The Best Virtual Assistant Companies for Streamlining Your Hiring Processes

Since 2019, we've placed 500+ virtual assistants into Australian and US businesses from Clark Freeport. Seventy percent of those clients hire a second VA within six months. They're not hiring because buzzwords say they should—they're hiring because it works.

What is a Virtual Assistant?

A VA is someone who handles your admin, customer service, bookkeeping, content, or project management from abroad. No office space. No payroll tax. No equipment. They work when you need them and stop when you don't. That's it.

Why Virtual Assistants Actually Matter

A good VA gives you back 15–25 hours a week. You use those hours on sales, product, or things that only you can do. A bad VA costs you time training and fixing their mistakes. The difference between choosing well and choosing poorly is literally the difference between a business that scales and one that doesn't.

What They Actually Do

The tasks depend on your business. Here's what we typically place:

• Admin & Scheduling: Emails, calendar, correspondence, booking meetings.
• Customer Service: Support tickets, social media replies, follow-ups.
• Content: Blog posts, newsletters, social media calendars.
• Bookkeeping: Invoicing, expense tracking, bank reconciliation.
• Project Coordination: Task tracking, team coordination, deadline management.

How to Actually Hire One

Stop overthinking this. Here's how it works:

1. List what you need: Write down the 5–10 tasks eating your week. That's your job description.
2. Set a budget: Australian bookkeeper, $70/hour. Filipino VA with English and admin skills, $15–25/hour. Specialist (project manager, content writer), $20–40/hour.
3. Interview 3–5 candidates: Ask them to describe a time they fixed a problem without being asked. Watch how they answer.
4. Run a paid trial: Give them 10 hours of real work at your standard rate. $200–300 tells you everything. Don't cheap out on this.
5. Check their background: NBI clearance, previous client references, work history. We do this for every placement.

What It Actually Costs

The market's split three ways:

• $10–15/hour: Entry-level, basic admin, data entry. You get what you pay for. High turnover.
• $15–30/hour: Experienced, reliable, English-proficient. This is where the value is. Most of our placements sit here.
• $30–70/hour: Specialists—bookkeepers, project managers, copywriters. Australian-based or highly skilled offshore talent.

Calculate your own wage if you did the work: if you bill $100/hour and spend 2 hours a day on admin, that's $200/day back in your pocket by outsourcing it. Your hire pays for itself in a month.

Why Filipino VAs

We've hired from India, Pakistan, and Southeast Asia. Filipinos stick around. They speak English. They understand Western work culture. The Philippine Labor Code is strict enough that turnover is lower than you'd expect—people value stable work. We've got clients with the same VA for 4+ years.

How We Do It at ShoreAgents

We don't run a marketplace where you scroll profiles. We match you with one person based on what you actually need. We handle the background check, the first 30 days of onboarding, and the conversation if something goes wrong. You get a real relationship, not a gig platform.

Tools That Actually Matter

Your VA will need access to:

• Task management: Asana, Trello, or Monday.com. Pick one and stick with it.
• Communication: Slack, email, or Google Chat. Real-time matters.
• Shared docs: Google Workspace or Microsoft 365. Non-negotiable.
• Time tracking (optional): Toggl or Time Doctor if you're nervous. Most clients don't need this after month two.
• Passwords: 1Password or Dashlane. Don't email passwords. Ever.

Next Steps

You've got a VA-shaped hole in your schedule. You know it. We've got people ready to fill it.

Check our pricing to see where you'd fit. Or get started now and tell us what a typical week looks like for you. We'll match you with someone who can actually handle it.