What is a virtual assistant?

The definition of a virtual assistant by Wikipedia is as follows; also typically abbreviated to VA, a virtual office assistant is generally self-employed and provides professional administrative, technical, or creative (social) assistance to clients from their own home office.

Because they are independent contractors rather than employees, clients are not responsible for any employee-related taxes, insurance, or benefits (except in the context that those indirect expenses are included in the VAs fees). Clients also avoid the logistical problem of providing extra office space, equipment, or supplies. Clients pay for 100% of the work and can work with them individually, or with multi-VA firms to meet their exact needs. Virtual Assistants usually work for other small businesses. It is estimated that there are as few as 5,000-8,000 or as many as 25,000 virtual assistants worldwide; the profession is growing in centralized economies with “fly-in, fly-out” staffing practices.

The Virtual Assistant Industry

Common modes of communication and data delivery include the Internet, e-mail, and phone call conferences, online workspaces, and fax machines. Professionals in this business work on a contractual basis and long-lasting cooperation are standard. Typically 5 years of administrative experience in an office is expected at such positions as an executive assistant, office manager/supervisor, secretary, legal assistant, paralegal, legal secretary, real estate assistant, information technology, et cetera.

In recent years, those entering the virtual assistant industry are seeing an upswing in the need of many mainstream businesses.  With the advent of VOIP or other services, such as Skype it has been possible to have a virtual assistant who can answer your phone remotely without the end user’s knowledge. This allows many businesses to add a personal touch in the form of a receptionist without the additional cost of hiring someone.