Are you searching for online assistant jobs? You are on the right page now – read on to find the top 25 companies hiring, salaries, skills needed, and how to find the best-paid jobs!
Online assistants or virtual assistants are in high demand nowadays by several companies and firms for running their online businesses and even managing their social media networks. This has resulted in a significant increase in online assistant jobs, hiring remote professionals from various parts of the world.
Various types of tasks and activities are assigned to individuals hired for a virtual office assistant role, most of which are quite simple and easy to execute. The article will provide you with the guidance on the skills and qualifications required for online assistant jobs.
It will also help you to find out the right resources for building up a successful career as a virtual assistant. But before we proceed, let us first understand what is exactly is meant by a virtual assistant.
Read: What is remote working?
What are virtual assistant jobs?
A virtual or Online Assistant is a person engaged in multiple functions, aiding administrative or marketing tasks of companies and firms. Digital marketing, social media management, and event management are some of the prominent activities where virtual assistants are actively involved.
They are even hired by individual entrepreneurs for assisting in various kinds of office work such as web designing, marketing, maintaining daily planner and appointments and even sending emails. The tasks and activities are performed by the online assistants from a remote location. Though they are not present physically in the office premises, the importance of their work is of significant value.
For example, the success of many websites and online businesses depends majorly on their exposure to social media platforms as well in the digital marketing world. Virtual assistants are responsible for creating a significant impact by creating promotions and advertisements. Hence the requirement for virtual assistant jobs is on the rise.
Also Read: Remote Social Media Jobs | How to earn remotely from social media jobs
Market opportunity for online assistant jobs
The idea of working remotely is not just a passing fad. All types of businesses are looking for virtual personal assistants. These days, job boards are filled with categories like needing an online personal assistant.
As per a study, it was found that companies that hire part time assistants benefit from lower cost because they don’t have to pay much for paid training, bonuses, and commutation. As per a report by McKinsey, 97% of employers felt that they were much happier by the job of online virtual assistant, as compared to full-time employees.
The statistics about virtual office assistant jobs reveal that this is a present trend and not a fad. This growing trend of remote personal assistant jobs is participating in the overarching global commitment of work from home and hiring of freelance assistants. As per a study by Intuit, more than 50% of the entire workforce will be working from home as an online assistant.
Different types of data reveal that people working on remote assistant positions are as much product as the employees working in the company. Thus, employers don’t shy away from offering personal assistant jobs from home.
Good read: 8 Best Free Video Conferencing Software – Connect, Communicate, Collaborate!
Job titles and career paths under online assistant jobs
Most candidates don’t have enough knowledge about a part time assistant job. As a home assistant jobs come up with different roles and titles. You can get to work in big corporations as well as in small firms. Your duty can vary depending upon the type of sector you are employed. One of the highest positions in this assistant job is of executive personal assistant. Under this virtual assistant work, you will work for the CEO or the director of the company.
Other positions under the online assistance jobs include private personal assistant, celebrity personal assistant, fashion personal assistant, junior personal assistant, and PR assistant. Your role under all these positions can vary depending upon the type of industry you are working in.
You can start your employment as a junior assistant and you can walk up the ladder by working as an assistant to the director and the CEO of the company. If you are working in a PR industry and advertising industry, your task will be different as compared to the virtual positions in a corporate sector. Thus, your qualification, skills, and your education will also determine the type of job you will get.
Read: Remote Meeting 101: How to have better remote meeting?
Qualification needed for online assistant jobs
Getting virtual assistant jobs from home does not mean that you don’t have to be qualified enough. To get an entry level freelance virtual assistant job, you will need at least a high school degree. Completing the basic educational requirement will open up the job opportunities for you.
If you are working as an assistant for a digital marketing firm or a PR firm, you may have to get a degree and certification in that particular field. If you want to work as a personal assistant to the CEO or director of a company, you need to master certain skills by joining certain courses. You can check degrees and certifications offered by these colleges to be a virtual assistant.
| Name of college | Degree |
| Wisconsin Indianhead Technical College | Administrative professional associate degree |
| Copiah-Lincoln technical college | Degree in administrative office technology |
| Trinity valley community college | Associate degree in applied science |
| East Mississippi community college | Online office assistance |
| Northeast community college | Administrative professional program |
| Palo Alto College | Administrative assistant degree |
Thus, get a professional degree from any of these colleges to get lots of opportunities to work as a virtual assistant online. All these degrees will enable you to learn different soft skills and technical skills needed for the job.
