Resources
& guides
Practical guides for hiring and working with dedicated virtual assistants. (Job-seeker articles now live at staffingsolutions.ph.)
Guides for hiring businesses
Why hire a virtual assistant?
If admin is eating the hours you should spend growing the business, it's probably time. Here are seven signs — and what a dedicated VA actually changes.
Explore →Virtual assistant vs. employee
Both have their place. Here's the honest breakdown of cost, speed and control — so you pick the right model for the role.
Explore →How much does a VA cost?
Virtual assistants run anywhere from $8 to $80 an hour. Here's what drives the range in 2026 — and where a dedicated, managed team member fits.
Explore →What can an NDIS VA do?
An NDIS virtual assistant handles the non-billable admin behind your supports. Here's exactly what that covers — and where it stops.
Explore →20 tasks to delegate first
Not sure what to hand off? Start with the recurring, rules-based work that eats your week. Here are twenty tasks to delegate first.
Explore →Is offshore hiring safe?
Data security is the number-one concern owners raise — and a fair one. Here's how offshore hiring is kept safe with a managed provider.
Explore →How to onboard a VA
A great VA relationship is made in the first fortnight. Here's a simple onboarding playbook that gets you to productive, fast.
Explore →Hire a Filipino virtual assistant
The Philippines is the world's leading destination for virtual assistants. Here's why — and how to hire one without the usual risks.
Explore →The five-minute version
If you read nothing else, this is the shape of the decision. Everything below is the long form of these five points.
Name the hours, not the job title
Write down where last week actually went. The role almost always defines itself out of that list, and it's rarely the title you started with.
Compare against the loaded cost
Not the advertised salary. Super, leave, payroll tax, recruitment and desk costs are the difference between a 40% saving and a 70% one.
Ask who carries the employment
Marketplace, BPO and managed provider are three different risk positions. It decides who fixes it when someone resigns.
Have one process written down
One documented task is enough to start. It becomes the template for everything that follows, and it halves the ramp-up.
Six questions worth answering first
These are the questions our account managers ask on a discovery call. Answering them beforehand makes that call much shorter — and occasionally tells you not to hire at all, which is also a good outcome.
- What would you stop doing? If nothing gets handed over, nothing changes. Be specific about which tasks leave your desk in week one.
- Who is going to lead this person? Name them. "The team" is not an answer, and unowned placements are the ones that fail.
- Is the work steady or seasonal? Steady suits a dedicated hire. Spiky, project-shaped work usually doesn't.
- What systems will they need? If access requires someone on-site or a physical token, sort that before you shortlist.
- What does good look like at 90 days? Write the measure now, while you're objective about it.
- What happens to the saving? A second hire, marketing, or your own time back. Deciding early is what turns a cost cut into growth.