Where to Start When Hiring a Virtual Assistant

Where to Start When Hiring a Virtual Assistant

If you’ve only ever functioned as a solopreneur, bringing on a Virtual Assistant can feel scary. How will you find the right fit and feel confident that they will add value to your organization? First, trust yourself. You’ve brought your business this far by making sound decisions, and hiring a Virtual Assistant will be yet…

The Future of Recruitment

The Future of Recruitment

The past two years have brought a flurry of changes to the Human Resources role, particularly in the area of recruitment. Finding talent looks a lot different these days, especially if you’ve embraced the remote/hybrid work-life. Shifts like hiring across states and even across countries are spurring a number of new trends in how companies…

7 Reasons to Elevate Your Digital Storefront

7 Reasons to Elevate Your Digital Storefront

Your website is more of a storefront than a business card. It’s a living, breathing entity that can update in real-time, at any time, for whatever reason you choose from just about anywhere. It’s practically magic, you guys. You can share news, announcements, new products or services, establish yourself as an industry leader with insightful blog posts…

The Next Big Thing in Hiring Remotely

The Next Big Thing in Hiring Remotely

Hiring remotely IS the next big thing. With today’s emerging technology, virtual channels, and inclusive culture, companies have much more flexibility. Some businesses have fully remote teams, while many others allow their employees to work remotely at least once a week. According to a 2018 study by Upwork, work done by freelancers has increased 168…

5 Power Tools for your Virtual Staff Management Toolbox

5 Power Tools for your Virtual Staff Management Toolbox

Hiring a dedicated virtual assistant is the perfect staffing solution for small businesses, startups, and entrepreneurs who are focused on the bigger picture and working hard to build their organization. These heavy hitting professionals do not have time to keep up with hundreds of emails, endless to-do lists, IT issues, and the financial health of…

Thrilla in Manila: Philippines TKO of the Outsourcing Arena

Thrilla in Manila: Philippines TKO of the Outsourcing Arena

Many outsourcing countries have emerged during the past decade, but the Philippines still continues to dominate the Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) arena. Why? The reasons are simple and clear: a high literacy rate with a dedicated workforce, English culture skills, low operational costs, and government support.   Currently, the literacy rate in the Philippines is…

92 Unread Emails, 37 Voicemails, Countless To-Do’s, and I Haven’t Even Had My Coffee Yet

92 Unread Emails, 37 Voicemails, Countless To-Do’s, and I Haven’t Even Had My Coffee Yet

Our day-to-day lives require us to complete tons of tasks in a small amount of time. This rings especially true in the life of a business owner. You get to your office, open your computer…. and BOOM! 92 unread emails and it’s barely 8AM. This is just the beginning of the countless things you need…

5 Mistakes to Avoid When Outsourcing

5 Mistakes to Avoid When Outsourcing

We’ve all heard some pretty concerning stories about outsourcing, but it’s the positive feedback that has you intrigued by the idea of offshore staff. So you might ask, “What is the difference between encountering a positive or negative experience with outsourcing?” There are a few mistakes you should avoid to ensure only the best experience….

Managing Offshore Staff

Managing Offshore Staff

We are all faced with those moments when we are completely and utterly overwhelmed with the never-ending tasks at work. So how do we fix this? Hiring an employee to come into the office everyday can be expensive and there is no way we can manage to get everything done all on our own. This…

How you can use virtual assistants to grow your business

How you can use virtual assistants to grow your business

As technological capabilities evolve, companies with aspirations of success must evolve at a similar rate. If you are part of a midsized organization or have founded a low fund start-up, you are likely all too familiar with your resources being overwhelmed by admin tasks. It is because of this that more companies are looking to…

How to Successfully Outsource… Hint: It Starts With You

How to Successfully Outsource… Hint: It Starts With You

In my time at Virtual Coworker, I’ve seen countless numbers of companies successfully hire staff in the Philippines. This can range from the mom and pop shop who hired a part-time admin assistant, to the ASX listed company who hired 20 customer and tech support staff. When outsourcing works, it’s amazing. The ability to hire…

How to Build Rapport With Your Virtual Assistant

How to Build Rapport With Your Virtual Assistant

In the age of technology, more and more offices are globally diversifying and moving away from the traditional bricks-and-mortar place of work. What this means is that we need to be flexible to collaborate with coworkers, customers and clients and manage outsourcing in an efficient and pragmatic way. These eight tips will make it easier…

How, What and Why to Outsource in 2017

How, What and Why to Outsource in 2017

The benefits of outsourcing particular tasks and positions within a business are indisputable, however, some business owners still choose to be sceptical. Whether it’s virtual assistants you’re looking for, or perhaps web developers, sales assistants, or customer support personnel, outsourcing from the Philippines is a great way to find exactly what your business needs. Here,…

