Hiring a Virtual Administrative Assistant

Still have questions? No problem. We’ve taken some of the most popular ones and answered them below:

What does a virtual assistant do all day?

That really depends on your business. A virtual assistant can be part-time. A virtual administrative assistant will typically have experience with office management, scheduling, data entry, phone calls, and other office tasks like bookkeeping and expensing. Anything that relates to the management of an office—and can be handled remotely—tends to be within their purview. The question is: what is it that you need done?

How do I “train” a virtual assistant to get started with my business?

There’s a balance between relying on the virtual assistant’s experience and your own business’s unique needs. We recommend creating an onboarding document to help a virtual assistant learn the ins and outs of working at your business. For example, you might give them access to an existing employee handbook for some of your most important tasks. In other cases, you might create something specifically for a virtual assistant. 

How do I know which virtual administrative assistant I should hire? What are the traits to look for?

For most businesses, a virtual administrative assistant will have a fundamental grasp of basic office management skills. Administrative tasks like managing schedules, handling phone calls, or handling data entry are some of the most frequent. Typically, the best way to choose a virtual administrative assistant is to look for someone with a lot of experience in your top priorities. For example, if you mainly need someone to field phone calls for you, then an administrative assistant with experience handling phone calls won’t have as much of a learning curve.

What should I have my administrative assistant do every day?

It depends on what you need! We can tell you that some of the common tasks tend to include communications (like email management and taking/making phone calls), administrative tasks like bookkeeping and scheduling, and virtual office assistance in the form of handling expense reports and other administrative tasks. But only you know what your business truly needs most often.

What are the limits of a virtual administrative assistant?

Anything requiring physical location is the obvious one. A virtual assistant can’t pick up your dry cleaning or set up a conference room table. They can arrange for catering at an event remotely, but they can’t contribute with their presence. But aside from this limitation, an executive assistant can essentially take on the role of another employee, taking on administrative tasks with ease. They work remotely—and that’s one limitation—but it’s really one of the few limitations they’ll have.

What happens if the virtual assistant is hard to train?

This is the risk inherent in adding anyone to your business. And yet we see how many businesses regularly add people to their lineup. That’s why it helps to be patient, especially if this is your first time adding help. A virtual executive assistant will need regular feedback in the early goings so they can adjust their processes to what your business does. Like anyone else, a virtual assistant will thrive when they have the feedback necessary to do the job to the best of their ability.

What kind of experience will my assistant have?

As with any new hire, that will vary. But it’s more important that you seek out the relevant experience of a virtual administrative assistant who can help your company with routine administrative tasks. Look for experience with those tasks you need the most. Then you’ll find that the transition to your company is not only smoother, but you may even discover that the assistant can improve your processes.

Who does best with a virtual assistant?

C-level management. Small business owners. Executives. Freelancers. Entrepreneurs. Any busy professional who needs to take fewer administrative tasks but still needs to handle a growing business. Do you need an office manager? Then you might need one without a full-time commitment. It’s important to remember that there’s no single person who’s going to tell you that it’s time to grow with a virtual administrative assistant. It’s up to you to make that call. And if you’re reading to this point, we’re willing to bet that you may need one yourself.

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