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Skills required for online assistant jobs
The job of a virtual assistant is not tough, you just need to concentrate and focus on acquiring the right skills and qualities. Let us discuss the key traits required for virtual assistant jobs for beginners as well as experienced personnel.
1. Excellent Communications Skills
A virtual assistant has to spend the maximum amount of time in communication and socializing. Without a strong verbal and written communication skills, it is tough to survive in virtual assistant jobs. Social media management, event management, and digital marketing majorly depend upon the way the message is imparted to the audience. Selling products or services to prospective customers needs articulation skills and language proficiency. You need to be extra cautious and vigilant while communicating with the external world on the company’s abilities.
Important Tips: Online learning courses and videos on expert talks are available on the internet. It is advised to assess the online resources for enhancing your communication skills, for better presentation and promotions.
2. Build Trust and Confidence
Working remotely in a virtual office assistant role demands extra focus on building trust and confidence with the company leadership and the team. The sole reason is the absence of face to face contact and awareness of a person’s capability to work as a virtual assistant. First and foremost you need to proactively explain your way of working to your supervisor to be in sync with the company’s expectations.
Once the expectations are set, it is vital to fulfill them without any deviations. In case of any unexpected issues, you must be prompt in communicating the risks in advance. Never miss deadlines it is better to finish your assignments before the stipulated time.
Important Tips: Never over-commit on deadlines. Analyze your bandwidth and work capacity, before agreeing on the dates. Maintain a planner to ensure all tasks are completed within the specified timelines. It is a very important criterion for success in online virtual assistant jobs.
3. Resourceful and Knowledgeable
Online assistants are often asked multiple questions by their clients related to the industrial domain you are focused on or the online business you are engaged in. It is very important to keep yourself equipped for the same. Gaining adequate knowledge on each subject of concern is a must to provide appropriate answers to a customer’s query.
You must be prompt and swift in answering the queries. This will provide customers the required trust and confidence in you for future endeavors. Success in online virtual assistant jobs largely depends on the intellect and knowledge level of the professionals hired for the work.
Important Tips: Various YouTube videos, online courses, and materials are available on the internet on numerous topics. You need to search for them and scan through them in detail for acquiring adequate information.
4. Reliable and Dependent
Companies and firms hiring for online assistant jobs, often are under an apprehension of work avoidance by remote professionals. The very basic reason that the professionals are not present physically in the office premises, is the cause of the fear.
For virtual assistants, it is very important to present a reliable and dependent image of yours to the company leadership and management. You need to acknowledge communication from your supervisors and team as and when needed or mandated.
You must report your daily or weekly progress as per the schedule specified by your manager. The same applies to your customers or clients as well. Negligence of customer’s needs is not acceptable in any form of remote virtual assistant jobs.
Fact: Never avoid your manager or supervisor, be it in emails, audio calls, or video conference calls. Ensure that you are never chased for finishing up your work or assignment. If you ever happened to miss any telephone calls or emails, apologize and get back as soon as you can.
5. Efficient Time Management
As virtual assistants, you may need to handle multiple clients and may be assigned different types of activities. Unless you manage your time appropriately for each of the task or activity, you may fail in meeting the stipulated deadlines. Numerous reliable and secure time management applications and tools are available online to track your time and schedule for daily activities.
You can even maintain the progress of each task and ensure completion within the time set for them. The habit will ensure that your customer’s demands are met, gaining trust and confidence. Your future is secured and growth is inevitable.
Tips: It is recommended to maintain both your professional tasks as well as personal activities in a digital or online calendar. You can thus maintain an appropriate balance between both your professional and personal lives.
6. Organization Capabilities
Just like time management, obtaining effective organizational capabilities is one of the important virtual assistant job skills. Noting down all assignments and prioritizing them as per their criticality and deadlines are essential aspects of success in remote virtual assistant jobs.
It will help in the seamless execution of the activities and smooth completion of your assignments within the mentioned deadlines. You can consult experts and go through online videos and articles to enhance organizational skills and expertise.
