Mini-Tutorial: Becoming a virtual assistant

What is a virtual assistant?  A virtual assistant, or VA, is someone who provides administrative and personal support services to individuals or business owners through telecommunication.   Interaction with the client or business is usually through email, phone, fax, instant messaging and any other means besides being physically present in the office.

How do I get started?

• Skills-First, you need to determine what skills you have to offer employers who are in need of virtual assistants.  You will need to create a professional resume highlighting such areas as computer programs you have experience in, typing skills, educational experience as well as other administrative positions you have held in and out of professional office settings.  To establish personal credibility, you can take typing and computer program testing online and receive certification documents.  Most employers who want remote workers require that you have at least intermediate to expert computer skills. 
• Home Office-Next, you will need to make sure you have a complete home office including a current computer with general office software such as a spreadsheet and word processor program, fax and print capabilities, cell phone and/or land line with long distance, scanner, high-speed Internet and a quiet work area.
• Pay Rate-Determine the pay rate you will charge the business owners who would like to hire you as their virtual assistant.  Be sure to take into consideration your office supplies, mileage charges if travel is required as well as the fact that you will be paying your own taxes as an independent contractor.  Charges are usually determined by the hour or per project.

Finding a Job/Marketing your Services

• Job Boards-This is a good area to begin with when looking for job openings for virtual assistants.  There are several major job boards on the Internet that list work-at-home and virtual job openings.  Although it does take some time to look through these lists and sift through the scams versus the real positions, this seems to be the number one way that employers post their positions.  Be sure to investigate any ‘position’ that requires fees to start working.  These are almost always scams.  No employer should require you to pay them to start work. 
• Market Yourself-Posting your own services in local newspapers is a good way to attract employers that are looking for administrative help, but perhaps have not considered the benefits of contracting out their clerical work.  You may also want to consider making business cards that outline the services you provide and distribute them to the businesses in your area.
• Virtual Job Employment Agencies-With the new trend of working at home increasing, job employment agencies have surfaced that cater specifically to those who are looking for virtual employment and those that are searching for contracted employees.  There are many sites that hire virtual assistants and charge the employers a certain fee to fill their positions for them.  There are also sites such as Guru.com and Freelance.com that allow employers to post their projects and open positions, and allow virtual assistants to ‘bid’ on the jobs they want to fill. 

Virtual assistant service is a new profession and home business that is on the rise with the invention of new technological capabilities.  If you have worked in the administrative field in the conventional office setting, or have great computer skills, this is an area you should strongly consider as a work-at-home profession.

Posted:Wednesday, July 18, 2007