Virtual Assistant

Samara T. "A Virtual Assistant (VA) comes alongside people such as business owners and bloggers, who are needing help with administration tasks or the "extra" tasks they do not have time for. A VA will manage social media pages, write posts, network with prospective clients for the business, create images, schedule posts, respond to comments, engage readers, and viewers, or handle administration tasks. Their job is to relieve business owners and bloggers with these "extra" tasks, giving them time to focus on expanding, connecting with clients, viewers, or other businesses, and put their attention towards growing their business."

Education

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Required License(s) None

Required Degree(s) None

Importance of GPA not very important

Samara's Highest Degree: Bachelor's degree
Samara's College Major: Events Coordination and Management
Samara's College GPA: 3.6-3.9

Salary

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There is no "typical" salary. It depends on you.

You can charge by the hour (typically $10-$25/hour depending on experience and tasks),  you can charge a fixed rate per month, or you can charge by task (e.g., per article or image), which would be considered contract work. 

Getting the Job

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How did you get your job?

I got my job by seeking out opportunity. I knew that this was what I wanted to do, and I sought out the jobs on my own. I contacted bloggers who I knew were bigger and would likely need help, and presented what I could offer them. Over time, after contacting enough people, I found my first client. Finding my first client led to finding my second client because it gave me more experience. What got me started was the desire to do something and willingness to not give up, even when I was turned down more times than I was accepted. Being an Events Coordinator really helped with this position. You have to be organized, good with people, and be able to manage many tasks. As a Virtual Assistant, you are often working for more than one client and have to balance many tasks and accounts. You need to manage your time to fit them all in, in one day. My previous experience really helped me with this, and also gave me the confidence I needed to reach out to people and network.

How important was networking to landing your position?

Extremely! The way you get positions like this is by networking with other bloggers and business owners. The field of "Virtual Assistants" is still a growing industry. Many business owners do not even realize this is a thing. The only way that I have gained clients is by networking with bloggers and business owners.

Life on the Job

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What is a typical day (or week) for you like?

This one is a hard one to explain. This is one job that I do, but it is not my main job. Most afternoons I spend in cafes doing my VA work and my own blogging work. I usually spend time scheduling social media content, researching, creating posts, networking, and promoting the bloggers work on different platforms. It is an incredibly flexible job, as I can do it from anywhere and all I need is the internet. If I have a really busy day with other responsibilities then I will catch up on my VA work in the evening. I also do not need to do it every day (although I do for the most part). I can schedule things to happen on days but not actually do it that day (e.g., social media posts). There is no day that looks the same, which makes it a fun job.

Does being a woman affect any aspect of your career?

No, it does not. You do not have to be a woman to do this.

What is the best thing about your job?

It is flexible. I can do it from anywhere since all I need is the internet. I have also learned so many things, gained a lot of experience, and connected with some wonderful people.

What is the worst thing about your job?

You do not always have enough work, and have to seek out more opportunity yourself. It is not a typical 9-5 job where you show up and get paid whether or not the day was very busy. I do not mind this aspect of the job, but it can be unpredictable at times (at least until you are well established with a couple good, reliable clients).

How demanding is your job?

It is not very demanding, but does take time. It is important to take time and do the job well, but it is not a job that will keep you up at night. (At least it shouldn't.)

Do you have any advancement opportunities?

Yes, I can advance, for example, by taking on more clients, establishing a business to help others find VA work, using my experience to connect bloggers/business owners with VAs, or training people who want to become a VA. At some point, I will definitely take the next step and expand this position. At this point, though, my focus is not fully my VA position because I am doing other things as well. When these other things end, I will take the next step, and further my career and position as a VA.

Advice for You

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What are the skills, characteristics, or talents that are most important to be effective in your position?

Being organized, creative, attentive, willing to learn, sociable, knowledgeable in social media, and blogging, knowledgeable in a few social media platforms and scheduling tools, and determination to not give up.

What advice would you give to someone thinking about pursuing a career like yours?

Often times I hear people say, "Well, I am not experienced enough and don't know what I have to offer." My response is this: if you have/had a blog, even if it is new, you have something to offer. You know how social media works and have at least a basic understanding of at least one blogging platform. The most important part of this job is the willingness to learn and research when you do not know the answer. I am learning all the time (new things, new programs, better ways to do things, etc.). And when I don't know something, I spend time with my trusty friend Google to find others who do know.

If you could do it over again, would you still pursue the same career?

Yes! If I could do it over again, I would pursue this first and would have skipped other things. Although those other positions in the past gave me more confidence to reach out to people and network effectively, I would have much rather started with this from the beginning.

Follow Up

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Want to learn more? Check out Samara's site here. Want to read later? Pin me -->

Team Manager Success Team, Chef Software

Note from Nicole: Marsha is a Team Manager for Chef Software. "Chef" is both the name of a company and the name of the software the company provides. Chef, the software, is an automation platform, meaning it focuses on the relationship between parts of a system to understand how changing one part of the system might affect the system as a whole.

