Another work from home job – Virtual Assistants

Ajith |  Apr 2008 | Work From Home

In the last article in this category Vidya had talked about data entry jobs. Today’s topic is Virtual Assistance which is again something that can be done from the convenience of your home.

Who is a Virtual Assistant?

Virtual Assistants (VA) are freelancers who remotely provide administrative, office assistant or support services to those employers who have signed up with them. As they work remotely, they need to rely on high-speed communication mechanisms, tele or video conferencing, voice or video chatting etc to communicate to their bosses. However, unlike the data entry jobs, this is not always something that can be done offline or at leisure. Also, the job demands certain degree of credibility from both sides.

Why do companies go for VAs?

Mainly to reduce cost of hiring, training and maintaining (retiral or other benefits etc) permanent employees. Also, sometimes people will be in the lookout of those who can help them post their office hours in which case they opt for VAs from a different geographic location.

This concept is yet to pick in low cost locations but in countries like United States it is already heavily practiced.

so how do I find one such job?

There are a number of sites that provide job opportunities in this field. A couple of them I could find by just browsing around are the following :

Team Double Click
eLance
bixee – search for ‘Virtual Assistant’ in this portal (bixee is an ibibo company)

You may try some of those generic jobsites as well or search the web for more such openings.

Disclaimer: This is an area where I have not tried myself nor have anybody that I know got any experience. Please read the job contracts carefully before signing up.