The Ultimate Guide to Hiring Virtual Assistants in 2025

By Bill Peatman | Updated: 10 Jan, 2025

Virtual assistants were first introduced to the business world in 2009 by Tim Ferriss, author of “The 4-Hour Work Week.” Ferriss taught readers how to work less by outsourcing repetitive or disagreeable tasks to an offshore contractor at a lower hourly rate so you can spend more time on higher-value work, and more time doing what matters to you most like travel and adventure.

The concept gained popularity, leading to a surge of virtual assistant businesses and freelancers providing services—so many that identifying the ideal model and individual can feel daunting.

It makes sense. The average entrepreneur spends more than a third of their work-week doing small administrative tasks that drag them away from their core focus.  

There are many ways to hire virtual assistants, onshore and offshore, and this guide will help you sort through the options and find the right solution for you and your business.

Table of Contents:

 

What Is the Definition of a Virtual Assistant?

A virtual assistant is a remote administrative assistant for executives, managers, and teams, sometimes called a virtual executive assistant—though the two roles are not always interchangeable. The term "virtual" can be confusing because the word implies something that is not real. Virtual assistants are real people who support executives from remote locations.

From voicemail to email and calendar apps, technology has made full-time executive assistants a rarity and has created the expectation that executives should be self-sufficient.

While you may not need a physical assistant guarding your office door, paying yourself to do work you can easily hand off to someone else at a lower cost and improve your efficiency doesn't always make good business sense.

Advances in high-speed internet, remote work systems that can be accessed from anywhere, and communication tools like chat channels and video conferencing make it easy for executives to hire part-time assistants without office space and full-time employment related overhead.

Why You Need a Virtual Assistant

It's time to consider hiring a virtual assistant when you're not hitting your business goals because you spend too much time keeping the wheels turning, so you don't have time for strategic planning. It is common for business owners and entrepreneurs to save money by doing as much as they can themselves. It's a choice that makes sense but can lead to dropped balls, higher burnout, and an inability to focus on the work that's really important.

Eventually (if the business grows), they reach a point where the growth stalls because they can't keep up with the executive functions of their business or department.

Signs you need a virtual assistant

  • Sales start to plateau
  • Your work-life balance teeters toward work
  • Customers complain about poor service
  • You're not following up with sales leads fast enough
  • Employees are leaving
  • Sales, customer, and financial data are in disarray
  • You're falling behind on invoicing

All of these signs indicate that you're not spending enough time leading your business forward. Customers, employees, and family members aren't getting the attention they deserve. When you reach the point where you're not invoicing and getting paid, you're in trouble.

Additional Related Resources:

20 Signs You Need a Virtual Assistant

What Can a Virtual Assistant Do?

The types of work that a virtual assistant does include:

  • Executive administration (like calendaring and email management)
  • Sales and marketing support
  • Back-office operations
  • Personal life rasks
  • Specialized skills

Let's look at the specific tasks virtual assistants can perform in each category.

What do virtual assistants do?

Explore 26 virtual assistant tasks and duties you can outsource.

Executive Administration

On average, executives spend 16 hours a week on day-to-day tasks that distract them from work that moves their business forward. That's 40% of the week spent on admin work.

Where does all this time go?

Examples of the time executives spend on admin tasks include:

  • 3 hours a day on email
  • 23 minutes to schedule each meeting
  • 12 hours planning every business trip

On top of this, you have the cost of context switching. The time it takes to switch between the email you're writing, reporting, back to your calendar, into a meeting, and back to email. You can't just pick up new tasks immediately. You lose a few minutes, and some focus, every single time.

So, what do virtual assistants do? They help you reduce how often you have to context switch. They tackle those outward-facing front office tasks that take up so much of your time. 

General admin tasks include:

  • Scheduling meetings & calendar management
  • Fielding phone calls and emails
  • Placing phone calls and sending emails
  • Planning travel arrangements and events
  • Filing expense reports
  • Reaching out to your professional network
  • Preparing and maintaining templated documents
  • General data entry

A virtual assistant can help you recover those three hours a day spent reading and responding to emails. They can learn your email preferences, monitor your inbox, alert you when key contacts reach out to you, and respond on your behalf to messages that don't require your attention.

