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How to Find Great Virtual Assistant Jobs: The Top 20 Places to Look Online in 2023

It’s one of the most interesting – and exciting – times to become a Virtual Assistant. Over the last several years, the number of folks freelancing has been on a steady rise, up from about 17% of the workforce in 2014 to an estimated 48% by the close of 2020.

Why is this significant – and exciting? Because it means that more and more business owners are seeing the value in contracting out for services and trusting the process. As a result, the demand for quality services and the diversity of those services is growing.

This phenomenon has been compounded even more by the recent pandemic-driven changes to the economy and workforce. While working remotely has been an answer to a problem, it’s also served to show both business owners and employees that work can look differently – and it works.

Put simply, it’s an incredible time to learn how to become a VA!

Aside from the security of increasing demand and being able to choose the kind of work you’ll love to do, there are so many other benefits of being a Virtual Assistant. Time freedom and flexibility are at the top of the list, as is unlimited earning potential. But before you can achieve work-from-home nirvana, you have to find those great-fit Virtual Assistant jobs!

So where does an aspiring (or seasoned) VA look for remote assistant jobs? In our VA training program, The #FullyBookedVA System we teach folks how to find qualified Virtual Assistant leads in a variety of places – including online job listing sites. In this post, we’ll take a closer look at some of the best places to look online for part-time Virtual Assistant jobs and Virtual Assistant jobs for beginners in 2021.

 

3 Things You Need to Find Awesome Virtual Assistant Jobs 

Before we dig into where to find Virtual Assistant jobs, let’s talk about how to go about it.

As you head into this adventure, it’s helpful to have a few things in place, such as:

  • The right mindset – Finding great, best-fit clients is a numbers game. You have to put yourself out there and be willing to stick with it! Consistency with your searching and pitching efforts will pay off in the long run, and the result will be a well-running business that you enjoy showing up for every day.

  • A good pitch – It’s one thing to find remote assistant jobs, but you need to have a good system in place for writing pitches that will get you noticed. While a lot of online job sites will have an application or process in place, it’s also a great idea to have your pitching game down for those opportunities to make an excellent first impression with a killer pitch.

Now that we’ve covered some of the basics of how to go about finding Virtual Assistant jobs, let’s start digging into the where.

How to find great virtual assistant jobs 2023

Using Online Job Listing Websites to Find Virtual Assistant Jobs

3 different kinds of Virtual Assistant job listing websites

It’s important to understand that when it comes to searching online for remote assistant jobs, including part-time Virtual Assistant jobs, Virtual Assistant jobs for beginners and higher-level Virtual Executive Assistant jobs, there are some differences to be aware of.

Job boards

Job boards are websites where businesses post their opportunities and often pay a fee to do so. You can usually apply for these jobs directly through these websites, and in some cases even house your resume to be searched for by business owners. On platforms that don’t have a built-in application system, the contact information of the job opportunity is listed with the posting.

You can typically find a wide variety of industries represented on job boards, and if you’re just getting started it’s a great way to see what kinds of services business owners are looking for.

Search engines

Online job listing search engines are just that – they scour the internet and collect sometimes millions of job listings from businesses who have their opportunities posted online. For this reason, the variety of opportunities and industries represented is even more robust than job board sites.

In the case of either job board or job search engine websites, you may need to pay a fee for searching for or pitching Virtual Assistant jobs – it really depends on the platform.

Agencies

The focus of the post is on how to find Virtual Assistant jobs using online job listing sites. It’s helpful to be aware, however, of what a Virtual Assistant agency is (aside from a great way to scale your Virtual Assistant business!), because chances are good that in your search for remote assistant jobs online you’ll come across some agency sites. We’ve also included five of the more popular agencies out there in the list below for you to check out. 

The role of an agency is to source work for its Virtual Assistants and contract out to them for those services. Essentially the agency is the “face” on the business, while its VAs carry out the day-to-day delivery of services.

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The Pros and Cons of Online Virtual Assistant Job Listing Websites

While using job listing sites to source Virtual Assistant jobs isn’t our number one recommended go-to, there are some benefits.

Some of these include:

  • Seeing what’s out there – As we mentioned, checking out job listing sites can give you a great idea of what kinds of services businesses are looking for.

  • Getting some practice and experience – Finding Virtual Assistant jobs to pitch and presenting yourself professionally on job listing sites is also a good opportunity to gain some confidence and experience. It’ll make putting yourself out there to other sources of clients that much easier!

  • These are hot leads – Meaning that, these are businesses actively looking for help so they’re motivated to hire! There’s also a more immediate process of finding the opportunity and pitching it, versus other (very effective, btw) strategies that involve making a connection first, developing a relationship over time and then pitching your services.

