Virtual Personal Assistant

Hello!

I'm a small business owner in business consulting, UK-based, looking for a VA / PA and would be pleased to receive submissions.

The workload is not high and is variable, depending on how many active assignments or active clients I have at any one time. Therefore it would not suit someone looking to work with only one client. However, if you can add value to my business then I’ll be able to spend more time on activities that will grow the business, and then there may be more work for both of us in the future. That certainly is my intention. I'm really looking for someone who will act as my partner in helping me to achieve this aim. Of course, given the current economic climate I must be prudent and focused. And take even more care than usual to ensure everything’s done right first time. So you need to be conscientious, diligent, thorough and keen to use your own initiative.

The successful candidate will need to be a native English speaker (or equivalent) with impeccable spelling, grammar and general secretarial skills. I’m very picky about this. Additionally, you will need to have worked at Executive Assistant or senior PA Level and / or be able to demonstrate the confidence, competence and communication skill appropriate to board level working. Absolute discretion, confidentiality and professionalism are pre-requisites.

Once we’re both satisfied we can work well together I will provide you with an email address and dedicated VOIP telephone / extension number. I don’t find Skype call quality to be adequate, so I use another provider. You will need to install the relevant softphone and will also need a good broadband connection for good call quality. I would be willing to provide a separate handset at a later date if call volume so required.

The support I’m looking for obviously includes general secretarial work, including transcription, but is not limited to this. Ideally I’d like to delegate all my day-to-day correspondence and admin work to you, but we will need to establish a strong relationship of trust first. We will communicate by email and VOIP. I like to pass over emails with written instructions, or to pass things over with my requests in attached sound files, or to speak in person regularly… no doubt we’ll establish our preferred pattern and rhythm as we go along. I’d like to receive a regular weekly progress summary and copies of outgoing emails where appropriate.

What’s important is that I can hand something over to you and know it’s a done deal. And that responses will come back to me with summaries, ideas and suggestions of what to do next, not merely forwarded in a way that passes the job back to me again. I’d like a task or project to be fully owned once delegated, so that I can rest assured it is in good hands and don’t need to give it any further thought until it’s completed or we reach some sort of dead end or difficulty. I do not expect to have to chase things up or to do things myself that have been overlooked. So a pro-active approach would be truly appreciated! I freely admit admin is not my forte and I sometimes forget matters of admin if they’re not urgent. I am much better at initiating things than completing them, so I’d like to work with someone who complements me in this area, and who can manage me to get things completed.

Other assistance includes:
• Managing other contractors: posting jobs, selecting candidates and managing the jobs. Web design and copywriting are the most common ones
• Taking incoming phone calls (of which there are very few)
• Making phone calls on my behalf when necessary
• Making appointments
• Researching and booking meeting rooms
• Follow up work with clients
• Diary management
• Personal lifestyle stuff, such as researching and booking hotels or restaurants etc, on the days when outsourcing those jobs will help me to focus better on business matters
• Researching and investigating potential work opportunities
• Appropriately negotiating, challenging and disputing should any misunderstandings arise
• Web research
• Proof reading, copywriting, rewriting
• Managing blog posts, and other Word Press postings
• Managing contractors’ log ins
• Maintaining a central repository or intranet for reference materials
• Database management, market research, excel spreadsheets, document formatting

Operating in a time zone close to that of the UK would be a distinct advantage, as would some familiarity with London.

I like to think I'm a reasonable person to work with and will be fair and patient, though I admit to having demanding standards. I try not to demand things at short notice, since I understand you have other commitments, too. I will be understanding about interruptions, sickness and family commitments • in fact, I strongly advocate a good work-life balance. I will be understanding about mistakes: they happen to human beings, especially when we are trying new things, and often present a learning opportunity. I will not quibble about hours and will do my best to support you in developing your career, your business and your self in the way you wish. I consider myself to be supporting you in your goals as much as you are supporting me in reaching mine. You can check out my profile and feedback to see what others say about working with me.

Please respond with an original response, and some indication of required rates and availability. I’m looking to begin as soon as possible and would suggest a trial period for both of us to begin with. Please note any copy-and-paste applications I get will be ignored, and any applications with spelling or grammatical errors will get rejected immediately.

And do let me know if you have any questions. Look forward to hearing from you!