Other email management tasks a virtual assistant can perform are:

  • Storing emails in folders by categories
  • Confirming meetings to avoid no-shows
  • Archiving old emails that are no longer relevant
  • Updating changes in your calendar

For example, if you are traveling, your virtual assistant can book appointments for you with key contacts in the destination area. They can also track your preferences (or those of your contacts) for meeting locations and times.

Professionals that use virtual assistants for these tasks include:

Sales and Marketing Support

Sales virtual assistants and marketing virtual assistants are fantastic examples of team-specific VA use cases! Both teams are often overwhelmed with busy work. 

Multiple studies show salespeople spend just 11%-36% of their time selling while most of their time is spent on non-sales tasks. (Insidesales.com: 36% Proudfoot Consulting Group: 11% Pace Productivity: 22% Salesforce: 30%) 

This indicates that, regardless of the company, your sales teams likely spend less than half of their time selling. This is far from ideal.

Where does the time go?

According to Pace, a sales leader's time allocation in a typical week looks like this:

  • Admin and paperwork: 7.3 hours
  • Email management and correspondence: 8.2 hours
  • Internal communication: 6.6 hours
  • CRM Management: 2.2 hours

A sales virtual assistant can take much of this work off a sales leader's plate and give them more time with customers and prospects.

Virtual assistant tasks unique to sales include:

  • CRM data entry and management
  • Customer and lead research and targeting
  • Leader generation
  • Social media communication
  • Prospecting
  • Following up on sales leads
  • Managing email campaigns

Similarly, marketing teams are frequently overwhelmed by routine administrative tasks such as managing vendor communications, social media calendars, sending emails, organizing data, and reporting. According to a Hubspot survey, they spend an average of 16 hours per week on day-to-day administrative work.

A virtual marketing assistant can help: 

  • Manage email campaigns
  • Schedule social posting
  • Monitor inboxes
  • Update sales enablement and marketing materials
  • Track tasks and deadlines
  • Update routine reporting
  • Assist with technical SEO tasks
  • Respond to comments, messages, and website chats
  • Coordinate with remote teams
  • Schedule lead follow-up and cadences
  • Update customer data for accuracy

Really, if your sales or marketing teams have routine, repeatable tasks that are eating up their time, a virtual assistant might be just the solution they need. Marketing companies like Enterprise also report using virtual assistants for trivial day-to-day tasks as well. 

Back-office Operations

Back-office tasks are those that support your business's infrastructure and systems. These are essential, time-consuming tasks that occur behind the scenes and need constant attention, making them essential to hand off to a virtual assistant.

For example, executives spend:

  • 8 hours a week creating templated documents like proposals, contracts, sales sheets
  • 7 hours a month entering data in bookkeeping programs
  • 20 days a year pursuing overdue payments

Back-office work is serious stuff, but it is also easy to lose sight of it. An assistant dedicated to getting the correct documents into customers' hands, keeping books up to date, and chasing down delinquent invoices can work wonders on the bottom line.

Back-office operations impact cash flow, compliance, hiring ability, customer onboarding, and more. Because of this work's behind-the-scenes nature, it's all too easy to fall behind. 

Back-office tasks that a virtual assistant performs include:

The work is essential, or the executives would not be doing it. Delegating back-office work to a virtual assistant can ensure that it all happens, efficiently and affordably.

CRM management could also be considered a back—office operation, especially regarding forecasting, supply chain management, and inventory control.

Personal Life Tasks

Executives spend up to 25% of their time on personal activities at work. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Taking care of shopping, vacation planning, and scheduling doctors’ appointments can free up time previously spent during evenings and weekends, giving you more time for family, exercise, and other activities.

The rise of remote work has further blurred the line between personal and work tasks. 

