#virtualassistantoutsourcing

Ever feel like there’s not enough hours in a day to do everything?

Or that you’re spending too much time on inane, routine tasks that you don’t have any left for core processes?

Then you might just need a virtual assistant!

 For the uninitiated, what exactly is a Virtual Assistant?

Well, for the most part, a virtual assistant provides a professional administrative, technical and creative assistance to individual clients and businesses from an off-site location. The specifics of their tasks, however, may vary wildly depending on the agreement with the employer. They may include the following:

Appointment scheduling

Call handling

Email filtering and responding

Travel arrangement

Data entry

Social media management

Online research

Presentation and report creation

Website maintenance

Digital marketing

Search engine optimization

Lead generation

Content creation

Attendance tracking

Client acquisition

Event planning

Customer service

Graphic design

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Blogging

Bookkeeping

Accounting

Bills payment

Purchasing and procurement

 Brief History

The exact date of the beginning to virtual assistants is unknown, although it is generally considered that they began offering their services sometime in the ‘90s, naturally stemming from the existing secretarial sector and the sudden rise to the technology that allowed employer and employee to communicate seamlessly despite being in different locations.

The 24 Hour Secretary (Please hyperlink, Anchor text: The 24 Hour Secretary, URL: www.the24hoursecretary.com/virtual-assistant-industry/) mentions its history, and the pioneers who broke the ground and paved the way for today’s thriving virtual assistant industry.

1981 ABSSI

Association of Business Support Services, International was formed, the first organization that supported work-at-home moms, USA.

1985 HOME SECRETARIES

Led by Ms. Linda Anderson. An organization of home-based secretaries, serving many communities, USA.

1995 CHRISTINE DURST

Ms. Christine Durst, co-founder of StaffCentrix, along with Michael Haaren, take credit for founding the Virtual Assistance industry in 1995, USA.

1996 A CLAYTON'S SECRETARY

Ms. Kathie Thomas founded the first Virtual Assistant Industry network in Australia, AU.

1998 GLOBAL ASSOCIATION OF VIRTUAL ASSISTANTS

Ms. Amy Sarai and Ms. Julie Hewitt are identified as the founders, UK.

ASSIST U

Ms. Stacey Brice takes credit for starting the industry and opened the 1st VA industry training program, USA.

 The Importance of Virtual Assistants

For business people, time is a commodity that is in many ways more important than money -- it’s valuable, and once lost, it cannot be earned back.

Now, what happens when you spend it working on inane repetitive tasks that could be offloaded to another person, instead of working on improving and marketing your business?

The answer is simple, really: you end up wasting it.

Virtual assistants help set you free from the constricting shackles of mundane chores, and enable you to focus on core functions.

Especially for startups and SMEs who cannot afford to spend inordinate amounts of resources for the acquisition and maintenance of in-house personnel, hiring virtual assistants instead are very advantageous. Since most virtual assistants are contractors, their employers are not obligated to shell out additional dollars for their employee-related taxes, insurances, retirement plans, benefits and other indirect expenses that most fulltime onsite employees are entitled to -- unless, of course, there is a different compensation agreement in the contract.

 Outstanding Virtual Assistants and Where to Find Them

Having a virtual assistant around to take care of things for you is an excellent idea -- given that you hire a good one, that is.

It goes without saying that the quality of output you can expect from an employee of any kind in any position depends heavily on that employee’s skills and values. There are certain criterion that must be met, and certain skills that must be present in the candidate to be truly considered an excellent virtual assistant.

A virtual assistant must at the very least be able to consistently provide efficient back-office, administrative and clerical assistance to the client. Because of the unusually extensive range of the tasks that are often required, a virtual assistant must also have superior organizational and multitasking abilities. An excellent technological know-how is vital, since there are numerous software and devices that a virtual assistant must work with on a daily basis.

The following values should be observed to be present as well:

·         Flexibility and adaptability

·         Loyalty

·         Strong work ethic

·         Responsibility

·         Attentiveness

·         Creativity

·         Honesty and credibility

·         Initiative

Having said all these, one question still remains: where exactly can you find your ideal virtual assistant?

The virtual assistant industry is part of the digital economy. It’s internet-reliant, so to speak. This means that to find virtual assistants, you would need to rely a lot on web-based hiring platforms. Here are some of them:

 Upwork

Upwork, formerly Elance-oDesk, is a global freelancing platform where businesses and independent professionals connect and collaborate remotely. In 2015, Elance-oDesk was rebranded as Upwork. It is based in Santa Clara and San Francisco, California. The full name is Upwork Global Inc.

 Fiverr

Fiver is a global intermediary that allows people to buy and sell products and services for as low as five dollars, hence the name. It’s an online marketplace for freelancers, founded in 2010 and based in Tel Aviv, Israel

 OnlineJobs

OnlineJobs is the largest remote job boards and resume database in the Philippines. The site is geared toward Western business owners looking to hire dedicated full or part-time remote staff.

 VA Networking

Like the previous three, VA Networking is the middle ground where employer meets with prospective employee. The biggest difference is that VA Networking caters exclusively to freelance virtual assistants.

 LinkedIn

LinkedIn is an American business and employment oriented service that operates via websites and mobile apps. Founded on December 28, 2002, and launched on May 5, 2003, it is mainly used for professional networking, including employers posting jobs and job seekers posting their CVs.

 The last and perhaps the most reliable place to look for the perfect virtual assistant are BPO companies

BPO, or Business Process Outsourcing companies provide business-to-business outsourcing services that could range anywhere from customer service to software development.

One of the main disadvantages of hiring a freelance home-based virtual assistant is the sheer difficulty in terms of monitoring activity. There are very limited ways to ensure that the hired VA is actuality working on the allotted tasks during the shift.

BPO companies, on the other hand, are guaranteed to have an organizational structure. Virtual assistants working under the supervision of a team leader or a project manager are almost guaranteed to produce better and more consistent results.

 Final Words

The virtual assistant concept is generally a very good one.

The world will always have a need for secretarial services, and the VA industry, with its ability to work closely and efficiently with existing technologies like VOIPs, its relative cheapness and overall convenience answered this need more than well enough.

However, just like with every kind of off-site employee working in a remote location, there are risks that come with hiring virtual assistants.

The good news is that there are also ways to mitigate these risks.