Best Virtual Assistant Services: Roles and Hiring

Virtual assistants provide remote administrative support, offering flexibility and diverse skills like social media management and bookkeeping. Learn how to hire and benefit from virtual assistants, as demand grows in the evolving remote work landscape.

By Douglas Wade, Attorney

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Table of Contents

1. Virtual Assistants: Who are they?

2. Important notes

3. The functions of a Virtual Assistant

4. Virtual Assistant tasks

5. Qualifications for a Virtual Assistant

6. Virtual assistant’s benefits

7. How to recruit a virtual assistant

8. How do you get started as a virtual assistant?

9. How difficult is it to work as a virtual assistant?

10. As a virtual assistant, what is the potential income?

11. The final word

Virtual Assistants: Who are they?

Operating remotely from their client’s office, virtual assistants are independent contractors that offer administrative support to clients. Though they can access the required planning documents, like shared calendars, remotely, virtual assistants usually work from home offices.

Most people appointed as virtual assistants should have at least a couple of years of experience in roles such as office manager or administrative assistant. Awareness in managing content, social media, graphic design, articles, and internet marketing are some of the skills that are becoming popular among virtual assistants. It is expected that the demand for professionals in virtual assistance is expected to grow given the fact that working from home has been embraced by employers and employees during and after the COVID-19 pandemic.

Important notes

A virtual assistant may be defined as an independent worker with vast knowledge in delivering administrative solutions to a client from a home-based workplace.
Some of the common duties that may be expected from an average virtual assistant are email management, handling phone calls, and booking flights and appointments among others.
Some virtual assistants perform services linked to marketing, social media, accounting, blogging, and graphic designing services.
One benefit of employing a virtual assistant for an employer is having the freedom to just pay for the services they actually require.

The functions of a Virtual Assistant

As more companies of every size rely on the Internet for everyday operations and small and startup enterprises depend on virtual workplaces to keep expenses down, virtual assistants have gained popularity. As a freelancer, a virtual assistant relieves a corporation of the obligation to provide benefits and pay taxes similar to those of a full-time worker. A salaried administrative professional who operates from home and receives the same pay and benefits as a full-time worker is not the same as a virtual assistant.

Furthermore, no desk or other workplace is required at the company’s office because the virtual assistant operates remotely. It is anticipated that a virtual assistant will supply and finance their own computer hardware, standard software, and broadband internet access.

Quick fact: According to FlexJobs, among the top 10 growing remote career jobs in a study encompassing more than fifty career categories was virtual administration.

Virtual Assistant tasks

The particular responsibilities of the virtual assistant change based on the needs of the customer and the conditions of the agreement. Certain virtual assistants work in bookkeeping and secretarial support, while others might create content for a blog or share updates on social media on a regular basis. Along with data entry, appointment scheduling, booking trips, and online file storage, a comprehensive virtual worker may also accomplish these tasks.

Qualifications for a Virtual Assistant

A virtual assistant does not necessarily need to have a specific degree to work as one, but many clients prefer those who have received specialized training or an advanced degree. Virtual assistant skills certification and training are available from a few community institutions and online businesses.

An advanced level of computer expertise and familiarity with frequently used business software and applications are prerequisites for a virtual assistant. Tasks like reconciling accounts and double-entry accounting should come naturally to a virtual assistant with a bookkeeping specialization.

Virtual assistant’s benefits

The ability to hire a virtual assistant for the specific services they require is one benefit for the client. Certain virtual assistants may get task-based compensation instead of hourly compensation, depending on the specifics of the contract. In a conventional work context, however, workers are typically required to be compensated for a specific number of hours worked each day.

By employing a virtual assistant, small company owners can free up important time to concentrate on expanding their enterprise and making money. Dull and time-consuming work can often be simpler and more economically outsourced to a skilled third party.

How to recruit a virtual assistant

The labor market has witnessed an upsurge of Web-based organizations acting as middlemen between potential employers and contractors due to the rise in the number of independent freelancers who work remotely. Large global labor pools of persons with diverse backgrounds and specializations can be found on several freelancing websites.

Clients can list the kinds of jobs they require their virtual assistant to complete as well as the highest price they are ready to pay on these websites. Once the client has seen samples of their work, freelancers are free to submit a bid for the contract. To interview the candidates and get a more in-depth evaluation of their credentials, the client may occasionally arrange a video conference.

Particular things to remember

Establishing clear guidelines for the activities they need to be completed before employing a virtual assistant can help the client achieve a more harmonious working relationship. In an online working relationship, miscommunication can be minimized with the use of a written rulebook.

How do you get started as a virtual assistant?

While not required, prior experience working as a support professional or administrative assistant is beneficial. Training programs can be taken by people without prior experience to acquire the necessary abilities, including using the Office Suite from Microsoft or other administration software. Marketplaces, where freelancers can look for jobs, are offered via freelance networks like Fiverr and Upwork. In addition, contractors can use networking websites like LinkedIn or more conventional job boards to get employment.

How difficult is it to work as a virtual assistant?

Working with many applications, coordinating and prioritizing conflicting activities, and reporting to an employer are some of the tasks that a virtual assistant faces in addition to those faced by an in-person assistant. The virtual assistant works distant from their employer’s setting, seldom interacting with them face-to-face. This is what makes their work unique. Many employees might find this to be a less difficult scenario. It’s also a setting without any support personnel available in case of technical issues.

As a virtual assistant, what is the potential income?

The nature of the task and the company you work for determine how much you get paid. Virtual assistants often make somewhat more than $25 per hour nationwide, especially for entry-level administrative assistant positions, according to employment website Indeed.

Prices may increase for jobs requiring a more valuable skill set, like design. Certain positions with set hourly wages are posted on popular job boards like Indeed, Monster, and Robert Half. By setting their own pricing, contractors can charge extra for their services when they advertise on platforms like Upwork or Fiverr. Virtual assistants can also be found advertised on Facebook among other social networking sites.

The final word

Remote administrative support provided on a contract or self-employed basis to an organization or individual is known as a virtual assistant. Apart from managing the workplace, a virtual assistant can do many tasks connected to writing, editing, design, marketing, and social media. Though they are not physically present in the same office as their bosses or coworkers, virtual assistants nonetheless use technology to do tasks from a distance. Several workers worked remotely in a range of roles following the COVID-19 epidemic, including assistantship.

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