Executives often ask their virtual assistants to take care of personal tasks, not only to increase their productivity and spend more time at work but also to spend more time on what matters most to them.

Examples of personal tasks a virtual assistant can tackle include:

  • Calendar management
  • Planning vacation travel
  • Scheduling fitness classes
  • Scheduling medical and personal appointments
  • Sending gifts and ordering flowers
  • Making online purchases
  • Paying bills

Read More: How to Find a Personal Assistant

Specialized Skills

Another way businesses use virtual assistants is for specialized skills needed occasionally or continuously. These skills are usually beyond what a traditional administrative assistant would provide so these functions require a lot of training. In this case, you would want to hire a virtual assistant whose sole focus is your specialized work.

Examples of specialized virtual assistant skills include:

  • Graphic design
  • Web design and development
  • Accounting
  • Content writing
  • Search engine optimization
  • Project management

Some virtual assistants may have experience in one or more of these areas, but they will also have to develop a nuanced understanding of your business and message.

Additional Related Resources:

26 Tasks You Can Outsource To a Virtual Assistant

Essential Virtual Assistant Statistics

How Much Does Hiring a Virtual Assistant Cost?

The short answer to how much a virtual assistant will cost is, "It depends." 

The cost of hiring a virtual assistant will depend on:

  • The kind of work you need
  • The type of relationship you want
  • The amount of quality control you want
  • The day-to-day training and management you want to take on

hiring a va costs

There are three ways to hire a virtual assistant:

  • Hiring a freelancer directly or through a marketplace
  • Contract virtual assistant agencies
  • Hiring a managed virtual assistant services

The Cost of a Freelance Virtual Assistant

You can hire a freelance virtual assistant through a marketplace like Upwork or a job board like Indeed.com or Craigslist. Upwork lists virtual assistants for as low as $10 per hour, while assistants on job boards start at around $20. A freelancer is typically the lowest-cost option.

A freelance virtual assistant can work if:

  • The kind of work you need is short-term and project-based
  • The relationship you want to have is sporadic and transactional
  • You want to be directly responsible for quality control
  • You're up for taking on day-to-day training and management
  • You're looking for specialized skills beyond the traditional virtual assistant role

Freelance virtual assistants are suitable for short-term project-based work because they typically work for many clients and can't promise dedicated time. They can also be a good way of accessing specialized skills like graphic design or accounting. 

Of course, there are some risks associated with this approach. You don't bring them onto your team so you have a lot less control. They may not have the skills you advertise or be strong communicators. Many are in offshore time zones and work while you're sleeping, which makes quality control a challenge—prepare to iterate. Also, you're the boss.

The Cost of a Contract Virtual Assistant Agency

Contract virtual assistant agencies maintain a bench of vetted virtual assistants from which you can choose. Most are looking for long-term work and bunch pricing by monthly retainers. Pricing depends significantly on location—U.S.-based agencies charge $30 to more than $100 per hour. Agencies that match you with offshore assistants start at about $20 per hour.

A contracting agency works if:

  • The kind of work you need is ongoing admin support
  • You are willing to work at building a productive relationship
  • You want to be responsible for quality control
  • You are ready to take on day-to-day training and management

Most agencies are match-makers. There is little hands-on support for getting the relationship and quality control right. Also, not all agencies specialize in virtual assistants—some offer other services, such as accountants, web designers, and graphic artists.

The Cost of a Managed Virtual Assistant Service Provider

Managed virtual assistant service providers hire, train, and optimize the performance of virtual assistants on your behalf. The assistants are the service providers' employees.

An account manager serves as your partner in making the service work. Most are U.S.-based businesses, the virtual assistants are offshore, and pricing is $20-$25 per hour. This high-touch model enables you to hire quickly and takes on relationship building, quality control, and day-to-day training and management so you don't have to.

Think of it this way. Typically, a managed virtual assistant service gives you access to a primary virtual assistant and the whole support team. A freelancer or agency only gives you a single point of support.

