What is a Virtual Assistant?

A virtual assistant (VA) is an independent contractor who provides administrative services to clients remotely.

1. “Independent contractor.”?As independent contractors, VAs are not employees. Instead, they are considered self-employed individuals or business owners offering business services to business entities.
2. “Provides administrative services to clients.”?VAs typically provide general administrative services to clients. These tasks include internet research, data entry, email management, appointment scheduling, and other administrative tasks. However, they are not limited to clerical work. Other VAs are more specialized and offer niche services like web design, video editing, podcast production, and many others. In addition, they take on different job titles like Social Media VA, Graphic Designer, Copywriter, Web Developer, and Real Estate VA.
3. “From a remote location.”?VAs do not work in a client’s office. VAs only provide services that are done virtually; therefore, they work remotely. They can perform anywhere around the world, provided that they have an internet connection. Clients, in return, have access to a wide range of talents and a global network of VAs.

The virtual assistant profession is a multifaceted profession, offering a range of services. Virtual assistants usually start out offering general administrative services but later specialize in several different verticals, depending on their preferences and career paths.

If you are looking to hire a VA, it is best that you know which type of VA to hire. The marketplace usually classifies them according to their hard skills or technical skills.

General Virtual Assistant vs. Specialized Virtual Assistant

A?General Virtual Assistant?is a virtual assistant who has a good sense of understanding across multiple disciplines and does various tasks across different business areas. They can take on daily tasks and processes essential for running the company but not necessarily focus on growing it. They are great for technical and repetitive tasks like internet research, data entry, email management, clerical duties, and others.

General VAs take on job titles such as General VA, Admin Assistant, Executive Assistant, and others.

If you already have a business process or SOP in place and need someone to execute them, we recommend hiring a General VA.

“Outsourcing repetitive tasks has a significant impact on your schedule. You can explain something once, and save huge chunks of time by delegating those tasks to others! When you delegate a repetitive task, provide instructions in writing or record a screencast to demonstrate how to complete the task successfully. These instructions will come handy when you change assistants or scale your team.” – Boris Goncharov

A?Specialized Virtual Assistant?is someone who has a deep knowledge and understanding of one particular skill. Their services are specialized in one or two areas of the business. They will usually take on job titles matching their expertise, i.e., VAs that are specialized in copywriting may be called copywriters, and VAs that are specialized in social media management may be called social media managers, and so on. Specialized VAs require less training and provide a more turnkey experience, but they are more expensive and less flexible.

We recommend hiring a specialized VA if you need to outsource one particular technical business process such as video editing, graphic design, bookkeeping, and others.

The T-Shaped Virtual Assistant

At TaskPocket, we believe that the best virtual assistant combines both a general VA and a specialized VA. Therefore, a T-Shaped Virtual Assistant means that a VA has a good sense of understanding across multiple disciplines and possesses a deep knowledge of one.

In David Guest's concept of the T-shaped skills, they are referred to as "T-shaped individuals."

The vertical line represents the depth of understanding a person has in one discipline, while the horizontal line represents the breadth or range of disciplines a person has understanding in.

T-Shaped Virtual Assistants can focus on one area of work while still being flexible in other priority areas that may require their assistance. Therefore, T-Shaped Virtual Assistants make very valuable hires for a company. However, finding one of this caliber may be rare and may cost much higher than the average VA.

From our experience, T-Shaped Virtual Assistants are made, not found. Hiring one from the start happens rarely and may require a lot of trial and error. If you are looking for this type of VA, we recommend putting your efforts into talent development rather than talent acquisition. General or Specialized VAs can become T-Shaped VAs as long as they work hard to expand or grow their skillset.

Every VA, regardless of they are a General or a Specialist VA, definitely has a place in any business and may not necessarily be better than the other. Therefore, choosing which one to hire depends entirely on your business needs.

If you are new to hiring a VA, we recommend starting with a General VA as they cost less and have more flexibility to be put in other tasks. However, if you have more clarity in your outsourcing needs, then a Specialized VA may make more sense.

As your relationship with your VA grows, focus on developing their skills and enabling them to become a generalist and a specialist VA.

Winston C. Dalida is the founder of?TaskPocket, a virtual assistant agency based in the Philippines. He is dedicated to helping busy entrepreneurs make the most of their time, focus on doing what they love, and become more productive at what they do through the help of virtual assistants.