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Should You Apply For Virtual Assistant Jobs? 

Last Modified: February 8, 2021

By: pitin

Virtual Assistant Jobs Summary

A virtual assistant works for companies, businesses or entrepreneurs by providing various kinds of services from a remote location. Nowadays, various industries are in search for people to whom they can delegate tasks crucial to the effective management and success of the business.  Virtual assistant jobs,thus, involve managing schedules and emails, making phone calls, preparing reports, booking restaurants and hotels and more that a particular employer would require.

To fulfill these assignments, the virtual assistant must have a decent internet connection and a working desktop computer or laptop.

Virtual Assistant Jobs

The level of difficulty in performing virtual assistant jobs depends on what tasks would be assigned by the employer. However, the most basic required skills are using the computer, computer programs or applications, navigating through the internet and typing

Age is a factor less considered when working as a virtual assistant. However, you should be of legal working age. Sometimes, the employer would set an age range for the applicants.

In-Depth Virtual Summary Jobs Details

To better understand what virtual assistant jobs entail, let us look at these images. They are screenshots of a Virtual Assistant post at BELAY.

home virtual assistant jobs

Figure 1

free virtual assistant jobs

Figure 2

virtual assistant job listings

Figure 3

VIRTUAL ASSISTANT FREELANCER VS. BUSINESS OWNER VS. INDEPENDENT CONTRACTOR

A freelance virtual assistant is someone who looks for his/her own client. A VA business owner is someone who has put up a virtual assistant business and pitches for deals that his/her hired people could work on. An independent contractor is someone who works for a particular VA agency. Figure 1 and Figure 3 above show that the job posting is looking for someone to fill the contractor position at BELAY.

If you apply for this job and get hired, you will work remotely from home for businesses and companies that BELAY will assign to you. 

education and experience

These are important requirements in most job applications. When you apply for a job in a real world, you look for the required educational background and work experience of job applicants. The same goes for virtual assistant jobs.  Different job posts involve different criteria from employers. Looking at Figure 3 once more, the ideal candidate for the job is a college graduate and has considerable work experience as a virtual assistant. If you are just starting out on this career, you need to look for other job posts that welcome fresh graduates or are less experienced in the virtual office setting.

duties and responsibilities

Virtual assistant jobs can involve a lot of different tasks depending on what the employer requires. Some tasks are basic and personal like managing emails, setting up a schedule and booking a hotel. A VA may also work on industry-specific tasks like organizing orders for an e-commerce business, build or manage a website and sending emails to potential clients of a lawyer. From Figure 2, applicants for the job posting will have an idea about the activities involved when working as BELAY virtual assistant.

skills and attributes

I think being tech savvy is an important skill that a virtual assistant should possess. This career revolves around the digital world of the internet so someone eyeing to become a VA should at least be good at using computer programs like MS Word and MS Excel. This is a quality that is a required for our example above, shown in Figure 3. He/she must also know how to make use of resources offered in the internet. Most employers offer training to successful applicants so they would learn how to use specific programs and applications. Therefore, willingness to learn new things is a must for the job.

Since the VA will handle various tasks, this person should be good at organization and paying attention to details. 

requirements

The virtual assistant jobs will obviously require a computer (laptop or desktop) whose operating system meets the employer’s requirements. A fast and reliable internet connection is also a must. 

Deciding on what laptop or computer to use is most likely the first technical part of the virtual assistant jobs. It is a must that you do not settle on anything that you see that fits your budget. Instead, you must buy the equipment that will perform satisfactorily for the tasks and will meet the technical requirements of an employer. From Figure 3, you could see that the VA contractor’s computer should at least 1 GHz dual core processor, 8GB RAM and latest version of commonly used MS Office applications. As you browse for different virtual assistant jobs, you will come across many posts where the employer has shown such equipment requirements. 


The basic requirements of this job include:

1. Desktop computer (PC) or laptop with a minimum 8GB RAM

A PC is suitable for someone who does not intend to travel a lot while performing the VA tasks while a laptop offers more portability, which is ideal for traveling or moving around. Whether it is a PC or a laptop that you ought to buy will also depend on your soon to be assignments.

RAM is an important feature/component of a computer setup because it affects how fast or how slow its performance will be. This article will provide you with a more detailed discussion on what computer setup will be most suitable to buy according to the virtual assistant jobs you are applying for. Below is a screenshot of the minimum RAM needed for particular VA tasks. 

virtual assistant tasks list

Figure 4

This will give you an idea about how much RAM you need to have in your PC or laptop so that its performance could keep up with the tasks they will assign you to complete. An 8 GB RAM would be good enough if the VA needs to supervise social media accounts, handle finances and manage a WordPress blog of the employer. When you read the article mentioned above, you will know what other features to look for when shopping for your computer system. It might overwhelm you with its technical details overload, but as a virtual assistant, these details might just be your lifesavers.

