Getting started as a virtual assistant can be a great way to earn money online with flexibility and freedom. But if you’re a beginner, it might seem tough to find reliable job listings that actually give you a chance to get hired.
So, where can you find virtual assistant jobs for beginners – ones that don’t require loads of experience?
Here’s a list of the best sites to help you find beginner-friendly VA jobs and start building your client base right away.
Think you might be interested in being a VA – but aren’t sure exactly what you can do to make money in this way?
Take a look at this list of 275+ services that a virtual assistant can provide for almost endless inspiration. No matter your skillset or interests, you’ll see that there’s definitely the perfect offering for you to make serious income.
Where to find virtual assistant jobs for beginners?
There are many resources available to help you to become a virtual assistant.
For example, when you are just starting out, you may want to take the first couple of jobs offered. It will allow you to get your foot in the door and show that you have some experience. After you become more established, you can be choosier in the clients you choose to work for.
FYI: It can also really help to consider doing one of these virtual assistant training courses.
You don’t need any formal certification to become a VA but it can help to show clients how great you can be for their business. It’s also super worthwhile for you to learn how to hit the ground running as a VA and maximize your earnings as quickly as possible!
1. Virtual Assistant Finder
Virtual Assistant Finder is one of the best options on this list as clients know when they’re going there that they’re going to get a seriously good VA – just go to that link and click “Find a VA” in the menu at the top of the page.
The reason it’s so good is because it consists solely of VAs who have completed one of the best VA courses out there: Fully Booked VA. While this means that you will have to take this course to be eligible for a job from this site, it also means that you’ll have a solid background in the virtual assistant world.
And clients will know this, meaning you’re also more likely to get good, reliable clients here who are simply looking for the best person to help their business succeed.
Find out more here about Virtual Assistant Finder.
2. Upwork
Upwork is one of the best sites around for freelancers looking for work – and this also applies to potential VAs.
In particular, Upwork is a very professional platform and great for beginners looking for career growth opportunities. In particular, it even features a Virtual Assistant section for those looking for jobs in this field, so you can search Upwork directly for “virtual assistant jobs” and see what’s available.
Creating a professional profile is key here, so take a look at some other people’s profiles to see what helps them stand out and look legit. You’ll then see that as you start to book your jobs, your portfolio on the site will begin to build, allowing you to take on even more clients (and charge even more money!)
3. Facebook
You may be surprised to hear that Facebook is one of the best places to find virtual assistant jobs for beginners online, but hear me out.
That is, while there are Facebook groups specifically for VAs looking for work, Facebook also features a ton of groups for online business owners. It can be a really smart strategy to join these groups and start to establish a relationship with these people. This may include, say, offering advice in blogger Facebook groups so you can start to build trust.
From there, you’ll naturally start to find opportunities where you can offer your services. To help you with this, it’s good to have your VA services featured prominently on your Facebook profile, so if people click through they can immediately see what you do.
This includes having a clear link to your website where you list exactly what you can offer online business owners as a VA.
FYI: It’s incredibly easy to launch your own site. It’s also one of the cheapest things you’ll do for your new VA business at under $3 per month – less than a cup of coffee! In fact, that’s the price you’ll get if you launch your site with Bluehost, which is easily my top pick for the best website host to use (including that they even give you your domain name for free).
To find out more, check out my simple step-by-step guide on how to start a blog as I show you the exact steps needed to launch your site in less than 20 minutes – even without any tech experience!
4. Fiverr
Fiverr is another great platform for freelancers, especially if you’re looking for quick virtual assistant jobs for beginners. That is, it’s more targeted at clients who need someone for a set job, rather than the more long term arrangements you’ll find on sites like Upwork.
Because of this, it allows virtual assistants to set a price for their services and not based on time spent. The platform also helps users promote their services for added exposure.
Users will need to complete a profile before submitting proposals so, as always, spend some time on this to make sure it looks professional. Checking out other people’s profiles can be a great tip for this – that is, don’t copy them, but see what works and how you can adapt that for yourself.