How a Sydney Tech Startup Used Virtual Coworker to Build Their Platform

How a Sydney Tech Startup Used Virtual Coworker to Build Their Platform

Crew Scout is an online marketplace for on ¬demand video production and video crew services. Its purpose is to cut through the noise of the video production industry by enabling businesses to find and hire vetted video production companies and freelancers for their next video campaign. With their platform, you can post a project in…

How to Seamlessly Combine Your Offshore Team with Your Local Team

How to Seamlessly Combine Your Offshore Team with Your Local Team

Virtual assistants make work easier – and all over the world tens of thousands of companies and organisations are outsourcing jobs to highly skilled VAs working overseas. There are many great advantages. You can clear away difficult or time consuming tasks like spreadsheets or bookkeeping from your in-tray and create space to concentrate on the…

5 Reasons Why You Shouldn’t Hire a Virtual Assistant

5 Reasons Why You Shouldn’t Hire a Virtual Assistant

Outsourcing virtual assistants in the Philippines certainly has its benefits and businesses are moving in this direction to reap some of these. However, there are situations when outsourcing to a virtual assistant is not beneficial, particularly if the business does not have an adequate plan in place to support this type of arrangement. If one…

Benefits of Hiring a Long-term Virtual Assistant

Benefits of Hiring a Long-term Virtual Assistant

Organisations work hard to achieve goals through efficiency of time, outputs, resources and costs. Outsourcing to virtual assistants provides many benefits to assist organisations to achieve these goals, however it can be limiting when hiring project-based virtual assistants, as they are generally more taskoriented rather than focusing on the businesses’ long-term strategic goals. Hiring a…

How to Develop Training and Management Processes for Your Virtual Assistant

How to Develop Training and Management Processes for Your Virtual Assistant

As online and digital facilities continue to improve, the ability to hire virtual assistants is becoming more convenient for organisations. As a result, there is an increasing demand for outsourcing to the Philippines. This is for a number of reasons, including: • Reduction of overhead costs as a result of lower salary expectations; reduction in office…

Outsourcing 101 for Australian Solar Companies

Outsourcing 101 for Australian Solar Companies

Solar companies in Australia and abroad are dealing with increasing overheads at a time when demand is rising steadily. There are solutions available to support SME’s to do more with less; one of which is outsourcing. Outsourcing has been something that has, at times, had negative connotations attached to it, but the high quality and…

Why Australian Companies are Outsourcing to the Philippines

Why Australian Companies are Outsourcing to the Philippines

Building offshore teams used to be routine for only companies at the big end of town. Not anymore. In today’s business landscape, small to medium sized businesses are in a great position to take advantage of the cost-savings and productivity that comes with building an offshore workforce. For companies in Australia, there is no place…

Outsourcing Benefits for Registered Training Organisations

Outsourcing Benefits for Registered Training Organisations

Registered Training Organisations (RTOs) are increasingly juggling cost pressures at a time when demands on service delivery are on the rise. There are solutions available to support RTOs to do more with less; one of the most significant is outsourcing. Outsourcing has been something that has, at times, had negative connotations attached to it, but…

How to best recruit and interview remote developers

How to best recruit and interview remote developers

Working with remote developers can be incredibly beneficial to a business. It’s an opportunity to employ highly skilled staff and to create working conditions that are suitable for both parties. However, for remote recruitment to work, it is crucial to find employees who are trustworthy, hard working and committed. What are the options? There are…

How to Build a Customer and Tech Support Team

How to Build a Customer and Tech Support Team

Case Study: How to Build a Customer and Tech Support Team Business Name: BigAir Group Limited (ASX: BGL) Type of Company: Telecommunications Positions hired: Technical and Customer Support Explain the roles that you’re currently outsourcing Level 1 Technical Support for residential customers and non-technical Customer Service Representatives for corporate and wholesale customers. How did you…

5 Business Lessons Learned from Tony Robbins

5 Business Lessons Learned from Tony Robbins

For those who aren’t familiar with Tony Robbins, he’s a legendary “business and life strategist” who has worked with the likes of Oprah Winfrey, Bill Clinton, and countless other extremely successful entrepreneurs and companies. I had the privilege of seeing him live in Sydney where he spoke about bettering oneself in business, relationships and everyday…

The Secret to a Successful Recruitment Partnership

The Secret to a Successful Recruitment Partnership

If you’ve recently partnered with a recruiter to hire a staff member and had a positive experience, I’d imagine the timeline looked a little something like this: You, the hiring manager and/or internal recruiter identified a specific need within your team; You liaised with your consultant regarding said need and together established a plan of…

Why Hiring an Offshore Recruitment Assistant Makes Sense (Q&A with a Sydney Executive Search Firm)

Why Hiring an Offshore Recruitment Assistant Makes Sense (Q&A with a Sydney Executive Search Firm)

Name: Referee upon request Type of Business: Executive & IT Recruitment Type of Virtual Coworker: Full-time Recruitment Assistant Questions: What does your Virtual Assistant do on a daily basis? She started off doing some of the more basic admin functions any company has. Once I realised how competent and capable she was, we started giving…

Is Telecommuting the key to Increased Productivity?

