Hire a Virtual Personal Assistant in 7 Easy Steps

In this modern era, it is really possible if people are often overwhelmed with their workload. Overwhelming could make you unproductive, and also it could lower your working progress. Got confused about managing your own work? Virtual personal assistant is the solution.

Having a good Virtual Personal Assistant is very helpful. They could help you manage your work and needs, to maintain your workload efficiently, and also the ultimate solution to save your work time. So, this could be the one answer you are looking for if you want to keep your work and life balance.

Virtual Personal Assistant (VPA) is also generally cheaper and effective than hiring on-site personal assistants. Since you don’t have to provide their physical space and equipment, it’s clearly easier for you to work and get assistance by your VPA

However, hiring a Virtual Personal Assistant might be tricky honestly. Well, it depends on how, where, and what are your qualifications to hire someone you trust. So, do you need a guide to hire one for yourself? Scroll down to read more!

What is the Virtual Personal Assistant (VPA)?

Before we dig deeper, VPA is a professional that supports you by assisting you on working through a variety of works. As the name itself states, they work remotely, so it’s better to be more efficient and practical.

The difference between VPA and general Virtual Assistant is, they are more personalized to one of their clients. So you can just adjust them with your daily habit of working. Moreover, VPA would only focus on tasks that you gave.

First, Decide Which Type of VPA You Need

VPA has several types. Here is the explanation, to help you find out which type is the one you are looking for.

Executive VPA

This type of VPA works with CEOs, executive staff, and high-level professionals. Their task mainly is to help them manage their business and personal lives. From managing business duties like reports and presentation, to their messages and urgent matters.

Their tasks include being responsible with arranging business schedules like emails, calendars, and their meetings. But other than that, they also handle booking flights, hotels, and travels.

Lifestyle VPA

This kind of VPA is best for busy influencers, public figures, or anyone who struggles with managing their personal life. Lifestyle VPA focuses on how to keep their clients to maintain work-life balance by handling personal and lifestyle related works.

Their tasks mainly are to arrange an appointment with a doctor or other personal meetings, booking restaurants and their other needs, do purchases and also manage subscriptions, and also help with tracking their client’s finances like bills and payments.

Family VPA

This type of VPA assists family-related management to keep everything perfectly organized. Family VPA is best for parents, caregivers, and households that are urgent needing help to manage multiple responsibilities.

Family VPA task ranges are wide — from children to overall family needs. For children, they manage their schedules and private tutor.

They also help to assist by planning family vacations, reunions, and other family events. Moreover, they also manage household budgeting.

Entrepreneur VPA

They are best for clients that are entrepreneurs, startup business owners, freelancers, and also small business owners. Their work is mainly around business & personal assistance, that is also maintaining both business-related and personal-related works.

Almost similar to executive VPAs, they are also responsible with admin work such as emails, scheduling, and invoices. Entrepreneur VPA also helps by assisting on market research, managing social media, booking business travels, and scheduling contents.

Already decide what type of VPA that matches your needs? Let’s move to the actual step by step.

Second, Adjust your Budget

Pricing system for VPA depends on the level of work that they need to do. Other than that, since there are several types of VPA, it also depends on their time estimate of working and the client that they have to work with.

Here is the simple budgeting plan that are retrieved with the market of VPA, so it’s easier to you to plan your budget:

Executive VPA

Pricing:

Entry-Level (Basic Admin Support) → $15 – $30/hour (Rp 230,000 – Rp 460,000)
Mid-Level (More Specialized Tasks) → $30 – $50/hour (Rp 460,000 – Rp 770,000)
Expert-Level (Highly Experienced, Executive-Level) → $50 – $100+/hour (Rp 770,000 – Rp 1,550,000+)

Monthly Estimate:

Part-Time (20 hours/week): $1,200 – $4,000 (Rp 18M – Rp 62M)
Full-Time (40 hours/week): $2,500 – $8,000 (Rp 39M – Rp 124M)

Lifestyle VPA

Pricing:

Entry-Level: $10 – $20/hour (Rp 155,000 – Rp 310,000)
Mid-Level: $20 – $35/hour (Rp 310,000 – Rp 540,000)
Expert-Level: $35 – $70/hour (Rp 540,000 – Rp 1,085,000)

Monthly Estimate:

Part-Time (20 hours/week): $800 – $3,000 (Rp 12M – Rp 46M)
Full-Time (40 hours/week): $1,600 – $6,000 (Rp 25M – Rp 93M)