A managed virtual assistant service works if:

  • The kind of work needed is executive admin, sales, or back-office support
  • You want a white-glove service that trains assistants on your tools and systems
  • You want a guaranteed service level
  • You don't want more people to manage

Account managers work with you to document processes and train the virtual assistants on client systems before the engagement. The assistants show up ready to contribute on day one. Client feedback is given to the account manager, who coaches and supports the assistant.

Most also offer backup assistants to step in if the primary one is absent. They focus solely on virtual admins and have dialed-in best practices to deliver predictable results. This can be another way to access specialized services, but the agency may not be able to give you expert guidance in finding a virtual executive assistant.

Cost of a virtual assistant

To summarize, the cost of a virtual assistant starts at:

  • $2 per hour for an offshore freelancer
  • $30 through a U.S. agency
  • $25 per hour for a turnkey managed service

Additional Related Resources:

How Much Does a Virtual Assistant Cost?

The ROI of a Virtual Assistant 

How to Hire a Virtual Assistant

How you hire a virtual assistant is very closely related to the cost and business model that best suits you. Each has its risks and benefits.

There are three ways to hire a virtual assistant:

  • Hire directly
  • Use a contract agency
  • Partner with a managed service provider

Hiring a virtual assistant

Directly Hire a Freelance Virtual Assistant

As mentioned above, you can hire a freelance virtual assistant directly through a job board or marketplace. Some job boards offer rates as low as $2 per hour, while Upwork prices start at $10 per hour.

The trade off is easy. When you hire a freelance virtual assistant you're spending less money but more time and effort to manage them.

The advantages of hiring freelancers are:

  • Lower hourly rates
  • You have total control over how you work with the assistant
  • You can set your hours
  • You can hire for specialized skills like web development and graphic design

If you want a local virtual assistant—one you can meet in person and who can perform local tasks like deliveries and errands—you may be able to find a freelancer in your local market.

The disadvantages of directly hiring freelance virtual assistants are time and risk.

  • You have to spend time recruiting, interviewing, and vetting candidates
  • You must invest in training, project management, and performance management
  • You have the overhead of payroll and any legal compliance with the home country (of offshore assistants)
  • If the virtual assistant doesn't work out, you start over
  • Lack of control of data, device, and network security
  • You might need to buy software for your virtual assistant
  • It can be challenging to find someone with solid virtual assistant skills
  • Freelancers usually have several clients, so availability may be a factor

You must also know the exact skills and experience you're looking for and create a virtual assistant job description to attract suitable candidates. Defining job requirements can be challenging if you are looking for your first assistant.

Hire a Contract Virtual Assistant through an Agency

Hiring a virtual assistant through a contract agency reduces the time you spend recruiting and vetting candidates. Also, you typically pay the agency in US dollars and don't have to deal with compliance issues if the virtual assistants are offshore.

The rest of the advantages of this model are:

  • You have total control over how you work with the assistant
  • You can set your hours, though most agencies only sell monthly packages
  • Many agencies offer specialized skills like web development and graphic design

The disadvantages of hiring a virtual assistant through an agency are:

  • You take on any training, project management, and performance management
  • If the virtual assistant doesn't work out, you start over
  • Most contractors work out of home offices with personal computers so IT security can be a risk. Hirees must ensure that assistants use security tools like password managers and VPNs to safeguard sensitive data.
  • Contactors often have multiple clients, so availability may be an issue
  • If the agency does not specialize in virtual assistants, it may not be able to help you find what you need

Hire a Managed Virtual Assistant Service Provider

With a managed virtual assistant service, you hire the service provider, not an individual assistant. You get a team—an account manager, a virtual assistant, backup managers and assistants. Managed virtual assistant services start at around $25 per hour.

