A virtual assistant (VA) is someone who provides the same administration duties as a personal assistant (PA), however they complete their tasks virtually from home. The role tends to be pretty flexible depending on the needs of the business they work with, meaning there are a whole host of skills that the VA needs to perform their job to a high standard.
The key skills of a virtual assistant
Below is a list of some of the most important skills that any VA will need in order to succeed in their role and provide a great service to their clients.
- Communication
Excellent communication skills are vital for anyone who wants to build a career as a VA. Not only will you often be expected to create communications for your client’s customers, such as email, social media and presentations, but you will also need to be able to communicate efficiently with the company who have hired you to make sure you can complete all the expected tasks in line with their expectations.
- Organisation
The life of a VA can be completely different from one day to the next, so it’s really important that you are able to stay on top of all your tasks and manage your time correctly between each of them. There is a large element of project management that comes into being a VA, developing and implementing different strategies and providing support on company projects, and you will be expected to prioritise and meet deadlines as part of your role.
- Attention to detail
VAs often need to multitask and complete a huge range of different responsibilities, meaning that having a keen eye for detail can be hugely beneficial. When you’re juggling a range of different tasks, you need to ensure that a high quality of work is maintained no matter how many different jobs are on your plate at any one time.
- IT skills
As with many desk-based roles, you will need to have a good understanding of different programmes such as Microsoft Office Suite and G-Suite, with the ability to create and maintain different documents and spreadsheets, as well as to present information to your clients in a way that is simple and easy to understand.
- Researching
Many companies are looking for assistants who can help them with tasks that include a lot of research, such as understanding different customer segments, carrying out competitor research or even just finding the best deals for a hotel stay. It will be really beneficial for you to have a good understanding of how to use the internet to gather information, as well as presenting the information you find in the best possible format so that business decisions can be made quickly and efficiently.
- Self-motivation
Working from home with a variety of different businesses means that you need to be strict on yourself, especially when there are deadlines to be met. As you are not directly employed by your client, there is a risk that they will decide to work with a different VA if your outputs aren’t as they expect, so it’s crucial to be disciplined and motivated to complete your tasks to a high standard.
At Virtual Assistant Whiz, we are always on the lookout for new VAs to join our busy team. We work with a huge range of different businesses, and will always endeavour to match VAs with similar backgrounds to our clients to get the most out of your working relationship.
If you’d like to find out more about joining our team, we’d love to hear from you.
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