Interested in hiring an Australian virtual assistant?
Or do you want to become a virtual assistant in Australia?
A virtual assistant (VA) provides support services, like handling administrative tasks and social media, to a business or individual from a remote location.
And whether you want to hire a VA or become one, Australia is an increasingly popular destination.
In this article, we’ll briefly cover what a virtual assistant is and what they do.
We’ll then take a closer look at how you can hire a virtual assistant in Australia. We’ll also see how you can become a virtual assistant for Australian businesses.
This article contains:
(Click on links to jump to a specific section)
- What Is A Virtual Assistant?
- How To Hire Virtual Assistants In Australia?
- How To Become a Virtual Assistant Australia?
Let’s jump right in.
What is a virtual assistant?
A virtual assistant (VA) is simply an assistant who works from a remote location.
Usually, a virtual assistant helps with any secretarial or admin task.
They can also assist you with:
- Data entry
- Digital marketing
- Bookkeeping
- Real estate support
- Customer service
- Social media management
- And so much more.
With technology evolving rapidly, a virtual assistant can now do everything an in-office support staff can do — at a fraction of the cost you’d have to pay for an in-house VA.
They’re perfect for entrepreneurs and remote Australian businesses looking to outsource some of their work.
How to hire virtual assistants in Australia?
Virtual assistants are widely popular because they help businesses save money, give you more free time, and are experts in their respective fields.
So here are a few ways to hire virtual assistants in Australia:
We’ll look closer at these virtual assistant services, how they work, and their pricing structure:
1. Virtual Assistants Australia
Virtual Assistants Australia (VAA) connects busy individuals and small business owners with professional assistance on a full-time, part-time, or fixed-term basis.
A. Services
A VA from Virtual Assistants Australia can help you with:
- Administrative support: responds to emails and supports other admin tasks in your business.
- Reception duties: ensures that only relevant, essential messages come through to you.
- Scheduling: sets up appointments with your team members, stakeholders, and potential clients.
- Lead generation: researches and sifts through your leads to contact only those that matter.
- Bookkeeping: files claims, completes paperwork, and maintains your invoices.
B. How it works
Virtual Assistants Australia offers a simple process to hire an Australian virtual assistant.
To hire a VA, just contact them through the portal, and follow these steps:
Step 1: Decide what you want from your virtual assistant. They could help with just administrative tasks, or they could double up as your social media manager.
Step 2: VAA’s specialized team will source, screen, and interview suitable candidates based on your criteria and narrow it down to a list of highly qualified individuals.
Step 3: You can then go through their resumes and review their salary expectations. After that, you can have a meeting with the best candidates to see if they’ll make a good fit.
Step 4: Do a trial run with a successful applicant for up to one month. This allows you to make the final decision based on your experience working with them.
Step 5: Once you’ve chosen your VA, their administrative team will organize the paperwork and do any related HR stuff for you. Their online management system will also monitor your VA’s work and send you daily feedback.
C. Pricing
Virtual Assistants Australia offers several pricing plans:
- Virtual assistant (Full Time): AU$1250 for 160 hours per month.
- Virtual assistant (Half Time): AU$650 for 80 hours per month.
- Virtual assistant (Quarter Time): AU$350 for 40 hours per month.
- Executive assistant: AU$1800 for 160 hours per month.
- Website developer: AU$2250 for 160 hours per month.
- AdWords consultant (Google Certified): AU$1800 for 160 hours per month.
- Social media consultant: AU$1700 for 160 hours per month.
Note: Prices mentioned here are exclusive of GST (Goods and Services Tax).
2. The Virtual Assistant
The Virtual Assistant connects you to VAs who work and live within the country. Their virtual assistants take care of daily repetitive tasks to help you stay organized.
A. Services
A VA from The Virtual Assistant can help you with:
- Secretarial assistance: manages and responds to your phone and email queries.
- Invoicing: creates invoices for your clients and follows up on payments due.
- Email marketing: sends out email newsletters and takes ownership of your subscriber list.
- Documentation: puts together policies and procedure documents for your business.
- Management: tracks your project progress and helps you stay on top of deadlines.
B. How it works
The Virtual Assistant has a straightforward process for hiring your VAs:
Step 1: Contact them by phone or email and talk to them about your business, what tasks you’d like help with, and how much time these tasks could take.
Step 2: Based on your requirements and working style, they will match you with a suitable VA and set up a call.
Step 3: If you find the matched VA suitable, you can quickly get them on board and start working with them. And if they didn’t seem right for the role, The Virtual Assistant will re-match you to find a capable and intelligent virtual assistant.
C. Pricing
The Virtual Assistant offers standard pricing plans for all types of VA services (prices in AUD):
- $250 for 5 hours.
- $475 for 5 hours.
- $900 for 20 hours.
- $1995 for 50 hours.
- Custom quotes as per your requirements.
Note: Prices mentioned here are exclusive of GST.
3. My Cloud Assistant
My Cloud Assistant is a virtual assistant service that offers a wide range of VA services to small and medium-sized businesses.
They help you meet your growing business’s needs and reduce costs since you wouldn’t have to pay any superannuation benefits.
The VAs at this Australian company work remotely from the Philippines.
A. Services
A VA from My Cloud Assistant can assist you on:
- Receptionist tasks: answers your inbound calls, transfers calls to specific team members as required, and so on.
- General PA: prepares PowerPoint presentations, schedules and manages appointments, does data entry, and makes travel reservations.