Family VPA

Pricing:

Entry-Level: $8 – $15/hour (Rp 124,000 – Rp 230,000)
Mid-Level: $15 – $25/hour (Rp 230,000 – Rp 390,000)
Expert-Level: $25 – $50/hour (Rp 390,000 – Rp 770,000)

Monthly Estimate

Part-Time (20 hours/week): $600 – $2,000 (Rp 9M – Rp 31M)
Full-Time (40 hours/week): $1,200 – $4,000 (Rp 18M – Rp 62M)

Entrepreneur VPA

Pricing:

Entry-Level: $10 – $20/hour (Rp 155,000 – Rp 310,000)
Mid-Level: $20 – $40/hour (Rp 310,000 – Rp 620,000)
Expert-Level: $40 – $80/hour (Rp 620,000 – Rp 1,240,000)

Monthly Estimate:

Part-Time (20 hours/week): $800 – $3,200 (Rp 12M – Rp 50M)
Full-Time (40 hours/week): $1,600 – $6,400 (Rp 25M – Rp 100M)

Third, Start to Create VPA Job Description

So you already decide what type of VPA, also finish setting your budgeting, right? Then, it is the right time to start creating the job description.

This section is important, because you will need to look for VPA by job seekers websites or even social media. Job description is the only way that VPA candidates submit their documents, so it is easier to choose which one you want to hire.

Here is the guide to help you create a professional and well-structured job description for VPA:

Explain your job and needs in details

As mentioned before VPA works remotely, so you basically have no idea where they come and work from. They clearly don’t know who you are, what your job is, and so on. So, in this section of the job description, you need to write as detailed as possible.

Make sure you include useful information, like what you need help mostly, your mission, your value, and also a quick description of you, your teams, and overall clients.

List your qualifications to be the ideal candidate of your VPA

In this section, you need to break down what skills that they need to have to be your VPA. Also, don’t forget to mention essential soft skills like communication skills, ability to work independently, and such.

Make sure to write these qualifications clearly and as logically as possible. So, the candidates could adjust themselves to work remotely with you.

Describe your way / habit of working

Important details of the job and any information will help them a lot to determine themselves as a good fit. In this section, you need to be clear about expectations, compensation, technical work, and also work schedule.

If there are any, you need to be transparent about the trial period. However, a trial period is recommended so you can decide whether to continue or not to work with them.

Point out benefits that they’ll get from working with you

Benefits here are not only about the costs. Since they work remotely to assist you in managing your work and responsibility, you need to provide them with other various benefits. Such as customizable working hours, you provide their coworker space, and so on.

Candidates while reading this section could measure by themselves, whether worth it or not to work with you. So, you need to mention any benefits that will capture potential candidates’ attention.

Fourth, Post your Job Vacancy

After you set your job description, that is the right time to post it as an advertisement. Mostly, VPA could be found in many jobseeker websites like LinkedIn and Jobstreet.

Other than that, you can also post your complete job vacancy on social media. Either Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and even Tiktok.

Advertising your job vacancy to be your VPA is crucial and important. Because, where will you easily hire a VPA if no one of them knows your job vacancy exists?

Fifth, Evaluate and Interview your Candidates Carefully

Hiring a remote personal assistant might be tricky and challenging, since you don’t get to meet and interact with the candidates by yourself. Instead, you can evaluate the candidates that apply their qualifications based on your description.

You only need to hire one person to be your VPA, so you must read each of the candidates’ documents carefully. Then, you can choose which are the candidates that are closest to your criteria.

After that, sort them, then interview them with important questions that are appealing enough to test the way they think. Interview is the one way to make you know more about the personalities of your candidates. So, choose the great one that matches yours.

Sixth, Start Working with a Trial Period

After you choose which candidate that you desire, tell them about the trial period. As mentioned before, a trial period is recommended. By trial period, VPA finally can get a full image of working with you. This is the last chance and step for hiring a VPA.

Trial period might vary, from a week or maybe a month. Here, you can briefly introduce them to your works and your needs. You guide them, so they know what they should do in their work.

Seventh, Give Support and Feedback

If you finally decide to match with them even after a trial period, then congratulations. Now you have your own VPA. Don’t forget to give them feedback, also support so you can work well with them.

Ready to Increase Your Productivity?

If you are ready to increase your productivity, click Virtual Personal Assistant to read more. | AGL