5. Time Etc.
Time Etc is a UK-based company that offers VA services to clients in the U.K. and U.S. Some jobs include data entry, administrative positions, writing/communications, and research.
Just keep in mind that applicants must:
- Be available for at least three hours per week
- Have at least 2-3 years of experience in a similar position
- Have access to a quiet working space, a computer, a good internet connection and relevant software (Microsoft Word etc.).
Now, the 2-3 years thing will clearly make this an issue for those looking for virtual assistant jobs for beginners. However, this doesn’t mean three years experience as a VA.
Instead, it can be in essentially any sort of office-based or administrative role. For example, if you’ve worked as a secretary or at a call center or even for a local business where you handled some of the admin tasks, you should qualify for this.
If that’s you, find out more about applying for Time Etc here!
6. FlexJobs
FlexJobs boasts one of the world’s largest databases of remote jobs in just about every field – including literally hundreds of virtual assistant jobs online at the time of writing this.
Its platform is easy to use to find positions based on your level of experience, as well as plenty of other filters to make it easy to find the exact type of role you’re looking for. This means it won’t take you long at all to check out which virtual assistant jobs for beginners are on here.
7. ZipRecruiter
The ZipRecruiter job marketplace uses artificial intelligence (AI) to match job seekers with available jobs. All you need to do is search for any virtual assistant roles they have, and your geographical location and appropriate matches will pop up.
In addition, with ZipRecruiter, you can search for several different jobs at the same time, meaning you can also check out any other high paying online jobs you may be interested in.
8. 99 Dollar Social
99 Dollar Social is mainly targeted at those VAs looking to offer social media-related services to businesses. In most cases, they will be looking for strong writers to prepare social media content, including to post to sites like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.
Before onboarding, they require virtual assistants to go through a training program, making it perfect for beginners as you’ll get training anyway to hit the ground running.
For similar work in this field, check out our guide on how to become a Pinterest manager.
9. Fancy Hands
Fancy Hands is a team of U.S.-based assistants who handle tasks for large and mid-sized businesses. Instead of VAs, they are called “Operations Associates” – but it’s really the same thing.
Tasks may include making phone calls, scheduling appointments, and data entry. Keep in mind as well that the company only hires U.S.-based associates.
10. Indeed
Indeed is a free platform to find virtual assistant jobs from home. You can use it to upload your resume and search for available positions from job boards, newspapers, and associations.
Before starting, Indeed will screen your skills and group candidates based on these skills, allowing potential employers and clients to also reach out to you if you’re a match.
11. LinkedIn
Those that don’t have an active profile on LinkedIn need to create one. It is one of the largest employment and business networks around, and it continues to grow.
To get started as a virtual assistant, you will need to create a profile, then look for appropriate job prospects. You can create a personalized email, and create notifications to appeal to hiring managers.
12. Vicky Virtual
Vicky Virtual excels in dealing with small business owners, which is the target audience here.
They’re mainly looking for people who can work as virtual receptionists, so good VA prospects will particularly need to have good typing and communications skills. You can view the different jobs available, then fill out an application and upload a resume.
13. Belay
Belay offers roles for VAs, virtual bookkeepers, and web specialists. That said, to secure a job with Belay, you must work a minimum of 10-hours per week.
14. Zirtual
Zirtual provides VA services to small businesses, individuals, professionals, and entrepreneurs. Most jobs consist of coordinating calendars, research events, secure travel plans, organizing expensive and other administrative tasks.
They are very select and state that they only select the best applicants, who must be US-based. A background and reference check is required.
15. 24/7 Virtual Assistants
24/7 Virtual Assistants offers projects ranging from administrative tasks, filing, communications, light bookkeeping, and web development.
Unlike most of the other virtual assistant jobs for beginners on here, they will provide training before assigning you to a business owner. Just keep in mind that only 5% of applicants are accepted, so you may want to also apply on other virtual assistant websites in addition to this one.
16. Byron
Byron serves businesses around the U.S. and promotes itself as providing quality work through their network of VAs. This means that they expect all their VAs to be highly skilled, including that they have worked a minimum of three years in a relevant field. That’s not necessarily a problem though if you’re looking for virtual assistant jobs for beginners as it doesn’t mean that you have to have worked as a VA specifically – just in something relevant, like an administrative role.
