The best-fitted virtual secretary brings sanity to your life. If you’re a working professional or hold a position in your organization where your daily operations run according to calendars, appointments, and emails, then you need a secretary.
When it comes to hiring one, you must reflect on what sort of secretary you need; it could be full-time, part-time, on-site, hybrid, or fully remote (a virtual secretary).
We will shed light on a virtual secretary in this blog post. They can work full-time and part-time during your preferred business hours.
What a Virtual Secretary Does
A virtual secretary aligns meetings according to priorities and pushes back on low-value requests. They absorb the emotional friction, such as handling client complaints, drafting difficult emails, following up on unpaid invoices, and screening calls and messages.
Your secretary acts as a buffer between you and distractions. They help you foster strong relationships (through follow-ups, reminding you of personal obligations, anniversaries and birthdays, gift coordination, and wishing your contacts well).
They understand your voice, risk tolerance, preferences and priorities to help you optimally. They help you avoid future chaos and give you a sense that someone is watching the edges so that you can focus in the center of the work.
The difference between any remote assistant and a virtual secretary is experience. The primary attributes of a virtual secretary are excellent communication skills and proficiency in handling calendars, various software like Asana, Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, Trello and various scheduling software.
They must be an apt listener, strong in attention to detail, and possess soft skills to handle heated calls or messages in a pleasant manner.
Along with sorting, prioritizing, and replying to emails and managing calendars, they must be able to handle paperwork, travel planning, and documentation or contract signing.
Benefits of Hiring a Virtual Secretary
The benefits of hiring a virtual secretary are manifold: no overhead cost, flexibility in pricing, availability of backup assistants, and work outside business hours.
You can hire one through freelance sites, social media channels like LinkedIn, and virtual assistant review sites. No matter where you hire from, ensure you evaluate the person with some trial work.
Industry Experience is the strongest Attribute
Finding someone who is tech-savvy, great at communication, and accustomed to standard secretary tasks does take some time, but you can find them at reliable VA companies. The biggest edge you should look for is whether that person has worked in your domain or has experience assisting professionals or businesses like you.
Ask for their CV. Check their LinkedIn profile, and hold an interview to ask industry-specific questions. Check whether they are acquainted with the software or CRM you work on or not.
If you’re from the healthcare Industry, the secretary must be HIPAA-compliant.
When you hire someone who understands your industry, you do not need to explain things that are otherwise needed. It helps you save time and energy and minimize the scope of errors and delays. Especially during the peak season or when you’re already overwhelmed.
Specialist Virtual Secretary Types
Legal Virtual Secretary
They book consultations, collect information, and manage complex calendars. Further, they manage court dates, statute-of-limitation deadlines, and depositions. Your legal secretary drafts non-advisory documents, manages digital case files, formats legal transcriptions, prepares papers for e-filing and keeps track of jurisdiction deadlines. Your secretary handles clients' calls when you're busy in court or with tasks that need no interruption.
Medical Virtual Secretary
The medical virtual secretary arranges patient appointments while managing the waitlists. Check insurance eligibility, manage patient intake forms, and handle pre-visit paperwork. They answer patient calls and messages, track and chase authorizations with the insurance payers. They take care of EHR/EMR data entry and update patient records.
Executive Virtual Secretary
They're experienced in complex calendar management, helping to block focus hours, as well as resolving cross-time-zone conflicts. They plan itineraries and book flights and hotels. They are excellent at preparing meeting briefs and researching attendees. They coordinate with stakeholders, clients, and employees on behalf of their clients. Manage expenses and project timelines. Create reports and presentations.
Hire a Bilingual Virtual Secretary
The hiring process for a bilingual secretary is slightly distinct if you wish to explore the best possible options and outlets.
Try specialized bilingual job boards like BilingualJobs.io, and use Fiverr or Upwork filtering by language and proficiency.
If you don’t have time to vet the secretary yourself, hire through a remote staffing agency or a managed virtual assistant service.
You can also ask for a referral from colleagues and language schools (institutes of linguists).
While hiring, conduct interviews in both languages (live, on a call); if language proficiency in writing is needed, ask them to write in both languages.