7. Technical Knowhow
Virtual assistants need to continuously leverage online applications and tools to interact with their customers, managers, and team. Maintaining updated software and hardware for laptops or desktops are important to ensure appropriate quality and consistency in communications and conversations.
Continuous internet connectivity is essential for smooth and seamless networking without any disruptions. Unless you possess adequate knowledge of the latest updates in software, hardware, audio, and video conferencing tools, you will not be able to ensure proper collaborations.
Remember: Always test and check your installed applications and network connectivity before initiating any meetings or conversations with your customers or managers. Remember, no one entertains disturbances in online conversations. People tend to lose concentration and interest in your work, which may severely hamper your job.
8. Social Media Management
Awareness of social media platforms and promotion techniques is one of the essential virtual assistant job skills. You need to understand which platforms to target for the promotion and online selling of products and services.
Each social media platform has a different algorithm for success. You need to understand the logic and apply them to upsell or cross-sell your company’s products and services. Companies and firms prefer knowledge of social media management while recruiting for online assistant jobs.
Tip: It is recommended to scan through different prominent social media platforms and read articles on how to achieve success in promotion.
9. Awareness of Revenue generating tasks
One of the critical business skills of a virtual assistant is to recognize the tasks that would help in generating revenue for you. It may be freelance work or maybe a jo title in a company or a firm. Do not engage in tasks or activities that will not assist you in the long term or help in increasing your income and future growth.
Read through articles and expert talks to understand and analyze the activities you can perform as a virtual assistant. Critically review each of them before applying for them and selecting as your future career.
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Certifications to get online assistant jobs
You can’t expect to get the best remote assistance jobs, if you don’t have the needed certifications and qualifications. Following are the major certifications that will help you in getting lots of opportunities in entry level virtual assistant jobs.
- Certificate in office administration: This certificate will help candidates to improve their office administrative skills so that they can get remote virtual jobs. After undertaking this certification, you will be able to provide office administration, management, and secretary duties to the organization.
- Virtual Office Temps Certified Virtual Assistant: This is the basic certification needed to find virtual assistant jobs. This certification will cover basic office administration, document preparation, ethical standards, technology, and virtual office management.
- Canva certification: This online canva course and certification will help you to create graphics for different social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest.
- Certificate in social media management: This certificate will help you in getting action-based training in social media management.
- Google Ads certification: Having complete knowledge and understanding of Google Ads will help you in getting digital assistant jobs. This course covers complete knowledge and understanding about all Google platforms like Adwords, YoutubeAds, Display network, as well as Google Analytics.
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Top 10 tools needed for online assistant jobs
If you are looking for work from home assistant jobs, you need to be equipped with the best tools so that you can work with complete consistency. Following are the major tools that you need to work diligently as virtual personal assistant jobs.
- Digital phone: From answering calls of the client to communicating with your boss, every personal virtual assistant will need a digital phone. One of the best digital phones that you can use is Skype.
- Email: If you have become a virtual assistant, there is no way possible that you will be able to work without an email. Thus, it is important to install good email software so that you can work well.
- Calendar: No matter if you have got remote virtual assistant jobs, as a social media manager or a personal assistant to the CEO of a firm, you need to work on a particular deadline.Thus, you will need a calendar to complete your task as per the deadline.
- Zone management: for all virtual assistant services jobs, you need a zone management tool so that you can work across multiple zones. Zone management is one of the best online scheduling tools that can help you.
- Cloud storage: Even if you get virtual secretary jobs, you will receive lots of media files and folders every day. Thus, a good cloud storage tool will help you in keeping all files and folders safely.
- Keyword research tool: If you are working as an SEO executive, you need a tool that can help you in keyword research.
- Post planner: If you get online virtual assistant jobs as a social media manager, you will need a good post planner tool so that you can do the posting as per the schedule.
- Canva: Canva is a graphic designing tool that can help you to design the best creatives for the social media platform.
- Zoom: Zoom is another app that will help you in taking up client meetings and team meetings.
- Dropbox: This is one of the best tools that can be helpful in providing organization and storage options to a virtual assistant.