Byron offers projects that involve data entry, transcription, sales and marketing support, calendar coordination, and even developers and designers.
17. Virtual Gal Friday
Virtual Gal Friday provides virtual assistant jobs online in the medical, legal, and accounting fields. VAs may be tasked with answering phone calls, paralegal work, and creating internal and external communications.
To be considered for one of their virtual assistant jobs from home, you must have a bachelor’s degree. Also, workers are employees here, not contract workers, which may or may not be better for you.
18. Virtual Assist USA
This is an established company that started nearly 15 years ago. Virtual Assist USA primarily helps authors, coaches, and speakers with the administrative arm of their businesses.
They only hire US-based workers for their virtual assistant jobs online, and you also have to be a college graduates with ten years of experience (but, as above, this doesn’t have to be ten years as a VA specifically). They are very select though, so if you do not have the necessary skills and education, you should forgo this option.
19. Vasumo
Vasumo is a VA agency based in the U.S. and has become a well-known name in the virtual assistant industry. VAs will work on tasks like cold calling, data entry, note-taking, and calendar coordination.
They have a training program that requires VAs be trained in over 300 tasks. In particular, they prefer workers that know web development and marketing.
20. Guru
Guru is a freelance marketplace that is great for beginners as they have many entry-level projects.
You will first need to complete a profile that outlines your skill set. Feedback is gathered from clients who have used your services, so it is best to do the best job possible for high ratings.
21. TaskRabbit
TaskRabbit helps people make a living by connecting them with the community. In particular, they’re known for offering one-off jobs, so if you’d rather work like that compared to having ongoing VA work, like if you really value flexibility, this could be for you.
It’s also a great site if you’re looking for an odd job app where you can do quick tasks, with all sorts of services able to be offered on there.
What companies use virtual assistants?
The trend of using virtual assistants is increasing due, in part, to more people working from home, not wishing to be in an office all day. Just about any business can improve its bottom line by using virtual assistants. It has become easier, more efficient, and less costly to have a VA on contract instead of an office of employees that you need to pay social security, healthcare insurance, holiday pay, vacation pay, and other benefits for.
Businesses today have access to cloud-based tools. Skype, Microsoft 365, Dropbox, Zoom, and other cloud-based tools have changed the landscape of how organizations do business. Virtual assistants today perform many tasks online via cloud-based platforms, many business owners no longer need brick and mortar locations. More and more and more savvy businesses are choosing virtual workers over full- or part-time employees.
Many companies are singing the praises of having a virtual staff and report huge cost savings one year after incorporating VAs into their organization.
Here are companies that use virtual assistants more and more – which can also be great targets for where you may find your next VA job.
1. Real estate industry
Real estate professionals like brokers, agents, and property managers are finding that a VA can help them be more efficient. A good virtual assistant can help them to filter leads, coordinate and manage appointments, post ads, handle communications and correspondence and provide administration services. They may also help keep social media sites active by writing blogs and highlighting the real estate professionals’ skills and services.
In many cases if the VA is skilled in photography, they may work with the agent to take pictures of the home to post to websites.
2. Law firms
Law firms produce a lot of paperwork and conduct tons of research; having a VA to help handle some of their daily tasks can be a godsend. This gives the legal team more time to concentrate on their caseloads. A virtual assistant can conduct research, transcriptions, coordinate calendars, and schedule meetings.
The VA may also provide data entry, email management, communications, and other tasks that can bog a legal team down. All these mundane tasks can be very time-consuming. Having a virtual assistant eases the load and provides a huge relief for those that have so much on their plate each day.
3. IT firms
Because they are steeped in technology, it should come as no surprise that IT firms were one of the first industries to employ virtual assistants. They look to their VAs to provide administrative, technical, and customer support. Skilled VAs may be tasked with developing websites and conducting other types of services.
With all the spam and Internet threats, having an IT-savvy VA helps IT managers concentrate on the newest innovations and helping clients.