The main advantage of this model is that all recruiting, vetting, hiring, training, and performance management are off your plate, along with most of the risks of hiring freelancers and contractors:

  • You can hire faster
  • You have an experienced partner in helping you leverage a virtual assistant
  • You get a virtual assistant pre-trained on your processes and tools
  • An account manager documents your operations and enables you to offload more tasks
  • The account manager provides ongoing process optimization
  • Backup assistants mean you never start over
  • Assistants undergo background checks and have secure facilities, networks, and computers

This model works well for both small business leaders and enterprise teams, but it isn't for everyone.

The disadvantages of managed virtual assistant services are:

  • Services come in packages with set monthly hours
  • It will not be the cheapest option
  • Works best with repetitive processes, not so much with creative work like web and graphic design that requires artistic judgment

Managed virtual assistant service providers bear most of the risk in hiring virtual assistants. The service provider employs the assistants, pays them, and provides benefits and growth opportunities.

This model also attracts businesses concerned about how providers treat offshore assistants, including their working conditions.

Additional Related Resources on Where to Hire a Virtual Assistant:

Questions to Ask Before You Hire a Virtual Assistant

Top Virtual Assistant Company Review Sites

What You Need to Know About Virtual Assistant Security

How to Hire a Virtual Assistant in the Philippines

 

How Do You Manage a VA?

Remote virtual assistants come in two broad categories: managed and unmanaged services.

  • In an unmanaged service, you hire a freelance assistant or a contractor through an agency. You engage, onboard, train, and manage the virtual assistant's performance.
  • In a managed service, assistants are hired, trained, overseen, and paid by the service provider.

Unmanaged Assistants

With unmanaged virtual assistants, you need to know what you want the assistant to do and how you want them to do it. Defining what you want is often a challenge for business executives who have many of their processes in their heads. They tend to have difficulty delegating those processes to others.

It can also be challenging to manage the performance of someone in a role you're creating for the first time.

You may find someone with enough experience to help you navigate the position. It would help if the assistant also used the same email, scheduling, accounting, CRM, and HR platforms as your business.

This experience can reduce the time you have to spend training an assistant. However, it is unlikely that the virtual assistant will know your processes on day one.

The lift required by other responsibilities, such as payroll, HR paperwork, performance reviews, and giving and receiving feedback, will depend on the hiring model.

Contract agencies often handle some of that, but with freelancers, those responsibilities will be on you. You also must consider the IT security risk of the virtual assistant's computer and network. Managing a virtual assistant requires clear communication, well-defined tasks, and tools that track their work. Many executives and business owners use project management tools and clock in clock out app to monitor hours worked, ensuring that productivity remains high even when working remotely.

Managed Services

The main benefit of a managed virtual assistant service is that the management portion is off your plate.

The service provider:

  • Hires the assistants
  • Documents your processes, tools, and preferences
  • Trains the assistant on those processes
  • Onboards the assistant for you
  • Manages performance
  • Provides backup assistants

The model is ideal for those who don't want to manage another employee and can't or don't want to take the time to train and onboard a virtual assistant. It also offers scalability—adding more assistants as needed is relatively easy, usually as an already-trained backup.

The IT security issue previously mentioned is also covered—the managed service provider does background checks and supplies secure computers, networks, and facilities.

Managed VA services typically work on a monthly retainer where you pay for a certain number of monthly hours. They are not ideal for occasional projects like a quarterly report or creative projects requiring fresh design, writing, or graphic design-intensive projects.

Hire Virtual Assistants to Provide Productivity and Efficiency

Hiring a virtual assistant

If you’ve reached a point in your business where growth is limited by the time you can spend moving it forward, you should probably consider hiring a virtual assistant.

Virtual assistants can be a cost-effective way to do this. They can increase productivity by giving you and your team time back in the day and efficiency by enabling greater focus on growth. (Not to mention the countless other benefits of hiring a VA.)

With some 25,000 virtual assistant services to choose from, finding the right assistant and the right service model can be daunting!

Use this guide to narrow down the options by defining the kind of work want to offload, the relationship you want to have with your assistant, the amount of management you want to take on, and of course the price you want to pay.

Ready to hire a virtual assistant you don't have to manage?

Book a call with us to discuss if Prialto is right for your business.