Qualities and skills of an e-commerce assistant

Qualities and skills of an e-commerce assistant

Since the main purpose of an e-commerce assistant is to free up their manager’s time, it’s important to find a candidate with the right qualities and skill set for this position.
According to the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), the main reason why managers do not delegate tasks to others is a lack of trust in their workers. But sooner or later, there will come a time when a manager has to choose between delegating tasks to others and burnout. When this moment comes, it’s better to have the right person around who can handle tasks properly and gain their manager’s trust. Alternatively, the wrong person will not make their manager’s life easier but complicate it instead.
In this article, I’m going to describe the most common scenarios of how workers can be a drain on their manager’s time and the qualities a candidate should have to fulfil the responsibilities of an e-commerce assistant in the most efficient way.
Read ‘Main responsibilities of an e-commerce assistant‘ to find out what things an e-commerce assistant can do.

Desire to control
One of the main reasons for managers’ mistrust is their desire to control their workers’ every move. To provide high-quality performance and gain the trust of their manager, an e-commerce assistant should be:
Attentive to details. E-commerce assistants mostly deal with text while creating or checking content, or when communicating with customers or teammates. If they are responsible for a project, they should take into account all its nuances. That’s why attentiveness is vital for this role. Once you have found such an attentive person, you don’t need to waste time double-checking their work.
Highly responsible. This is a cornerstone for anyone you are going to employ, and an e-commerce assistant is no exception. A highly responsible person is someone who is honest and has a high level of integrity—the person who walks their talk. When a manager delegates certain tasks to such a person, they don’t need to worry that the work will not be completed in time. This person will also inform a manager timeously if something goes wrong. So, you don’t need to spend your time tracking the execution of tasks all the time.
Proactive. When a person is proactive, they don’t sit around without work waiting for new tasks from management. This person will ask for new tasks as soon as their previous work is done. Knowing the company’s goals, they can even create new tasks by themselves. Thus, management doesn’t need to spend time checking whether their e-commerce assistant is busy or not.

Difficulties with confidence
Another situation where managers can waste their time on their workers is when they have to start persuading them to accept tasks. This happens when a worker doesn’t believe that the tasks are doable. To avoid such situations and to be able to take on new tasks easily, an e-commerce assistant must have:
A can-do attitude. This person tends to identify opportunities rather than obstacles. They first try to solve an issue on their own or with the help of other teammates before they go to their manager for help. So, the next time an e-commerce assistant asks for help, their manager can be sure that there is really something challenging that needs to be dealt with.
Basic knowledge of online tools. When someone wants to be an e-commerce assistant, knowledge of the main tools that e-commerce businesses use is a must-have. A candidate should know how to work with CMS (e.g., WordPress), online environments (e.g., Google Workspace), client software (e.g., MS Office), messengers (e.g., Slack) and task management tools (e.g., Trello). Nobody wants to spend their time teaching someone from scratch before delegating tasks to them.

Bogged down in organising
Another situation where managers spend too much time on their workers is when they try to organise the whole process instead of setting objectives. So it follows that an e-commerce assistant should have:
Organisational skills. They should know how to organise people around a project, set goals, control their performance and complete a project before a deadline.
Communication skills. It’s vital that an e-commerce assistant knows how to approach others and is able to formulate and provide information clearly. At the same time, they need to notice when something goes wrong and be able to assess and resolve an issue as soon as possible.

Specific soil requires a specific plant
Finally, it’s important for managers to understand that specific soil requires a specific plant. In other words, not everyone is born to be an e-commerce assistant. A person who wants to hold this position should be:
More process-oriented. The work of an e-commerce assistant is usually built around recurring tasks that they must enjoy doing over a long period of time, again and again.
Stress tolerant. The outcomes of an e-commerce assistant’s work can be a reason for company losses. Sometimes their actions or the actions of people under their supervision can delay the completion of a project and drive their managers crazy. So this person must be stress-resistant and not take such situations to heart.
Multitasker. Usually, e-commerce assistants have to deal with various tasks at the same time without losing their focus. They should be able to jump from one project to another, making quick and correct decisions along the way.
Introvert (if working remotely). If your e-commerce assistant is going to work for your business remotely, they should be comfortable doing so alone and not miss in-person communication with their colleagues. Otherwise, this person will suffer from isolation, and it will not only influence their work but the mood in an entire team as well.
Pay attention to the qualities and skills I mentioned above while looking for your e-commerce assistant. If the candidate you will eventually choose will have them, I can guarantee that they will only strengthen your business.
If you don’t have enough time or experience to look for an e-commerce assistant by yourself, book a preliminary call with me, and I will be more than happy to do it for you.

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