A virtual assistant is a remote worker who supports business owners and professionals in managing their daily grind from a home office. While VAs mostly handle administrative services, their expertise extends to more complex roles.
As business operations made the big jump to remote working, the market for virtual assistants has grown tremendously.
This isn’t surprising at all, since the employment terrain has shifted towards flexible employment, diversity and inclusion. To top that off, companies are aggressively seeking staffing solutions that can reduce expenses and improve productivity.
Every factor that shapes the recruitment landscape all points to virtual assistants. However, finding the right talent for the right position poses a challenge. That’s why having a reputable virtual assistant company by your side is pivotal
What Does a Virtual Assistant Usually Do?
The duties of a virtual assistant differ depending on the industry they’re in and the client they’re working for. From administrative to technical, the responsibilities of your remote professional will also vary based on their specific skill set.
What Is a Virtual Assistant Example?
Here are some of the most common virtual assistant services that a remote professional can competently do for you:
- Administrative Support
- Customer Support
- Technical Support
- Bookkeeping
- Research
- Website Management
- Digital Marketing
- Software Development
- Video Editing
- Recruitment
What Is a Virtual Assistant Company?
A virtual assistant company serves as a VA agency that recruits, trains and matches remote professionals to open positions. They are experts at enticing remote talents even in a highly competitive market.
From hiring to onboarding, they can lead and guide you toward finding the best virtual assistant perfectly tailored to your company’s needs.
How Does a Virtual Assistant Company Work?
A reputable VA company optimises the recruitment process to save time, money and energy.
By following these steps, they are able to efficiently find a skilled remote assistant for you and your firm:
Understand Your Business Needs
Before taking a further step, a virtual assistant company will define your recruitment needs first. What are the positions that need to be filled? They will identify these gaps and work with your specific list of requirements to find the candidate with the most potential.
Source Quality VAs
Once your hiring needs are determined, a VA company will make use of industry resources to scour and locate your ideal assistant quickly.
Conduct a Thorough Screening
From a list of potential VA candidates, interviews and screening tests are leveraged to ensure only the best ones remain. In this phase, you get to partake and perhaps ask your own questions. This way, you can feel them out and decide if you can work seamlessly with them before you make the offer.
Negotiate and Settle on an Agreement
When you’re ready to extend a contract, your virtual assistant company will help negotiate and draw the agreement regarding compensation and work arrangements.
Onboard Your New Team Member
It’s not just helping you with sourcing and doing the paperwork; these VA agencies also onboard your newest talent.
This is a critical phase that helps your virtual assistant settle into the working environment. A quality onboarding experience results in retention and higher engagement and productivity.
How a Virtual Assistant Company Finds the Right Person for the Right Job
A virtual assistant company, like VAV Australia, has the resources to locate the brightest virtual stars in the digital universe. We have the reach, the tools and the expertise to find the virtual assistant you need.
Wider Reach
A virtual assistant company has the advantage of having a bigger network. They have connections across time zones, plus they headhunt suitable candidates employed elsewhere.
Even those passive talents who don’t actively search for jobs don’t escape their radar. Simply put, they can woo skilled professionals that aren’t found in your average search.
Rich Talent Pool
Here’s a scenario:
After careful screening, you’ve found the best one. But just when you’re about to extend a contract, after a week of deliberation, your chosen virtual assistant decided to pass on the offer.
If you had contacted a virtual assistant company from the very beginning, you would avoid wasting time, money and energy. VA companies are experts in vetting candidates and finding the right talent that matches your unique criteria. They can offer stability, consistency and competency, which are the qualities you need from a support.
Recruitment Expertise
Can you interview a virtual assistant for a position you’re not even an expert in? Do you have the confidence to ask the right questions?
No? Well, you’re not alone, because your in-house recruitment team might also be experiencing the same problem.
Virtual assistant recruitment companies are experts in bringing in the right people. They have the knowledge on what skills and qualities to look for in a specific role, easily noticing the ones that are missed.
Who Usually Hires Virtual Assistants?
Virtual assistants are versatile solutions, no matter what type of business you run.
These remote talents take over a broad range of tasks, and different types of individuals take full advantage of them.
Small Business Owners
When you own a business, you’ll find yourself constantly pulled in different directions. This takes away your time to lead your company forward.
By hiring a virtual assistant, you can share your burden and channel your energy into the work that only you can do. As a result, you can attract more customers and earn more your revenue.
Entrepreneurs
To stand out in a competitive market, entrepreneurs need agility and creativity. In this regard, a virtual assistant plays an important role, taking charge of market research and digital marketing. This allows you to focus on more pressing missions like product development and business growth.
It’s a lot easier for an entrepreneur, like yourself, to keep up with trends and enter the global market with a VA supporting these crucial tasks.
Established Companies
Virtual assistants are not only invaluable assets to growing companies and entrepreneurs; large corporations also benefit from such partnerships.
VAs provide all kinds of support—from administrative and project management to social media management. They offer a scalable solution without the heavy financial burden connected with traditional hiring.
Getting Started with a Virtual Assistant
How do I work well with a virtual assistant?
This question is not unusual for anyone who’s just starting a career or a parentship with a remote worker. Collaborating in the digital sphere poses challenges that might hinder success if you’re not remote-work ready.
That said, here are certain practises that make everything run more seamlessly:
- Communication is Priority
Communication is key to all sorts of relationships, most especially online.
Find a system that can promote effective collaboration. Do regular check-ins, just to go over the projects and raise potential issues. This creates a more cohesive environment, helping you get the desired results from your assistant.
- Share Expectations
Sharing expectations is how you get everyone to think and operate similarly.
If your virtual assistants understand what you expect from them, they become effective in setting priorities and be more equipped to succeed.
- Reward Valuable Skills
Showing gratitude for your VA's efforts can actually shape their input. If you praise your assistant for their engaging content, they will be encouraged to repeat the same action or do even better.
- Build Healthy Relationship
Given the nature of remote working, building a positive environment is highly necessary. Since you can’t meet your virtual assistant in person, make virtual time for personalise interactions. This will not only foster a healthy relationship but also help in effectively managing your VA.
Frequently Asked Questions:
Is Virtual Assistant the Same as Call Centre?
No!
Virtual assistant services cover a much wider expertise that goes beyond just administrative chores. VAs handle content creation, social media management, customer support and so much more.
On one hand, call centres are primed for a single purpose—handle calls effectively. Call centre agents are trained to be effective communicators, since it comes with the nature of their job.
Is Virtual Assistant a BPO?
No!
A BPO provides routine support on a larger scale, while a virtual assistant offers personalised support, bringing the nuance that the more complex business operations require.
VAs have become a vital piece of BPO services, and that’s all thanks to their versatility in handling a multitude of tasks.
Conclusion
The reality is that partnering with a virtual assistant company is a bit costly compared to doing it on your own. But remember this: bad hires cost more than just money; they can crash productivity, efficiency and morale.
Finding the right person for the right job should be your prime concern. By partnering with a VA agency, with us, you can unlock the endless potential of outsourcing virtual assistants.