Is Telecommuting the key to Increased Productivity?

More employees are working remotely from their homes, and that’s a good thing, not only for them, but also for their employers, and for the environment. The simple fact is that working in the comfort of your own home can increase job satisfaction, and satisfied workers tend to be more productive employees. Employers who let…

Seven Ways a Virtual Assistant Can Automate Your Business

Seven Ways a Virtual Assistant Can Automate Your Business

With the help of a Virtual Assistant (VA), you can make your business more efficient and productive without having to micromanage everything. In fact, you can run your business even while you sleep! Here’s how: Answering Customer Service/Enquiries Answering questions from customers and interested prospects is a very time-consuming process. However, this is a necessary…

8 Things to Look for in a Virtual Assistant

{Infographic} 8 Things to Look for in a Virtual Assistant

8 Things to Look For In a Virtual Assistant Outsourcing specific roles to Virtual Assistants is a critical component for growing businesses.  There are, however, a lot of attribute that separate average virtual assistants from great virtual assistants. Below are 8 things to look for in a Philippines Virtual Assistant. 1. Excitement Find out if…

Top 5 Tips for Delegating Tasks to Your Filipino Virtual Assistant

Top 5 Tips for Delegating Tasks to Your Filipino Virtual Assistant

Hiring virtual assistants in the Philippines (VAs) is a great option if you’re running on full capacity or looking to improve productivity and efficiency. With many online assistants specialising in various business processes and marketing skills, they can take a huge load off your shoulders. But regardless of how good the VA is, you will…

9 Best Questions to Ask a Virtual Assistant During an Interview

9 Best Questions to Ask a Virtual Assistant During an Interview

*** Please refer to our updated 2020 version of this blog here*** Beginner’s Guide to Interviewing a Virtual Assistant When hiring a virtual assistant (VA), conducting a preliminary interview is very important. Interviewing a prospective worker lets you know what that applicant is capable of and verify that he or she is indeed the right…

How to Build Strong and Successful Relationships with Your Employees

How to Build Strong and Successful Relationships with Your Employees

Whether you employ full-time, part-time, or virtual assistants, it is always important to establish good relationships with them. Studies have shown that building good relationships with the members of your team can improve overall business productivity and efficiency and help you generate greater revenues. Here’s how you can build a strong and successful relationship with…

Five Ways a Virtual Assistant Can Increase Your Leads

Five Ways a Virtual Assistant Can Increase Your Leads

Having a sound lead generation strategy is a pivotal part of any business. It’s what attracts new clients and expands your customer base, allowing you to sustain your business and get access to a steady flow of income. Generating leads, however, is often a time-consuming task. If you focus your time and energy solely on…

Seven Things You Need to Know about Working with Virtual Assistants

Seven Things You Need to Know about Working with Virtual Assistants

Hiring virtual assistants (VAs) is one of the most effective and inexpensive solutions to manage aspects of your business. VAs can be a huge help and unlike hiring a full-time employee, you don’t have to spend a large amount of money to enlist their services. Like any boss-employee relationship, however, it is very important that…

Anthill top 100 blog

Anthill top 100 blog

I am excited and proud to announce Virtual Coworker has been selected as a finalist in Anthill’s Cool Company Awards 2013. We always knew the people of Virtual Coworker were cool, but having our company selected as one of the coolest companies in Australia is quite validating. Virtual Coworker is one of four finalists in…

Five Ways a Filipino Virtual Assistant Can Help Make Sales Professionals More Money

Five Ways a Filipino Virtual Assistant Can Help Make Sales Professionals More Money

As a marketing and sales professional, I know the feeling of having a list of tasks stack up in front of me. Whether it’s entering client details into Mailchimp, updating my CRM or prospecting for new leads, hours of my day are filled with essential, but not high value tasks. Unloading some of the lower…

Why off shoring is the fastest way to business growth for Aussie companies

Why offshoring is the fastest way to business growth for companies

In the competitive landscape of U.S. business, outsourcing and hiring remote staff have emerged as game-changing strategies for companies aiming to scale efficiently. With the advent of digital workspaces, U.S. businesses, particularly small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), are increasingly turning to global talent to drive innovation, reduce costs, and enhance productivity. Why U.S. Businesses Are…