Anyone a Virtual Assistant or PA?

[freshstart67]

I’m looking to retrain so I can work either as VA or PA.
My background is nursing but no longer working. So I’m currently looking around at courses I can undertake online.

Can anyone offer any advice or say a bit about their role. This would be immensely helpful. Thanks

I'm not, but I do use one. I'm not sure it requires retraining necessarily - certainly never occurred to me to check the qualifications of mine. Having said that, experience is helpful so I'm guessing that might be the biggest challenge - I hired her because I could see from her experience that she could do the specific things I needed her to do. In my case, that meant dealing with many of my clients to keep projects moving and/or diary management, tracking expenses and invoices, some small research projects etc.

@Triffid1 thank you, that’s been very helpful. I’m organised and proactive. IT skills ok, maybe I could brush up a little.
I will explore this further. Thanks again 😊

Also, in my case, your nursing experience would probably be considered a bonus as my PA interacts regularly with my clients so really important to me was that she would act and behave appropriately - not too casual, responsive to tone etc. In her case, she'd worked in a similar industry to me and had existing clients in similar industries, which helped.

As a nurse, I imagine you were used to that. So that's something to big up for people like me (a lot of VAs don't do any interaction with their clients' clients so obviously not always relevant).

I would also consider whether your nursing experience makes you a particularly good VA within the healthcare environment. So, for example, perhaps for an independent healthcare provider of some sort such as an osteopath or physiotherapist, or someone who works in healthcare recruitment, or someone who is an independent pharmaceutical sales person or running a small independent pharmacy.

My point being that if you tailor your offering you can leverage your existing skill set.

Thanks you again @Triffid1 , your reply has given me lots to think about. My background is in mental health and therapy so there is quite a scope to explore.

Thanks so much, I’m really feeling positive about this 😊

Brilliant, good luck.

My friend is a therapist and desperately needs a VA. One of the reasons she doesn't have one is she can't be bothered with the hassle of having to explain processes, procedures, insurance, doctor referrals etc..... I can't believe there aren't loads of single, independent professionals like her who would jump at the chance for an organised PA who could handle appointments, invoicing etc and who understand the nuances of this type of work.

Good luck!

PA can cover a vast range of jobs. What are you thinking?

Employed or self employed?
Big corporate or small one man band?
Working for one big boss (CEO) or a huge team (nightmare!!!)
Private sector, public sector, charity, not for profit?
Office every day or work from home?
Managing budgets and projects or stuffing envelopes in the back office?

How much do you want/need to earn? How do the PA/admin salaries compare in your area?

I'll be honest, I was a PA for very long time and rose to the dizzy heights of the bloke (because I'm afraid to say it generally still is) at the very top of the big corporate. I temped while at uni, moved quite a lot, took risks and managed to become pretty good at it when there was a lot of work about.

However, IME overall the role has changed and not for the better. Expectations and workloads are off the scale. Lots of PAs are now not just looking after one or two people but sometimes huge teams which is ridiculously stressful.

As a nurse, you will have transferable skills to become a PA, but do not underestimate the speed at which you will have to work to keep up. These days it's not just about booking a meeting and typing a letter. It's about managing insane levels of email traffic, multiple mailboxes, calendars which are in a state of constant flux, deadlines, reports, projects, office moves, conferences, travel, expenses, smoothing feathers, herding cats and spinning plates. Like any job, it takes a decent while to work up to that and you really need to hone your processes to keep on top of it all.

I cannot tell you how many pretty young things I saw who were taken on to massage the egos of middle aged alpha males and were then treated appallingly and then fell over and either quit or were pushed. It really is tragic but unfortunately you need the hide of a rhinoceros and the grace/diplomacy of Queen Elizabeth to survive as a PA.

I wouldn't recommend it personally and I have no idea about VA work which I would guess is working from home and managing tradesmen's paperwork and appointments which sounds pretty dull to me!