Copyright (c) 2010 Nick Clipton

No one can just wake up one day and say that they are going to be a Virtual Assistant or VA. For those who think that they can do this better think twice as being a VA not only take time and planning, but it also needs training and education to be credited as one. True, there are outsourcing agencies that offer the VA services and they seem to have a lot of people manning them, however, what is not known is that these companies spend a lot of money and time to invest on one person and train them to be VAs. It takes about six months training to become a decent VA.

Strictly speaking, a VA should have had at least five years experience working as an assistant or something like it in an office setting. They should be able to do not only secretarial work of typing, encoding and writing communications, they should also be able to arrange the schedule of the boss, they should have knowledge on simple bookkeeping, know how to use different systems on the computer, answer calls as well as make outbound calls, make sure that the boss has enough free time to spend with his family, arrange the tickets if need be when there is a trip scheduled and make sure that the travel itinerary is perfect in every way. In short, a VA virtually does everything that an executive assistant does in an actual office setting, the only thing they could not do is to physically be present in the office and make the coffee.

There are not that many certified VAs around and those who are out there are sometime too busy juggling their busy schedules and making their numerous bosses happy. They work from their homes either alone or as a team. They actually look for more people to help them out because their services are presently in high demand. More and more companies are actually hiring VAs to man their offices, especially new companies which cannot afford to pay for a regular staff. However, the more the demand, the less there are to find.

If one actually wants to become a VA then it should be best to get the right training from the right people. Look for existing VA companies online and see if they offer training for applicants. There are actually some who daily needs more and more applicants because not all who do apply can cut the cake. It takes a special person who is adaptable to the different personalities of their online bosses that makes them successful in their field. And if they can handle more than three or four bosses at the same time, they have to be special indeed.