4. Accounting firms
Accounting and financial firms have a lot of data to keep organized daily. Virtual assistants can keep records organized, provide data entry, keep accounts payable and receivables up to date.
They can manage calendars, take phone calls, and offer various other skills valuable to the accountants while lessening their workload.
5. Marketing firms
Marketing organizations have a lot of room to hire virtual assistants. They may need help with their social media presence, placing Facebook ads, research, blogging, article syndication, and design.
A talented VA can thus fill in and provide a wide range of services that marketing firms need and do not want to hire an employee to do them.
6. Non-profits, charities, and social enterprises
In many cases, non-profit organizations do not have the budget to pay a full-time employee. After all, their purpose is creating sustainable impacts with donations going to fulfill community goals. This is a great opportunity for a virtual assistant who can monitor email, create email campaigns, respond to complaints, and handle inquiries and donor requests.
A VA can also help coordinate events and keep the website updated with news of new campaigns and events to increase awareness for the organization in its goals. The virtual assistant can create a schedule of blog posts so information on the charity is fresh and informational. For non-profits that have their eye on the bottom line, hiring a VA can be a cost-efficient and valuable step.
7. Medical professionals and medical offices
Many virtual assistants do not even consider the medical field because they are concerned that they don’t have the proper medical or healthcare background. That is not the case, as medical offices need people to handle phone calls, return calls, schedule appointments, etc. Some VA’s with IT or design expertise may be tasked with keeping the website up to date and creating and posting blogs regularly.
Some daily activities for the VA may include organizing files, responding to emails, and interacting with patients as needed.
8. Start-up companies
Most start-up companies need extra assistance before they get financed or open for business. This is a critical time and often when new businesses are the busiest. Unfortunately, before they get an influx of cash, they cannot afford an employee and pay a salary and benefits.
So the natural solution is to hire a VA to help with all the administrative tasks common with starting a company or business. After all, virtual assistants can provide the administrative assistance they need.
They may help with bookkeeping, social media outreach, mail, and email communications. Those with computer and marketing skills can be valuable as they may be able to have the VA research cloud-based programs and design the website without going to a specialty designer that will charge them thousands of dollars for a basic website.
9. Event planners
Planning an event is a daunting task. Even the most experienced event planner can find themselves stressed with all the advanced planning and details. After the date and location of the event are secured, the event planner has more than ever to do. They must conduct research, find caterers, coordinate entertainment, coordinate travel plans like air, ground transportation, and hotels.
Virtual assistants can help coordinate invitation lists, design the invite, track RSVPs, and conduct follow-up calls to determine the final count. When it comes to event planning, a virtual assistant can take a lot of mundane work away from the event planner, so they can concentrate on other issues that may arise.
10. Trainers and teachers
Many teachers today are learning how to teach both onsite students and online classes. This can mean double the workload for the already stressed-out teacher. Many teachers have found that virtual assistants can help online students to help them use tools to complete their assignments.
That is, instead of taking time away from the teachers’ schedule, a VA can provide tips to groups of students on everything from conducting research, formatting their papers to spell-checking programs that will help them get good grades.
VAs can also help teachers plan their schedules, coordinate calendars, and help with teaching plans if they have the skill set, like if the VA has a background in education themselves.
11. Consultants and executives
Many consultants and entrepreneurs complain they don’t have enough time in the day. That is because many of them have difficulty with time management. They often have many small tasks at hand that do not get done because they are too busy with big-picture planning.
Based on this, a VA is a great resource for those that need an extra set of hands. The VA can handle mail and email, return phone calls, schedule meetings, and coordinate calendars.
For these busy individuals, a virtual assistant can help them remember important events like birthdays and anniversaries. Many consultants and executives rely on their VA to help them keep their business and personal lives organized.
12. Bloggers
A professional blogger has a lot of research to conduct before they are ready to write each post, not to mention all the work that’s needed once the article is ready to publish. Editing articles, uploading them to websites, adding images, promoting content on social media…for all these reasons and many more, virtual assistants can be an invaluable asset to a blogger on a set schedule and must post their product on time.
