I officially absolutely HATE VAs (virtual assistants)
It drives me absolutely nuts everything about it and the stigma that a VA has turned into
Yes, I absolutely hate the word VA and how it’s wrongly utilized and undermines professional workers abroad
As an immigrant myself I feel absolutely terrible how someone in the Philippines , India, South or Central America are just seen as tools or gadgets for business
In my organization every “VA” needs a title
That’s the least they need to feel they are part of something and a true business
These people may be harder working, more educated and probably have an amazing culture that you haven’t even tried to find out
Some of these have more degrees than you!
You see.. a regular “virtual assistant” that does backend / technical stuff for you and you call a VA, it’s a technical specialist for me
I started implementing this with my first hire who helped me day to day
I called her an outbound jr business development specialist - she just used to reach out to prospect, book appointments, confirm appointments and make sure to organize the pipeline
But she felt soooo grateful that she even put this on her LinkedIn, on her slack profile description and she felt part of something
She was soooo amazingly proud of her role, she felt like she started an actual career and has been loyal to me since day one
She even mentioned to me how she tells her college colleagues and family how she has a career at Hesel Media
Guess what this people do when they feel part of something?
They level the fuck up and help your company move forward
Look guys, you have a shitty mindset towards international employees if you keep thinking this way
To me these are international workers/employees not just a simple non sexy sounding word such as VA
Virtual assistant: “someone that virtually assists you with administrative needs operating outside of your office”
I wouldn’t imagine Coca-Cola (a multi national company) calling someone that inserts data inside a spreadsheet and their ERP system calling an employee in a country like Colombia or the phillipines a “VA”
Help your team level up and at least give your “VA” an actual title and be creative about it