Read: How To Build And Sustain Trust In Remote Teams
Roles and responsibilities in online assistant jobs
Those who are on virtual assistant remote jobs can perform innumerable tasks and activities, some key ones are enlisted below,
- Administrative tasks involving data entry, maintaining planners, scheduling meetings and appointments, arranging transportation and organizing company events
- Creating contents for websites for their online business, products or services with the intelligence to drive traffic and attract the prospective customers
- Social Media management by creating and sharing content on prospective platforms, drawing followers, inviting customers and analyzing the statistical data and reports
- Managing emails for marketing products and services to prospective customers through campaigns and even answering customer queries
- Research and analysis on various topics related to company industrial domain or niche subjects to provide consultancy and content generation for customers and clients
- Web design and development for better user usage and ease of access
- Customer services by providing before and after sales support as well as answering different customer queries and clarifications
- Monitoring and processing online orders from customers and arranging for refunds
- Maintaining finances for companies and firms involving bookkeeping, calculating expenses and earnings and generating financial reports for circulating internal and external stakeholders
Suggested read: How to work from home successfully?
4 steps process of how to be a virtual assistant
Let us discuss now the key steps to adopt for suitability in online assistant jobs and how to pursue virtual assistant jobs work from home. There are various organizations on the look out for candidates who could be working as a personal assistant online for various officials they have in their teams.
1. Decide your Domain of Excellence
You can not excel in all areas as a virtual assistant. Analyzing your capability and judging your capacity is important for deciding your domain of excellence. Based on your expertise, you can venture out into the virtual assistant world.
This will eventually help to shortlist the online assistant jobs and your prospective clients and customers. You also need to decide your preferred type of employment while applying for the jobs – full-time, part-time, freelance, contract-based, etc.
2. Gain Initial Experience
For freshers, it may be somewhat tough to establish their expertise and experience. A good attempt is to create a website of your own and establish your online presence. You can share articles and blogs on different social media platforms to promote your expertise.
You can even work as a freelancer on certain websites or even work as a trainee in any company or firm. Leverage this experience while applying for online assistant jobs.
3. Socializing and Networking
Gaining customers and building trust and confidence are two very important criteria of success for virtual assistants. You need to attend forums, engage in social media, attend seminars and conferences to interact with prospective customers. Socialize with them, establish a network, and interact with them constantly for enhancing interpersonal relations and bonding.
4. Scan through Various Job sites
Various websites offer numerous opportunities for online assistant jobs. Register and create your profile in them. Create an attractive resume and upload it on the websites for acceptability by prominent companies and firms. Browse and search through jobs and apply as per your preference and skill set.
Read: 18 Best remote companies to work for in 2020
Top 25 dream companies for online assistant jobs
Following is the list of 25 dream companies where you can get online assistant jobs from home. They also have separate requirements into virtual administrative assistant job openings, part time virtual assistant jobs, virtual personal assistant, and also virtual assistant jobs from home no experience candidates.
| Name of the company | About the company |
| 10Up | Company offers web designing and development services. |
| Arkency | Arkency is a consulting agency |
| Articulate | This is a software development company |
| Automattic | This team is the genius behind the discovery of WordPress and Simplenote. |
| Buffer | Buffer is a social media management company. |
| Edgar | Edgar is also a social media management agency. |
| Fire Engine Red | The company offers marketing, technology, and data solutions. |
| Flexjobs | The company offers flexibility in finding jobs to job seekers. |
| Genuitec | Genuitec is a software development company. |
| GitLab | GitLab is a perfect workplace for modern developers. |
| Ghost | Ghost is an elegant blogging platform |
| Groove | Groove provides simple help desk software to companies and businesses. |
| HubStaff | HubStaff offer time-tracking tools |
| How-to Geek | This is an online tech magazine producing company. |
| InVision | Invision provides a design collaboration to companies. |
| Kanck | Knack offers cloud-based data tool |
| Rocana | Rocana offers advanced analytics tool for IT departments. |
| ScrapingHub | ScrapingHub is a company composed of web-crawling experts. |
| Doist | Doist has a team of best designers, engineers, and communicators. |
| Toggl | Toggl offers time tracking tool |
| Toptal | The company is a hiring platform for all types of freelancers. |
| YNAB | The company offers a budgeting app |
| Zapier | Offers an automation tool |
| Basecamp | The company offers project management tool |
| The wirecutter | Research and testing platform |
Top job boards for online assistant jobs
Companies, firms, and online businesses are offering ample opportunities for virtual assistants. They post numerous virtual assistant jobs for beginners as well as for experienced professionals. There are virtual administrative assistant jobs, jobs for assisting social media presence and promotion, jobs for creating marketing and promotional content, and many more.
