How to choose the right Virtual Assistant for your business
If you've decided you need some extra support in your business, choosing a Virtual Assistant (VA) can be harder than it first appears. Search for a VA and you'll find people offering very different skills, experience and types of support.
So, how do you choose the right Virtual Assistant for your business? It starts with understanding the support you actually need, then looking beyond the VA title at the person's experience, skills and ability to work in the way your business needs.
Not all Virtual Assistants offer the same type of support
There’s been a huge rise in the number of Virtual Assistants over the past couple of years and that’s not necessarily a bad thing.
The role is flexible, accessible, and attracts people with a wide range of transferable skills. In a tough job market, it’s also become a natural option for many talented professionals who are figuring out their next move.
Where we do see challenges is when business owners assume that all VAs offer the same level of experience, because we’re here to tell you, they don’t.
There's a meaningful difference between a VA who has spent years supporting senior leaders, managing busy offices or dealing with complex administration, and someone who is relatively new to this type of work. That doesn't automatically make one the right choice and the other the wrong one, but the level of experience you need should reflect the type of support you're looking for.
What should you look for when choosing a Virtual Assistant?
If you've already decided that outsourcing some of your admin to a Virtual Assistant could give you back some much needed time, the next question is who to choose.
We've had too many conversations with business owners whose first experience of hiring a VA hasn't worked out as they'd hoped. Not through lack of effort or intelligence, but through lack of exposure and experience.
So how do you navigate this? After all, there isn’t a “Check A Trade” for VAs!
Which VA is the right VA… for you?
You need to look beyond the VA title and seriously consider: what support do you actually need, and does this VA have the skills and experience to provide it?
The aim is to assess:
Relevant experience: Have they previously handled the type of work you want to delegate?
Business experience: Do they understand the realities of supporting a busy business owner or senior team?
Communication: Are you confident they can communicate professionally with your clients, suppliers and other stakeholders?
Trust and discretion: Will you be comfortable giving them access to your inbox, diary, systems or confidential information?
Reliability and continuity: Is this an established business relationship you can realistically rely on?
Still deciding whether you need a VA at all? Read our guide to the difference between hiring an employee and outsourcing your admin support.
Questions to ask a Virtual Assistant before you hire them
Much like interviewing a job candidate, you can find out a lot about a VA from a discovery call.
In addition to establishing whether they can do the work you need, here are a few things we believe are worth asking before you onboard a Virtual Assistant:
How many years of administrative experience do they have?
What prompted them to become a VA?
Is this their full-time role or are they running a VA business alongside another job?
Have they supported [someone like you] before? (i.e. ‘busy founders’ or ‘senior leaders in real, high-pressure environments’)
Do they have experience handling confidential and sensitive information?
Are they comfortable communicating with stakeholders of all levels and adapting their communication style accordingly?
Are they building a long-term VA business, and can they offer the continuity you're looking for?
Experience matters, but so does the right fit
If you’re thinking about hiring a VA, or reassessing the support you have, it’s worth taking a moment to look beyond the title and into the experience behind it.
Please understand, this isn’t about gatekeeping the VA industry. There is space for people at every stage.
It is more about helping business owners make informed decisions and recognising the depth of value that comes from years spent supporting busy, demanding businesses from the inside.
Because the right VA isn’t just someone who can “complete tasks”. They’re someone who understands how a business actually runs and the importance of providing the right support, in the right way. Yes, tools and technical skills matter, but so do judgement, discretion, emotional intelligence and knowing how to handle a situation without needing to be told every step.
And then, of course, there’s AI. Tools like Copilot, Claude and ChatGPT are brilliant (we use them too), but they don’t replace judgement, discretion, emotional intelligence or the human touch, especially in complex or sensitive situations. And that’s why, for us, AI can be a valuable tool for a good VA, but it isn't a substitute for one.
Looking for an experienced Virtual Assistant?
If you're looking for a VA who can do more than simply work through a task list, Michelle provides Virtual Assistant support backed by almost 17 years of experience supporting business owners, directors and senior teams.
That includes more than six years working as an employed PA, three and a half years as an Office Manager and six years (and counting!) providing Virtual Assistant support to small businesses and charities.
From diary and inbox management to research, meeting support, document preparation and finance admin, the support is tailored around what you actually need help with. Take a look at our Virtual Assistant services to better understand whether Michelle could be the right VA for you.
“Michelle has a way of supporting businesses like my own with compassion, insight and a calmness that can weather any storm. I know that if I have to be focused, someone will be “watching over” the day to day of the company. That piece of mind as a business owner is priceless in helping me keep the plates spinning.”
Not sure what level of VA support you actually need?
Book a discovery call with Michelle to talk through the tasks you're struggling to keep on top of and the type of support that would make the biggest difference.