That is, a virtual assistant can take a lot of work off the bloggers’ hands. A virtual assistant that has a background in writing, public relations, and advertising can be a great asset because they already have many of the skills that the blogger needs. They can conduct research, create rough drafts of the blogs, look for images to post with the blog, and monitor feedback from followers. They can also post the blogs to different social media outlets extending the bloggers’ reach.
What does a virtual assistant do?
A virtual assistant is an extension of a business, and the VA must put forth their best work at all times. This will ensure a constant stream of clients, positive feedback, and a positive reputation within the industry.
If you are wondering what types of jobs may be available to VAs, here is a partial list that will give you a good idea of what your workload may look like should you pursue this line of work.
- Coordinate professional and personal calendars
- Coordinate travel
- Handle Email and other communications
- Phone tasks
- Events
- Personal tasks
- Operational activities
- New business research
FYI: To see just how many things you can do as a virtual assistant, this list of over 275 VA services should give you a good idea of just how broad – or specific – you can make your new VA business.
How much does a beginner virtual assistant make?
The average salary for a VA is $19.65 per hour although the exact amount you will make will largely depend on your skills and experience. This means that a beginner VA can expect to make much less, at least at first, with average earnings of around $10 an hour.
This average salary is the rate according to indeed.com but, perhaps unsurprisingly, the more skills the VA has, the more valuable they likely are, enabling them to make more money – even if starting out with earning $10 an hour online is definitely a great starting point. Those that master the following high income skills have a better chance of earning more money.
- Has a good command of the English language and can assist with drafting communications, press releases, ad copy, blogs, social media posts, website copy and other collateral materials.
- Is skillful at conducting research through search platforms and other resources.
- Can complete projects on time and exceed expectations.
- Knows how to navigate social media outlets and can keep the sites fresh with new information, events, campaigns, etc.
- Is proficient at handling business phone calls, scheduling and coordinating calendars.
Other variables include the VA’s skill set, experience, type of business you work for, and geographical area.
Also, if the VA has specific skills like a background in marketing, advertising, web design or IT skills, they can likely demand higher wages because they possess skills that bring more value to the business.
How to get your first virtual assistant job as a beginner
There are many ways to become a virtual assistant with no experience. If you follow these steps, you should be well on your way to a new career and a lucrative source of income in the future.
1. Build your skills
Like any job, doing some training can definitely help you to build your skill set. Fortunately, there are a range of seriously good virtual assistant training courses for you to consider.
My favorite is the Fully Booked VA course, which is built to ensure you succeed (read: get clients and start to make money ASAP) from the moment you begin your new VA career. You’ll learn strategies on things like how to market yourself, how to build the best skills to be more bankable and how to pursue jobs that will pay the most.
You’ll also learn about other things like dealing with clients, pricing your services, and even resources for finding your first clients. While you could learn these as you go through trial and error, having training in these sorts of issues can save you a ton of time and make sure you start earning as much money as possible as quickly as possible.
2. Create a website
You should create a website that highlights your skills, so potential clients can see all you have to offer.
As you get more happy clients on your roster, you may ask for testimonials, so other prospects can see that you deliver as promised.
Check out our step-by-step guide on how to start a website to get started in literally 20 minutes – absolutely no tech experience needed!
3. Use social media to promote your availability and skills
Most people already have social media accounts, so utilize these existing tools to get the word out about your service offerings and skills. Put these social media outlets to work for you!
4. Ask happy clients for testimonials and referrals
As you get your first couple clients, do the best job you can, then ask them for a testimonial which you can post on your website, social media sites, etc. This makes a noteworthy impression on those looking for your services.
Also, when clients are happy, ask them if they know of anyone else needing your services and ask for an introduction or referral.
5. Refine your services
With so many potential services you can offer as a VA, it’s often better if you focus on only a few that you know you can do to a high standard. That way, it also makes it easier to target clients in relevant fields that need those specific skills.
The exact skills you should offer will vary from person to person based on your background and interests, so do some research into what services may work best for you.