Outsourcing a virtual assistant

Most assistants are the people that spend time in the office and whom provide administrative support to business owners. However, virtual assistants are not required to perform these services in the owners’ offices which is how a virtual assistant is made 'virtual.'

Virtual assistants work with a wide variety of different businesses and clients from across the country and some even venture further, to around the world. Due to the work – most of the time – being virtual this makes the job accessible and limitless in regards to the location. You have no need to worry that your business cannot hire an assistant because they are based far away, because they still work for you efficiently wherever they are based.

Virtual assistants may work as freelancers or as part of a larger call centre. They will charge for their work on an hourly basis at their own rates. Some may provide a package that has been set up which provides a flat hourly rate for a variety of services provided. The clients, like many employers, will pay them for the given period of work which can also be defined by the virtual assistant themselves.

Due to this service being virtual, many virtual assistants work from home or in a larger call centre, which allows flexibility to work. However, the job does require persistence, productivity and dedication and virtual assistants are very skilled in what they do. Call centres only hire people who are fully qualified to do the job in hand and who have experience in this line of work.

There are a vast amount of virtual assistants that focus on the administrative aspects of work, providing work in areas such as, data entry, word processing, proofreading, editing, scheduling, file organisation and many other small tasks. This is very useful for any business that needs administrative help but does not want to hire a full time assistant in house.

Many one man band businesses decide to use the services of a virtual assistant because they are based from home and do not want a real assistant to come into their home based office every day. Outsourcing a virtual assistant means they stay in their location and work for you as and when you need the help. You may just want a virtual assistant to help you in times when you are extra busy.

Other types of virtual assistant can undergo administrative based work but can also understand the systems of running an online business, which is often helpful to businesses that operate websites. The tasks required for this role are; setting up a shopping cart, maintaining the website – keeping it up-to-date, blog posting and other requirements that surround an online website/business. For this type of work, virtual assistants usually charge more for their rates in comparison to those who are solely administrative virtual workers as their skill set is much more varied.

In fact, there are various types of skills required for a virtual secretary role:

• Most assistants would have knowledge of office based software programs such as; Word, Excel, Outlook and Power Point.
• There are many other skills required for this role such as communication and the ability to be punctual and manage time efficiently. In a lot of situations for virtual assistants, customers will be emailing and enquiring over the phone, therefore having a good speaking manner and communicating clearly and efficiently is vital.
• Focusing on the job is also key as for many, working from home may be a luxury but it is also a chore as you are more inclined to find difficulty in managing the structure of your day. The virtual assistant is therefore a very committed member of your team.
• For higher level virtual assistant roles you virtual assistants have a broad spectrum of newer skills, for example, web design or copy-writing. Virtual assistants also learn on the job as they are essentially their own boss, so it would be beneficial to them and to the client to continue to learn new skills.
• Knowing the ins and outs of a computer is now a specific requirement and you won't fail if you don’t know lots of different computer programs. However, it is beneficial to the company if you are willing to learn more.
• A virtual assistant will know how to prioritize in the job. The assistant will know how to conduct efficient time management in order to meet the deadlines of their client and not fall behind.
• Having a good working knowledge of different industries is also something which many assistants have as sometimes they could be working for several clients at once. With experience, a virtual assistant can apply in their role what they have learnt in other industries.

This job is never the same and it is always changing as the client has new demands and requests. Outsourcing a virtual assistant makes sound business sense for any SME or freelancer that wishes to have the organisational and professional skills of an assistant, but without paying the salary of an in house assistant.