- Digital marketing: helps you with digital marketing campaigns, competitor research, posting social media content on platforms like Facebook, etc.
- Finance: manages your invoices, coordinates Business Process Outsourcing (BPO), and handles bookkeeping.
- Human resources: helps with recruitment, monitors employee performance, and creates processes and procedures.
B. How it works
To hire a VA from My Cloud Assistant, just follow these steps:
Step 1: You can email, call, or chat with the My Cloud Assistant team to communicate what you’re looking for in your virtual assistant.
Step 2: After reviewing your skill and time requirements, they will get back to you with a custom quote.
Step 3: If you find the quote feasible, they will connect you with a virtual office assistant best-suited to your needs.
C. Pricing
My Cloud Assistant offers the below pricing plans:
- For startups or businesses requiring specific support: AU$590 for 45 hours per month.
- For established businesses requiring moderate support: AU$1040 for 90 hours per month.
- For established businesses requiring full-time support: AU$1850 for 180 hours per month.
- For businesses requiring comprehensive support: AU$1990 per month.
Note: Prices mentioned here are exclusive of GST.
4. Virtually Yours
Virtually Yours is a network of virtual assistants and online contractors based in Australia.
They feature specialists across various services and offer the extra support you need to run your business.
A. Services
Virtually Yours offers the following services:
- Receptionist tasks: supports administrative tasks, answers your phone calls, and evaluates how your business could operate better.
- Calendar management: helps manage your calendar and diary so that you stay on top of important meetings and deadlines.
- Copywriting: creates your marketing and sales copy and manages your official business communications and conversations.
- Website management: supports web design, online marketing, and SEO to help grow your business.
- Customer experience: offers customer support and assists with customer queries.
B. How it works
Follow these steps to hire a VA from Virtually Yours:
Step 1: Fill out a free online form communicating who you are, what your business is, and what type of help you require.
Step 2: Once you submit the form, they will create a job post on their website, and VAs with relevant skills and experience will reach out to you.
Step 3: You then create a list of VAs you’re interested in by jotting down their names, contact details, and skills offered.
Step 4: After that, you set up a meeting with a prospective personal assistant or virtual receptionist through Skype and have face-to-face conversations with them to see if they’re suitable.
Step 5: When you’ve decided that a particular VA meets your requirements, create a signed contract outlining what their role involves, the agreed pricing, and deliverables.
Want to learn more about drafting a contract for your VAs?
Our ultimate guide to virtual assistant contracts could help you here.
C. Pricing
Since Virtually Yours is a network of VAs and not a recruitment service, they don’t offer standard pricing plans for you to choose from.
Once you’ve decided to go with a VA, you can negotiate the pricing and the terms of your agreement directly with them.
Other ways to find virtual assistants
VAs are more than just employees.
They are business owners, contractors, consultants, or freelancers.
This means you can also hire them from general job sites or freelancer networks.
You can find your virtual assistant on job sites like SEEK, LinkedIn, and Indeed and websites like Upwork, Fiverr, and Freelancer.
Just head to any of these websites and search for ‘virtual assistant Australia.’
If you’re interested in becoming a virtual assistant and not hiring one, the next section will cover everything you need to know.
How to become a virtual assistant in Australia?
The virtual assistant industry in Australia is growing rapidly.
So if you’re a business owner or freelancer with experience in administration, reception duties, or more specialized roles like a copywriter, web designer, or bookkeeper, you could start a virtual assistant business.
Here are some crucial steps you must go through to become a virtual assistant Australia:
1. Get your ABN
Before you can start your VA practice, you’ll first need an Australian Business Number (ABN), which serves as a business ID. This is a must when you decide to start working as a sole trader.
Registering for an ABN is free, and you can do it via the Australian government website.
2. Choose your business niche
Once you’ve registered, decide what services you’ll be offering.
You could work as a virtual administrative assistant, virtual operations manager, virtual assistant analyst, etc.
Additionally, you can also help with more specialized virtual assistance duties like online marketing, graphic design, finance, customer interactions, etc.
Evaluate your skills and relevant experience, see which role suits you the best, and choose it as your business niche.
3. Decide on a pricing structure
Next, you decide on a pricing structure.
You can consider a retainer-based pricing plan, where you specify hours to be worked upfront and charge a fixed amount for that.
Additionally, you could charge a client based on hours worked, projects completed, or the number of deliverables.
For that, a time tracking and productivity management tool like Time Doctor could come in handy.
You can use Time Doctor to track how much time you’ve worked on a project or task and generate invoices automatically based on your hourly rate. This helps you charge accurately for hours worked and keeps things transparent with your client.
4. Start marketing your services
Setting up your VA business isn’t enough. You must make it easy for a client to reach you.
Consider setting up a simple WordPress website and social media pages advertising your services and skillset.
You can also register with a VA network like Virtually Yours to gain more visibility.
We also recommend that you get listed on freelancer websites like Fiverr and Upwork to widen your potential customer base and look for virtual assistant jobs.
Final thoughts
Hiring a virtual assistant in Australia is easier than you think!
You can hire them from specialized virtual assistant businesses, virtual assistant networks, or almost any job site.
And if you want to become a VA in Australia, you must start with an ABN, choose your business niche and pricing model, and market yourself well.
When you’re hired, manage your efficiency and stay on top of your deadlines with a productivity management tool like Time Doctor.
Andy is a technology & marketing leader who has delivered award-winning and world-first experiences.