It may sound like something from the 1970’s TV show Tomorrow’s World, but Virtual Assistants are definitely a reality of today’s world. Despite the use of the word, ‘virtual’, these PAs are real life people. Some offer so much by way of assistance that they have been granted the title, ‘Super PA’. So what kinds of things may a Super-PA or Virtual Assistant do in a day?
What a virtual assistant actually does
What is a virtual assistant?
Virtual Assistants are employed by businesses, and sometimes by individuals, for PA style assistance. Virtual PAs work remotely, doing your organizing for you from their own home or hot desk. Often, the Virtual Assistant and the person who contracts them will speak on the phone, even if they never meet. As they are employed by the hour, it’s up to the PA to do an amazing job or they risk not getting more work. Not only does this sort of service save employers significant amounts of money, but it also allows workers to work flexibly around other commitments, notably childcare or studying.
How ‘Super-PA’ differs from a regular PA
Putting the super in Super-PA
The term, Super-PA comes in when we are talking about amazingly efficient PAs who can organise every tiny detail of your life or business for you. The most super, super-PA will be able to handle practically any job asked of them, although they would not be expected to do jobs that require specialist skills such as bookkeeping or marketing unless their profile states that they are happy with this.
Typical jobs businesses use a virtual PA for
The role of a virtual PA can vary greatly. Some are employed by busy working parents to do things like book family holidays, order gifts and organize parties. Other times they are booked by businesses that need a PA at short notice for a one-off event or short time period, but don’t require a full time in-house PA. Virtual PA services from companies such as https://www.mushroombiz.co.uk/homepage/services/virtual-pa/ can simply take calls when you are busy or can be contracted for a full range of PA services.
The rise of the virtual assistant could have been forecast long ago, as the need for flexible working and ad-hoc assistance has become more commonplace. As for the Super-PA, someone who can help organise every detail of your life – it’s no longer just in the imagination of some futuristic boffin on Tomorrow’s World.
Summary
This article explains what Virtual Assistants and ‘Super-PAs’ do, describing them as real people who work remotely for businesses or individuals on an hourly basis. It covers how virtual PAs save employers money while offering flexible working, how a Super-PA can handle almost any organisational task short of specialist skills like bookkeeping or marketing, and typical uses such as booking holidays, organising parties, or covering a business for a short-notice event.
Questions this article raises
- How much does hiring a virtual assistant typically cost per hour?
- What safeguards exist for confidentiality when using a virtual PA?
- How do businesses vet a virtual assistant before granting them access to sensitive tasks?
