Personal and founder admin
Travel and restaurant bookings, renewals, subscriptions, deliveries and household paperwork, for owners who want it handled. You choose what's in scope, and a VA never acts on a personal account without your say-so.
Roles · Admin & Operations
Remote virtual assistants, recruited and managed for you.
Hand over the email, scheduling, research and data work that eats your day. Your assistant learns how you like things done and sends you a short note every evening on where it all stands.
Admin & Operations
The wider Admin & Operations team
Admin work scales in steps. First you need someone to take the inbox, the calendar and the follow-ups off your desk. Then someone who can act for a senior leader. Later, someone to run the processes that keep a growing team moving. These are different hires:
Available now
Works for one senior leader and acts on their behalf.
E-commerce Virtual Assistant
Listings, orders and marketplace admin for online stores.
Coming soonOperations Manager
Owns processes, vendors and reporting across a team.
Coming soonOne-line chooser: If it's one leader's time, an Executive Assistant. For everything else, a Virtual Assistant.
Get the small, constant tasks off your desk
Owners and managers lose hours every week to work that needs care and accuracy, yet rarely needs them personally. Routine replies, meeting times, spreadsheet updates and chasing a signed document all add up. A virtual assistant takes them over and follows your way of doing things, so your time goes to the decisions only you can make.
What they do for you
- Triage your inbox: file, flag, draft replies for your approval and answer the routine ones
- Book meetings and handle reschedules, keeping your calendar free of clashes
- Research suppliers, prospects, venues or software, and send you a short comparison
- Enter, clean and update data in spreadsheets, your CRM or other systems
- Turn your notes into documents, forms and slide decks
- Handle the personal admin you choose to hand over, such as bookings, renewals and subscriptions
- Keep shared folders named, organized and easy to search
- Chase replies, signatures and missing paperwork so you don't have to
- Send an end-of-day note listing what's done and what's waiting on you
What a strong virtual assistant looks like
Tools they work in
Google WorkspaceMicrosoft 365GmailOutlookCalendlySlackMicrosoft TeamsNotionTrelloGoogle SheetsExcelCanvaDropbox1Password or Bitwarden (shared access)
A good fit if:
- You're an owner or manager doing your own admin, and it's crowding out real work
- Your tasks change week to week, so no single specialist fits
- A small team needs one shared person to keep records, files and logistics in order (see Administrative support for teams below)
Not the right fit if:
- Your main need is one executive's calendar, travel and leadership prep. That's an Executive Assistant.
- You need someone to answer your customers; see Customer Service Agent
- You need bookkeeping instead of data entry; see Finance & Accounting
Questions to ask your VA shortlist
01
"Here are ten unread emails from my inbox (sample). Sort them and tell me which you'd answer yourself."
Strong answer: they sort by urgency and by who can act, draft replies in your voice, and flag the two that only you should answer.
02
"I've asked for three things that all fall due this afternoon. What do you do?"
Strong answer: they ask which matters most, or propose an order and confirm it, so nothing quietly slips.
03
"Find me a time next week with three people in different time zones."
Strong answer: they check everyone's time zone, offer a couple of options and send one clean invite.
04
"Tell me about a spreadsheet you inherited that was a mess. How did you clean it up?"
Strong answer: they name the duplicates, formats and missing fields they fixed, and the rule they set so it stayed clean.
05
"How do you keep track of passwords someone has shared with you?"
Strong answer: they use a password manager, keep passwords out of email and notes, and ask before using an account for something new.
Signs of a strong VA:
- Confirms instructions back in a sentence before starting
- Sends the end-of-day note without being asked
- Writes a checklist for anything that happens twice
- Asks before spending money or replying in your name for the first time
Signs of a weak VA:
- Says "done" without showing where or how
- Asks the same question twice because they kept no notes
- Treats every request as equally urgent
Data entry
Moving information from forms, PDFs, emails or old systems into a spreadsheet or your CRM, with spot checks for accuracy. Share the volume and the system you use, and we look for people who have done that kind of work at that scale.
Administrative support for teams
When a team or department needs a back office: records and shared drives kept in order, documents and contracts prepared and tracked, CRM and contact data kept clean, vendor and office orders handled, and meeting logistics organized for many people. One administrator works across the team's requests through a shared queue, with a manager who sets priorities.
Hire a virtual assistant from South Africa, the Philippines or beyond
We look in South Africa first, and recruit from other countries, including the Philippines, when your budget, hours or the skills you need point there. Either way, your assistant works remotely as a full member of your team.
Hiring your assistant, step by step
- 1
Talk it through
We agree the work, the tools, the hours you share and who your assistant reports to. For this role: the tasks you'd hand over first, which accounts they'll need, and whether they support one person or a team.
- 2
Meet a shortlist and choose
Candidates are screened and tested against your brief, with background and reference checks. You interview and decide.
- 3
Start with support in place
Your assistant gets access to your tools and a first list of tasks, and we stay in touch once they've started.
Assistant roles are usually among our quicker searches. You'll often see your first candidates within days, after we've worked through a wide field to find the few who suit your way of working.
How pricing works for a virtual assistant
Any of our ways to hire works for a virtual assistant, and you pick the one that suits your business. What you pay depends on the role, the hours you need covered and how you hire. We're happy to walk through the differences when we speak.
Your side and ours, day to day
Swipe to see more →
| Task | You | JiveTalent |
|---|---|---|
| Which tasks the VA handles, and in what order | Own | – |
| Daily wrap-up note and task list | Read and reply | Your VA sends it; at check-ins we ask whether it's working for you |
Virtual assistant questions, answered
Can a virtual assistant reply to emails as me?
Yes, once you've agreed how. Most start by drafting replies for your approval, then answer routine emails directly once you're comfortable with their tone.
Will they work during our business hours?
Yes. Your assistant's working day is agreed in the brief, including how much of it overlaps with yours, before the search begins.
What shouldn't I hand to a VA?
Decisions that need your judgment, anything regulated (such as legal or tax advice) and specialist work such as bookkeeping or design. For those, we recruit a specialist.
What if it isn't working out?
Raise it with your account lead as soon as you notice. We talk it over with you and your assistant and agree what changes.
Can one assistant support our whole team?
Yes. See Administrative support for teams above. Agree on one person who sets priorities, so the assistant isn't caught between competing requests.
A VA touches a lot of my accounts. How do we share logins safely?
Use a password manager such as 1Password or Bitwarden with a shared vault, give your VA their own user wherever a tool allows, and keep banking and anything personal out of it unless you decide otherwise. Before anyone starts, we check their background and references, and when the engagement ends you remove access in one place.
How do we see what our VA is working on?
Their time is tracked and reported in the client app, so the hours and the weekly picture are visible to you, next to the end-of-day notes your assistant sends.
Related roles
Executive AssistantWorks for one senior leader and acts on their behalf.BookkeeperDay-to-day entries, reconciliations and payables.Customer Service AgentAnswers your customers by email, chat and phone.Project ManagerOwns the plan and the status updates.Finance & AccountingBookkeeping and accounting hires.All roles
Ready to get your evenings back?
Book a call. We'll agree the brief for your virtual assistant and talk you through the ways to hire.