What Is a Virtual Assistant? (Definition, Responsibilities and Skills)
With remote work and virtual offices becoming more common, there's an increased demand for professionals such as virtual assistants. Typically working from home on their own devices, administrative virtual assistant perform a wide range of duties to facilitate business operations for their clients. If you are interested in pursuing a career as a virtual assistant, it is important to understand what the job entails and how you can enter the field.In this article, we describe what a virtual assistant is and what they do, examine the skills you need to succeed as a virtual assistant, explain the steps you can take to enter this profession and discuss how much virtual assistants earn.
Key takeaways:
- A virtual assistant is a self-employed professional who provides administrative or technical services remotely, assisting with tasks such as managing schedules, conducting online research, and handling communications.
- The steps to enter this profession include obtaining a bachelor's degree, completing relevant certification courses, networking through virtual assistant organisations and applying for jobs with a well-drafted resume.
- To become a successful administrative virtual assistant, one should have key skills such as computer proficiency, communication skills, organisational skills, the ability to multitask, time management abilities and strong interpersonal skills.
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What is a virtual assistant?
A virtual assistant is a self-employed independent contractor who provides administrative or technical services to a client while working remotely, outside the client's place of business. They typically assist with tasks that take up considerable time for their client, such as scheduling meetings and appointments. Virtual assistants usually work from home but have access to the digital resources necessary to do their job. For example, they may be able to enter data into a client's database and add appointments on their digital calendars. -
What does a virtual assistant do?
The specific duties, tasks and assignments of a virtual assistant can vary depending on the needs of their client, but there are a number of common responsibilities. These include:- Providing administrative and technical support to customers
- Making, answering and directing phone calls
- Scheduling and managing meetings and appointments
- Securing spaces for in-person meetings, such as conference rooms
- Making travel arrangements and reservations
- Creating lists and purchase orders
- Transcribing meetings or drafting and sharing the minutes of meetings
- Managing communications and email accounts
- Bookkeeping, invoicing and shipping
- Tracking vendors, travel and sales payments and expenses
- Conducting online research
- Creating presentations from raw data
- Entering data and updating databases
- Managing filing systems, updating records and organising documentation
- Creating and managing social media accounts
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