools for each.

Week 1: shadow and draft

• Day 1: a 30-minute walkthrough of your week and the task list.
• Daily 15-minute check-in at the start of your overlap.
• They draft replies and calendar changes; you approve before anything is sent.
• They start a running document of how things are done (your first SOPs).

Week 2: routine on their own

• Routine replies and scheduling go out without approval; anything about money, hiring or clients still comes to you first.
• Check-ins drop to every other day.
• Agree how they reach you for something urgent outside the overlap hours.

Week 3: own the recurring work

• They own the weekly report, the CRM clean-up and vendor follow-ups end to end.
• One weekly 30-minute review: what to add, what to drop, what is unclear.

Week 4: the 30-day review

• Score them again on the same scorecard you used to hire them.
• Agree the next set of tasks and the hours for month two.
• If it is not working, say so now and in writing. Most problems at day 30 are unclear tasks, not the wrong person; if it is the person, decide early.

5. Paying an overseas hire

Most small companies engage a full-time remote assistant abroad as an independent contractor and pay them once a month in US dollars:

• Contract. A contractor agreement signed directly between your company and the person: scope, hours, rate, notice period, confidentiality and IP assignment.
• Tax form. US companies usually collect IRS Form W-8BEN from a non-US contractor. It stays in your files; you do not send it to the IRS.
• Deel ($49 per contractor per month) issues the contract, collects invoices and pays the person in their currency or in USD.
• Wise Business or Payoneer: a direct monthly transfer against the person's invoice, for a transfer fee instead of a subscription (see Wise's pricing).

This is general information, not legal or tax advice. Rules differ by country; check your setup with your accountant.

Sources

1. Deel pricing: https://www.deel.com/pricing/
2. IRS: About Form W-8BEN: https://www.irs.gov/forms-pubs/about-form-w-8-ben
3. Wise Business pricing: https://wise.com/us/pricing/business