The role of the Virtual Assistant or VA has become increasingly popular and sought after in this new age of technology, and it would seem this trend will continue for many more years. They are highly-skilled, independent professionals who work remotely, providing administrative, technical, and creative business support services. So before writing up your next recruitment ad, consider outsourcing your business’ tasks to a VA. A Virtual Assistant can be your right-hand man (or woman!) in almost any are of expertise. Do you need a designer? Do you need a social media expert, a web developer, an accountant, a personal assistant, a data entry expert, a telemarketer or almost anything you can imagine!
The typical virtual assistant can either work on their own, or work for a virtual assistant placement agency. There are a number of reasons why the VA can outshine a regular employee, but even better reasons why you should hire your VAs from overseas. These include:
Lower Labor Costs
One of the main reasons why companies hire overseas virtual assistants is because they can enjoy lower labor costs. Wages are usually lesser compared to the rates here in Australia. Depending on what you need done, some overseas VAs will work for less than $5/hr and will do a variety of tasks, which you can be very satisfied with. Keep in mind that if you pay the bare minimum, you are likely to not keep quality workers long-term.
There’s also no obligation to pay for fringe benefits like health insurance, employer wage deductions, or holiday pay, since a VA takes care of their own overhead costs. Many Australian business owners do still offer some of these benefits to their long-term overseas workers and this is a good idea.
Time Scheduling Ease
With an overseas VA, you never have to worry about coordinating work schedules. You can simply send off the work to be done with a due date, ensuring that there is always someone working on your business, even while you sleep. After all, who doesn’t love waking up to completed projects?
Where to Hire Your Overseas Virtual Assistants
For these reasons and others, many companies today turn to virtual assistants to fill certain roles in their business services. In an increasingly automated business environment where technology is taking over repetitive tasks, hiring overseas virtual assistants is fast becoming the new normal. So where are the best places to hire them from? Three countries have stood out over the years — Philippines, India, and Pakistan.
- The Philippines – This is one of the top outsourcing destinations in the overseas VA industry, thanks to its array of highly skilled virtual assistants. Filipinos also boast a higher English fluency rate compared to other countries. The Philippines is on the exact same time-zone as Perth, Western Australia!
- India – For several years now, India has been a popular source for overseas VAs. The country has a strong focus on science and Information Technology fields, which often means higher proficiency in technical tasks. They also have much more reliable bandwidth systems and high speed communication technologies.
- Pakistan – This may be the least well-known source of overseas VAs in this group, but is definitely one to consider. The Pakistani people are hardworking and quite intuitive. They also speak and understand English well enough.
In a nutshell, hiring an overseas virtual assistant can turn out to be a highly valuable business decision. It enables a smoother process flow that lets you focus on more strategic activities, such as becoming more efficient and improving bottom line. Go for it today!