However, the career advice Marsha provides below spans career industries, and is worth reading no matter what job you are seeking.

Marsha "I ensure post sales customer satisfaction, through pro serve consulting and technical services delivery, to maintain and/or increase product adoption."

Education

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Required License(s) For initial credibility, I had to get a few InfoSec certificates. It was useful for my job but not critical.

Required Degree(s) A Master's degree is good because it is often an interviewing gatekeeper.

Importance of GPA not very important

What do you need to do to maintain your license(s)?

To maintain my certificates, I need to do professional hours against criteria set by the certification authority (usually about 40 hours of continuing education a year, plus some fees).

Marsha's Highest Degree: Bachelor's degree (Bachelor of Arts) and MBA
Marsha's College Major: Bachelor's in English
Marsha's College GPA Range: 3.1-3.5

Salary

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For Technical Project Managers (where I was about eight years ago) the range was about $110,000 -$130,000. 

As a leadership team member, you generally make more. 

Getting the Job

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How did you get your job?

My initial job in consulting was landed in great part due to my security clearance I got during my time in the Army. In that first job, I spent nearly a decade learning all I could to be better technically, responding to proposals, and volunteering for many projects to be as well rounded and employable as possible. After I left that first job and moved to a new company, I began to set only 3-5 year goals before I would anticipate a transition to a new employer. Sometimes that transition took place sooner, sometimes later. Either way, knowing I would need to demonstrate substantive impact in a year or two kept me sharp, or the resume would look unimpressive for that job, right?

How important was networking to landing your position?

9 out of 10. I have always valued networking over all. And not as a catalyst to my success but also as a way to help others succeed too. Kind of a Career Karma bank.

Life on the Job

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What is a typical day (or week) for you like?

I am fortunate in that for my last three jobs I have worked from home/worked remote. My current company has about 70% of staff remotely working. So my weekdays are pretty routine. (Let the dog out, let the cats in, take kids to school, get more coffee, head to my home office and start work around 8am.) I am managing a team of 7 folks at this time, and I am ensuring they are happy, busy, engaged, enabled to do their job, and learning more each day so they can be more helpful to other team members and our clients. We use Slack for 75% of communication, and Zoom for our meetings. I feel very connected to both my internal team, but also the many other Chef team members because of our level of use of these mediums. I talk with many clients per week, interface with our sales staff to write proposals and contracts, and I propose ways to improve our business processes and get the word out about our great company and product.

How closely does your typical day (or week) match up to the general "job description" for your position?

The job description is filled with tasks and activities, like most jobs have. However, the nuances of listening and being a true consultant require me to be an advisor, focused on earning trust with my team, my managers, my clients, really everyone I interface with, and that is a day by day demonstration of positive, friendly interactions and behaviors that help me achieve my professional goals for my company. So I rely heavily on soft skills that do not easily translate to a job description per se.

Does being a woman affect any aspect of your career?

It has. I enjoy being a woman in a to-date male dominated profession, but it has taken many jobs to get to a place that wholly values what I bring to the table as much as the technical engineers bring. It is hard to find companies that understand that to create a world-class team, there need to be a balance of both soft and hard skills, and that everyone benefits when one-upsmanship is frowned upon while collaboration is lauded.

What is the best thing about your job?

The people I get to work with every day, and that I get to contemplate the future of cloud computing and automation (I'm a dreamer that way) and help my customers find their way to get there.

What is the worst thing about your job?

I don't know. Nothing really. I think I would still work here even if I won the lottery.

How demanding is your job?

I view the need for mental toughness to be a requirement to protect oneself when there are political issues rife within a company, or when the culture is broken, morale is low, turnover high, and you leave each day exhausted for the struggle. So in that way, I do not need a flack jacket at this job. I don't steel myself each day. I actually look forward to interacting with my team members. And we have unlimited PTO [paid time off], so if I need a mental health day, or the day off to take my kid to a doctors appointment or chaperone a field trip, I just do it. I've worked long and hard to get to this place. I absolutely do not take this for granted.

Do you have any advancement opportunities?

Yes, I can transfer laterally to work with products or be an Engineering Manager. I can move vertically when the company grows or someone departs. But since I have only been in my position for 6 months, I feel it is incumbent on me to serve as a strong leader in my current position until I have made it the best it can be and I have identified and trained a sufficient backfill so as not to leave the team in a lurch. I love to imagine being more to a company whose values so closely mirror my own and that push me to learn and grow.

Advice for You

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What are the skills, characteristics, or talents that are most important to be effective in your position?

Me personally, the ability to use my high EQ [emotional intelligence] to put myself in the shoes of my customers who may in fact be struggling with a challenging, politically charged difficult environment. I care when people hurt, and to gain insights to their issues and respond with kindness, warmth, and a potential solution is pivotal to my success (and in my opinion, for anyone doing my/my kind of job).