I have come across many clients of ours, especially those based in Canada, running businesses across the country, or those from the European Union. They often want their virtual secretary to be proficient in English and French.
We always recommend hiring a VA who is based in Canada, France, or Europe and who can speak both languages.
Similarly, if you need someone proficient in Spanish or Portuguese, available during US business hours, and who can speak English as well, you can hire a Latino Virtual Secretary.
If English is the only lingua franca of your business, you can hire a virtual assistant from India, Pakistan, and the Philippines as well.
The cost of hiring a Virtual Secretary
The cost depends on where you hire from, the type of work, and the subscription model you choose. Many managed assistant services offer rollover of unused hours. Even though the rates look higher, they're more affordable than services that promote cheaper hourly rates.
The service providers based in Asia (India and the Philippines) charge $8–$15 per hour, whereas the ones based in the US and UK charge between $25 and $60 per hour.
You can also hire them on a task-based or pay-as-you-go plan. They bill you when you need, or you can purchase blocks of hours. The rates are less flexible compared to monthly subscriptions.
Full-time dedicated subscriptions are often economical in comparison to hourly subscriptions. Generally, the higher the plan, the lower the rate.
Steps to Hire a Virtual Secretary
Step 1: Define the tasks, the hours of support, and the time-zone coverage you need.
Step 2: Shortlist two to three service providers, then compare their pricing models. Whether it’s hourly, retainer or dedicated, pick the one that suits your needs.
Step 3: Interview the candidates they introduce you to. Check their communication and judgment skills and the tools (that you use for your daily operations).
Step 4: Discuss their tool stack that they use to assist you at no extra cost, confidentiality measures, provisioning for backup support, and reporting practices.
Step 4: Go for a paid trial on live work. If you find their work satisfactory, go for any of their paid plans.
Hire a reliable virtual secretary who looks at your tasks from your viewpoint and follows your instructions minutely. You must always interview the candidate first, and then start with either a paid task or a trial service.
Frequently Asked Questions
Should I hire a part-time or full-time virtual secretary?
It depends upon your weekly workload, budget, and amount of support you need. If you need someone available to work throughout your business hours, or if you need above 25 hours of weekly support, go for a full-time virtual secretary. Or else, hire a part-time one. The best approach is to hire someone who starts part-time, and then, according to their reliability, upgrade to a full-time subscription with the very same secretary.
Is it safe and confidential to share business information with a virtual secretary?
Yes, given you treat security as an outlined process rather than assumed trust. Sign NDAs, give limited and controlled access, use software that comes with encryption, and check background thoroughly. Hire through a reputable virtual assistant agency or managed service.
How long does it take to onboard a virtual secretary?
1-4 weeks are enough for onboarding a virtual secretary. And if you start with a trial subscription. Two weeks are enough, as you can already explain and evaluate their competence on the tasks you need them to assist you with.
What is the difference between a virtual secretary, a virtual assistant, and a virtual executive assistant?
A virtual secretary focuses on traditional secretarial and administrative tasks. Their work style is reactive: following instructions. Whereas a virtual assistant is someone who offers remote support in a broader spectrum that covers everything a virtual secretary does, plus social media management, bookkeeping, research, and data entry. Virtual executive assistants provide strategic support to founders and senior leaders. Their work style is proactive: judgment, anticipation, and autonomous calls.
In practice, many managed virtual assistant service providers connect you with someone who handles all these interchangeably.
How do you know if a virtual secretary is reliable?
Verify their track record. Evaluate their listening skills and communication during the interview call. Ensure the company you hire your secretary from offers a replacement guarantee or backup support. A reliable virtual secretary flags issues or doubts early, delivers consistent quality output, asks questions when needed, adheres to agreed deadlines, and deals with confidential and routine tasks minutely.
Should you hire your secretary on Upwork or through an agency?
If you have time to vet, train, and manage the work when your secretary is not available, go for Upwork or Fiverr. The rates are comparatively cheaper. And if you don’t have time to vet and train the secretary and want backup support, go for an agency.