Depending on the VA position, they might require you to have a webcam, a headset, and other tools/gadgets for performing your tasks. Take, for example, the job post shown in Figure 5. They require the applicant to have a headset with a noise cancellation feature since the job is call center related. Figure 3 shows that the VA should also have a webcam.

virtual assistant employment

Figure 5

2.    Internet Connection

Internet is another important requirement of people working as virtual assistants. It is what makes this job possible. Therefore, the internet service you ought to subscribe to must be good enough. A Fiber internet connection (if possible) with at least 3Mbps speed is a likely recommendation.

Right from the initial interview, especially if it is through a video call, the employer would already assess if you are suitable for the VA position.  Imagine if you are in the middle of a video interview and the connection became intermittent or slow, you could expect the interviewer to tell you he will just call you back and job applicants definitely know what this statement really means.

As a virtual worker, it may also guarantee your peace of mind when you have a backup internet so that in case there is a problem with your main Internet Service Provider, you will have another ISP that you can use.

3.    Quiet Room, Suitable Desk, and Chair

You would not want any distraction from your tasks, so it will always be best that your workstation is in a quiet room. If an office secretary has a specific desk and chair, so should you as a virtual assistant. Any working desk and chair will do, but what could give you more comfort and productivity are ergonomic ones. Watch the video below to watch how you can set up your desk ergonomically.

How To Apply

To apply for the position of an independent contractor of a Virtual Assistant agency, you would first need to become a member of that agency. One very common tip for online work applicants is to stay away from any organization or agency that asks people to pay for registration fees before they can apply for a job. It will be better to sign up for free to online job portals with listings of virtual assistant jobs.

If you are eyeing to be a freelance virtual assistant or virtual assistant business owner, then you should use some marketing methods (email, direct message, social media) to land a job or a contract with other businesses and companies looking for VAs. Apparently, there are some employers who could look for people who can work as freelance VAs, as you could see from Figure 6.

work home virtual assistant jobs

Figure 6

Potential Income

​The salary rate of virtual assistants will be commensurate to education, experience and skills (most employers give more weight to experience and skills).

​A virtual assistant usually receives payment through an online money/remittance processing system such as Paypal. You could withdraw money from Paypal to your bank account or credit/debit card.

​This will, again, be an arrangement that the employer will set. Some pay weekly, others bi-weekly and there are also those that pay monthly.

Salary and Income

There are online resources such as PayScale that show the wide-ranging pay for VAs according to their experience, skills, clientele and industry. ​ 

The region where the VA lives and works will also affect the pay rate. In the Philippines, for example, the average hourly rate is Php 194.42 or $200- $2200 per month, according to this blog. This blog will also inform you about varying salary rates of virtual assistants across the world. Figure 7 shows a job post found at OnlineJobs.ph for a Full Time position with a salary rate of Php 20,000 - 35,000.

become virtual assistant work home

Figure 7

​​You may discuss with the employer your thoughts, insights, and ideas about the payment arrangements; Otherwise, you may decline a job offer if you think the arrangements will not suit your needs and preferences.

Work Schedule

Once again, the employer sets the work schedule of a virtual assistant.

From Figure 3, the agency requires that the VA be available during business hours from Monday to Friday and could work at least 20 hours a week.

Figure 6, which is a job post found in Flexjobs, the employer is looking for VA applicants who can work Freelance or Part time on a Flexible schedule. Figure 7 shows that the job position requires 50-70 hours of work per week for a Full time VA. From Figure 5, you can see that the hired Full time VA will have 10 paid vacation leaves.

Benefits / Bonus/ Increase/ Training Provided

This is also an arrangement by the employer. Figure 5, for example, shows that a Health Allowance will be given to a Full time VA on the 3rd month of work. They also offer other incentives and pay increase.

From the examples we have, it will be safe to assume that when you work as full-time contractor virtual assistant for a certain agency, you will have more benefits and perks than the freelancers and part-timers.

Conclusion

PROS

  • Virtual assistant jobs are great for people who like to work in the comfort of their homes.
  • Being a ​Virtual Assistant lets you work on various tasks and therefore lets you learn a variety of things that could otherwise not be possible when working in a traditional office.
  • It lets you work alone and independently, thus lessening the social pressure that a real-world office environment often involves.
  • It is a job that will let you work in a technological environment since most of the tasks to accomplish and tools to use are internet-sourced.

CONS

  • Working as a VA, you will have no one to socialize with, unless you need to converse with the client via a video call. ​
  • If you are not what they call a “homebody,” you will not last long doing virtual assistant jobs.
  • It could make you feel overwhelmed with different programs to learn and use.

I myself have had the chance to work as a virtual assistant. It was actually my first online, home-based job, and I must say that it was a good one!


Would love to know your thoughts, please comment! :)

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