What is a virtual assistant?
A virtual assistant is a person who works remotely to offer various services to business owners or companies. Even if they are working elsewhere and not in offices, they have the capability to access the information and resources they need to do their duties and responsibilities electronically.
They are an independent contractor who works remotely for a business to provide administrative help or support. The term or phrase “virtual assistant” first made its debut in the 1990s to reflect the emerging trend of virtual labor, which allowed employees to share papers and take crucial business calls while working remotely.
Virtual assistants are more and more common because of how business has developed over the past few decades. Instead of investing in expensive office space and overstaffed workforces, many organizations prefer to invest in flexible work arrangements and schedules. As a result, project management and team organization are viewed in a more contemporary and agile way.
What does a virtual assistant do, then?
Independent freelancers with specialized expertise have frequently worked as virtual assistants. But as the virtual assistant market expanded, you can now find virtual assistant agencies that offer virtual assistants for a variety of tasks: The following tasks listed but not limited to:
1. Bookkeeper
Bookkeepers are number whiz! They are responsible for supplying and providing precise, clean, and real-time financial information about a business. Often, their reports and data go to the owners of the business and managers for decision-making. There are also instances where bookkeepers are actually involved in strategic planning, as they are the ones who provide the financial input. They may also work hand in hand with accountants to some degree.
2. Administrative Assistant
Administrative Assistants are your go-to people. They basically do everything from scheduling meetings to producing routine reports. They answer phones, emails, and chats. They coordinate between executives and outside parties. If need be, they also do data entry and data mining. They have excellent attention to detail because, most of the time, everything will pass through their hands before it reaches the higher-ups.
3. Scribe
Scribes type or take notes during meetings or presentations. Scribes’ tasks may include making copies of manuscripts and other materials in addition to secretarial and administrative tasks including taking dictation and maintaining business, legal, and historical records.
4. Social media manager
Social media managers are the ones creating and managing social campaigns, producing content, reviewing data, and connecting with important stakeholders within a company are typical duties for social media managers.
5. Research Analyst
One of the responsibilities of a research analyst is to gather, examine, evaluate, and present data on markets, operations, finances and accounting, economics, customers, and other information pertinent to the industry they work for.
6. Digital Creators
Digital Creators are people who produce material for many digital platforms. The platforms can be, but are not limited to, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, a website, or any other digital space, and the content can either be graphics, blog posts, videos, images, or other types of media.
7. Customer Service
Customer Service Representative helps customers with their issues. They may do this using different channels, including phone, email, chat, and social media.
These are just some of the many services offered. Some people hire virtual assistants to help them with their daily lives, such as booking a flight, purchasing movie tickets, or scheduling events that may be for their work or family. Just anything that would help a person go by their day more easily. Regardless of one’s reason for hiring a virtual assistant, be it for business or personal, the truth prevails, that as the dynamics of the workforce evolve, more and more tasks can be done remotely or in a non-traditional way, which would make our lives a lot more easier.