What advice would you give to someone thinking about pursuing a career like yours?

Nowadays, plan only 3-5 years ahead. You will be exposed to so much in that time that I am sure if you have any energy or drive or ambition, it will redefine what you think you want. That does not mean you are wishy-washy—it simply means you can go with the flow. That, in my opinion, will be more and more critical to your professional survival should you find you do not win the lottery this week and need to continue to work for the next 50 years.

If you could do it over again, would you still pursue the same career?

I would not say I pursued this career. But would I follow the same path? Yes. Were it not for my crappy, I'd-rather-do-anything-but-this-job jobs, I would not have worked so hard to find the perfect-for-me-right-now place, where I currently, happily find myself.

Follow Up

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Want to learn more? You can connect with Marsha using LinkedIn here. According to Marsha, "If you personalize your request to connect, I almost always will connect back. I love to meet motivated, like-minded professionals."

Assistant Manager, Education and Training Programs

Alanna "I work in Continuing Medical Education (CME). In layman's terms, I plan programs, live or online, to help physicians become certified and maintain their certification to practice medicine. I also work with medical trainees within my field to set them up with mentorship programs and encourage them to choose my field as their desired field of practice!"

Education

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Required License(s) You can get a certification as a "Certified Health Care Professional," this but only after you've been in the field at least 2 years. (I haven't become certified yet but plan to.)

Required Degree(s) bachelor's degree

Importance of GPA not very important

Alanna's Highest Degree: bachelor's degree (Bachelor of Science)
Alanna's College Major: Health Administration
Alanna's College GPA Range: 3.1-3.5

Salary

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When I started off as a coordinator, I was making $40,000.

You can work your way up all the way to a director or VP in Education and/or Training. Your salary can only go up from there. Salaries are typically consistent from company to company however you have to understand that working in Medical Non-Profits pharmaceutical money really helps a lot. If you're working in a medical field with lots of pharma money (think oncology!) your company will have a lot more money to play with which might mean better salaries. 

Getting the Job

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How did you get your job?

For starting off as a coordinator, honestly nothing! It was an entry-level job. All you need to have is good multitasking abilities, great interpersonal skills, and a good sense of organization. I've worked off my experience from my coordinator position to get to be an Assistant Manager. Professional development meetings also help a lot!

How important was networking to landing your position?

Very! I networked with our members (the physicians), networked at professional development meetings, attended other sister society's meetings, and made some great connections through that. Networking helped significantly in snagging my current job. My first job co-sponsored a meeting with my current society and I was able to articulate the fact that I've worked with them previously, understood the way they plan and host meetings, and I even knew some of the same physicians that they work with.

Life on the Job

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What is a typical day (or week) for you like?

For my job, we work on timelines that range from 8-16 months, so a day before our annual meeting is much different than a day 5 months out from the meeting. That being said, I'm on email constantly. I sign into my email, respond to any that need immediate attention, and then work through the timelines and deadlines that need to be done. This often includes talking to our involved members on a planning team, scheduling and leading conference calls, monitoring our online databases that keep all of our Conflict of Interest information, updating our websites, or work on developing slides for presentations.

How closely does your typical day (or week) match up to the general "job description" for your position?

Probably 80% match. I would say there is a lot more space for innovation that the job description would lead you to believe. Things are always changing in medicine so we have to adjust and adapt with it.

Does being a woman affect any aspect of your career?

No. About 75% of people who work in CME are women! It's great.

What is the best thing about your job?

I'm a process-driven person and I love strategic planning. Both of these are HUGE in my job. There's constantly something to be planned, to be coordinated, and we have guidelines and rules that we need to adhere to. I love the challenge that brings to my job on a day-to-day basis.

What is the worst thing about your job?

Scheduling calls with time zones around the globe.

How demanding is your job?

The job can absolutely be demanding on your time especially if you are hosting a lot of out of town meetings where you'll need to travel. If you're good at managing priorities and deadlines, you'll be able to handle it though.

Do you have any advancement opportunities?

Totally! Like I said, before you can start off even as an administrative assistant in CME and work your way up all the way to a director or VP. I'm definitely taking the next steps. I'm actively working towards my promotion towards being a manager. I also want to get a CHCP certification.

Advice for You

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What are the skills, characteristics, or talents that are most important to be effective in your position?

Ability to multitask, prioritize, and communicate well. Being organized is a huge help.

What advice would you give to someone thinking about pursuing a career like yours?

How did you learn about CME?! Just kidding. I would tell them to really be introspective about what is important to them. There are medical societies for everything and you'll love your job even more if it's something you're passionate about or have a personal connection with. Otherwise, get out there and start working. Doctors are really friendly people and they're great to work with!

If you could do it over again, would you still pursue the same career?

Yes.

Follow Up

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Want to learn more? Check out Alanna's site here. Want to read later? Pin me -->