Remote PA Local Versus - Why Hiring Online Is Best

Have you been considering hiring a remote PA with Virtalent? Your business is thriving, and things are going really well, but you are getting busier and busier. You seem to have lost control of your time and instead of spending your time strategising and growing your business, you are getting bogged down with admin.

It is time to get some help. It is time to hire a PA. But the question is do you hire a local PA, or do you hire a remote PA?

This is a very good question. Why, and how would a remote PA be better than a local PA?

Let’s break it down – remote PA versus local PA – why hiring online is the way to go.

Firstly, what can a local PA do that a remote PA can’t? Well, it is true that a remote PA cannot run errands in person. You might need someone to send a parcel for you, or maybe sort out some receipts.

But let’s face it – how often do you need an errand of that nature done? And if you do, have you considered the brilliant resources available for getting those kinds of tasks done, such as Task Rabbit? Or maybe just a courier service might suffice. Your remote PA can even help manage this process and get this task sorted for you via a third party!

And there are even more reasons why a remote PA is the better choice.

Costs

When it comes to hiring a local PA, costs are certainly something you need to consider. Hiring a local PA will inevitably mean spending time recruiting, screening CVs, arranging interviews, second interviews, and so on.

The beauty of hiring a remote PA, with us for example, is that we do the vetting process for you. This not only saves you time and money, but it also means we match you with a brilliant remote PA who is all ready to go.

Furthermore, you won’t need to buy new IT equipment or a desk, or even find desk space for your new recruit. Remote PAs already have their equipment and their workspace set up, so the costs do not fall all on you as a business.

Finally, if you have a local PA working with you in an office, you will inevitably be paying them for the time when they aren’t necessarily working. You will be paying them for just being there. But when you hire a remote PA through us at Virtalent, you pay by the minute, not the hour, which makes even more financial sense!

Wider Choice

When you hire a remote PA, you are automatically getting a much wider pool of candidates, as these candidates can be based anywhere. When you hire a local PA, you are restricted by those people who are local to you. Depending on where you are, your choices for a highly skilled PA could be extremely limited.

If you decided to hire a PA remotely, you will instantly have a much larger choice of people to choose from. And surely, having more choice, and more quality choices is the way to go when hiring someone you can trust to assist you in running your business?

Working Collaboratively

You may think that the most effective way to work collaboratively is in person, but we beg to differ. When working remotely, open lines of communication are required to get work done, and this in turn naturally encourages a much more productive working relationship. Less time spent chatting around the water cooler, and more work being done.

You can collaborate on projects or even do training remotely; it really is as easy as working in person. You can use Zoom, Teams, or even Google Meet for calls and make use of the handy screen sharing function. There are many ways in which you can work collaboratively, and working with a PA in person is really not a necessity any longer.

Flexibility

When you hire a local PA, it is fairly likely they are going to have fixed hours. It makes sense if they are local as you will more than likely work together in the same office, and having the same hours would make sense.

But does it really matter if you work the same hours? When you hire a remote PA, you are hiring someone whose middle name is ‘flexibility! A remote PA will have a level of flexibility that will mean you are only paying for time worked, whenever it is that the work is done.

A Pool Of Skilled VAs

One of the truly unique things about working with us at Virtalent, that you won’t get by hiring a local PA, is the range of skills available to you. When you hire a remote PA with us, you also gain access to potentially over 100 other VA’s skills. You may have a remote PA who helps to manage your inbox and diary management, but then need an extra VA to help with executing your marketing plans.

Working with us means that you don’t need to go and find another person to hire. You can save all the time sifting through CVs and interviewing. Instead, all you would need to do is call your Client Success Manager, explain your requirements and you could have a new remote PA working with you in a matter of days!