They hire people from various regions of the world depending on the specialized domain or skill set. You can register and create a profile on the websites and upload your resume for recruiters to scan through your profile and consider recruitment.
The jobs can be searched based on location, type of employment, salary, or companies. Some of the key websites offering a listing of online assistant jobs are enlisted below for your quick reference,
- Upwork
- unremot.com
- Freelancer
- Remote.co
- People Per Hour
- Angel List
- The Work At Home Woman
- FlexJobs
Companies and firms recruit for various virtual administrative assistant jobs and other online assistant jobs for a few effective reasons. Recruiting virtual or remote professionals saves office space, communication expenses, infrastructure expenditures, time, and energy. They can utilize different types of employment, not mandatorily a full time hire.
So if you are eager to pursue your career as a virtual assistant, then the article will provide you the appropriate guidance and knowledge in selecting the right type of online assistant jobs for you. You can build up your skills, knowledge, and experience and strive for a bright future career as an online assistant.
Top resume elements of online assistant jobs
If you are looking for a remote assistant job, you need to include some basic elements in your resume. Following are the major elements that you can’t miss to include,
- Summary of your job profile
- Information about your work history
- Your past experience and major achievements at your past job
- Your qualification and experience
- Your skills related to virtual assistant job
- Awards and honours received at previous work
- Your personal information, including your hobbies, interests, and extracurricular activities.
- Your objective towards getting the virtual assistant jobs. This should include your goals and vision for the future.
Online assistant jobs pay structures
The pay structure for part time virtual assistant jobs can depend on different factors. Virtual assistants all over the world can make anywhere between $3 every hour to $60 per hour. Thus, it depends upon your skills, expertise and knowledge.
Virtual assistants with specialized skills like graphic designing, copywriting, and web development can also earn upto $800-$1500. Salary for work from home virtual assistant can vary from one place to another as per the job requirement.
Entry level online assistant jobs
Even if you have little to no knowledge about assistant jobs, you can look for different virtual assistant job openings, especially so, into virtual assistant jobs for beginners. Some of the entry level jobs in virtual assistant include sales executive, junior content writer, junior graphic designer, and office assistant.
You can also choose to work as a secretary to different positions like HR head and VP of a company. You can also get different data entry jobs if you are not skilled enough. So, choose the job type as per your skills and requirements before picking the most suitable remote assistant jobs.
What do online assistants do?
A person engaged in virtual administrative assistant jobs or online personal assistant jobs works like a self-employed worker. They specialize in offering different administrative services to the client. Different sectors and industries are looking for a virtual assistant who can perform a varied degree of tasks like an online appointment, scheduling, social media handling, content creation, and graphic designing.
Do virtual assistants make good money?
Yes, people employed as freelance virtual assistants earn well. The beginner in the field can earn anywhere around $5 per hour. If you have enough experience, you can earn upto $500 per hour. Thus, your scope for making money is dependent on your skills and qualification.
Is being a virtual assistant hard?
No, getting part time assistant jobs is not too challenging, as per a study almost 50% of the business by the year 2022 will look for people who want to work as an online assistant.Thus, there is no dearth of opportunity when it comes to online work from home virtual assistant jobs.
How many hours a week do virtual assistants work?
Virtual assistant jobs part time are quite flexible. Thus, you can choose your time of work as per your suitability. But, in most of the companies, a virtual assistant has to work for at least 6-hours every day.
Do you need a business license to be a virtual assistant?
No, you don’t need a business license to get a virtual executive assistant job. You need skills, experience, and educational qualifications needed to perform the job. If you have certain certifications and degrees associated with the field, it can be an add-on.
Are virtual assistants in demand?
Yes, online assistant jobs are in high demand. Virtual assistants are in demand by businesses as well as entrepreneurs. Businesses that do not want office space are looking out for virtual assistants in different fields. As per a report by McKinsey, 97% of employers felt that they were much happier by the job of online virtual assistant, as compared to full-time employees, so there is a huge demand for IT assistant jobs.
How to find the best virtual assistant jobs near me?
To find the best virtual assistant jobs near you, please visit one of the famous job boards – like unremot.com
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