If youre regularly lamenting the fact that there are not enough hours in the day, youre probably at the stage where you need some help.
Help may be the answer. But, the question is: Should you be looking to hire an in-person executive assistant or a virtual assistant?
We’d love to help you decide. And we promise we aren’t (too) biased! That’s because we want you to find the kind of assistance that’s right for you. And that depends on multiple factors. Including, but not limited to, cost.
How to work out if a VA or EA is right for you
1. What’s your communication style?
Are you the kind of person who stares in horror at your phone when someone calls, rather than texts? Do you best relay and absorb information through text? Do you find yourself communicating with your teams through Slack and email over face-to-face or voice communication?
Or, do you find digital communication impersonal and time-consuming? Would you rather have an hour-long meeting than a long string of emails to resolve an issue?
We’d say, if you’re a face-to-face communicator who prefers real meetings to Zoom and likes to drop things on someone’s desk rather than their inbox, an Executive Assistant is probably the way to go. If you’re a comfortable digital communicator then a VA is likely to be your cup of tea.
2. What’s your budget?
We don’t mean to pry, but knowing what your budget looks like would really help to understand if you beed an executive assistant or if a virtual assistant would be the best options. Executive assistants come with an average fulltime salary of £40-50k. With associated employer costs like NI, pension, training, office space and equipment can your business justify the expense of an employee?
Would a more flexible service from a VA, where you pay for what you need/use, be a better fit for your finances?
3. How important is the turnaround time for you?
Bear in mind that a VA has multiple clients and won’t work exclusively for you. Often, VAs can carve out specific hours to dedicate to you to manage your expectations and timetable. But, if you expect full, undivided attention, immediate responses and the ability to drop everything and work on a project instantly then you’re probably going to be better off with a full-time, dedicated employee.
If you have a little more flexibility, then a VA can provide you with the service levels you expect - and most likely exceed them!
4. Are you looking for in-person or remote tasks?
If you want someone to pick up your dry cleaning, bring you coffee, set up your boardroom and act as a physical point of contact for your visitors then you’re going to need an office-based executive assistant for that.
If your task list could be completed from anywhere, a VA could be your answer. We will be able to schedule your meetings, manage your diary, track expenses and undertake marketing activities and bookkeeping remotely.
Want to find out more about how a virtual assistant could help you? Look at our services to see how we would compete with a full-time executive assistant, in terms of the tasks we can take off your hands.