To be fair, there are also some downsides to using job listing sites to look for Virtual Assistant jobs, including:

  • High competition – Oftentimes there is a large pool of applicants for these remote assistant jobs. Consequently, in order to be effective with your job search efforts you need to watch these sites like a hawk, jump on opportunities as soon as you see them and be able to stand out amidst a sea of applicants.

  • There are fees involved – In some cases, as with sites like Upwork, there is a service fee represented by a percentage of the commission earned. And in the case of an agency, for example, the agency retains a portion of the fee that clients are charged.

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How much in admin fees are typically taken out of a Virtual Assistant’s pay by job listing websites?

The range of service fees varies from platform to platform. In general though, the percentage can range from 5% to 20% and is sometimes connected to the total amount billed to the client. For example, Upwork structures their fees this way:

  • 20% for the first $500 billed to the client
  • 10% for fees collected from the client between $500.01 and $10,000
  • 5% for fees collected from the client over $10,000

On other sites like Guru, Freelancer and PeoplePerHour, there’s a static percentage service fee ranging from 5% to 10%, with Fiverr’s freelancer fee as high as 20%.

So while your rate of pay won’t be as high with Virtual Assistant jobs sourced from job listing sites as it would be from clients you found yourself, for some people this is a good way to find some initial work and gain experience.

Our recommendation is to use a variety of methods for finding and landing clients, and that using job listing websites only be one of these – and not for the long-term (unless it totally works for you!).

Now that we understand the lay of the land when it comes to finding remote assistant jobs online, let’s take a look at the top 20 websites for doing just that!

The Top 20 Online Job Listing Sites for Finding Virtual Assistant Jobs

There are a lot of job listing sites out there for finding Virtual Assistant jobs for beginners, including ones that are niche-specific like Dice.com for finding tech-related jobs for example. We’ve done a roundup of 20 of the most popular sites to help save you some time when it comes to scouring the internet for remote assistant job listings.

Ready? Let’s go!

#1. Freelancer

Freelancer is considered the largest online marketplace for remote job listings, connecting freelancers and business owners in over 247 countries. It’s free to register and set up a profile, and once you’ve done that you can search and pitch jobs from a huge variety of industries.

One of the perks of Freelancer is that you can communicate directly with clients through the platform, track hours, send invoices and receive payment. There is also no approval process for a profile on Freelancer, unlike other job listing websites.

Even though it’s free to register and pitch for remote assistant jobs, once a client has accepted a proposal Freelancer does collect a service fee. For fixed-price projects it’s a 10% fee or $5 (whichever is more), 10% for hourly projects and a 20% fee for services.

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#2. Upwork

Upwork is a popular site for finding beginner and part-time Virtual Assistant jobs. We’ve heard from VAs in our membership group, the #FBVA Community, that Upwork is more challenging to set up and to have your profile approved than other sites. It also has a reputation, however, for having higher quality remote job listings than Freelancer.

Similar to Freelancer, you can use Upwork’s platform to communicate with clients, track hours, invoice and collect payments. It’s free to set up a profile, and once a client agreement is reached the service fees are as outlined in the same fashion as Freelancer.  

Upwork bases its decision to approve profiles on whether the applicant’s skills meet their standards as well as whether the market is too saturated. Things you can include in a profile are:

  • Rates
  • Work samples
  • Resume
  • Case studies
  • Personal statement

#3. LinkedIn ProFinder

We’re huge fans of this social media network when it comes to finding quality clients to pitch on LinkedIn. This professional networking-focused platform has taken things to another level when it comes to finding Virtual Assistant jobs with LinkedIn ProFinder by specifically focusing on connecting freelancers with job opportunities.

The most important thing about using LinkedIn ProFinder is that you need to have a great profile, as this is where they will send any potential clients to check you out. There is an application process for being a ProFinder freelancer, and once you’re approved you receive email notifications regarding opportunities matching your skills.

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From there, the process involves crafting a great pitch and connecting with the potential client through the ProFinder platform. Your first ten pitches are free, and after that, you need to subscribe to LinkedIn’s Premium Business account for $59.99 per month, or $179.97 per year to send an unlimited number of proposals.

As a side note, apart from either using “traditional” methods (i.e. networking) to source clients on LinkedIn or paying to use ProFinder, you can also source remote assistant jobs using its job posting feature. The competition for these opportunities tends to be high, but you can subscribe to job alerts and stay on top of the newest opportunities that pop up.

#4. Monster

Monster features remote and work-from-home job listings and is free to use for job seekers (there is a fee to post jobs, however). This platform’s job board offers opportunities with businesses all over the world, and you can receive job alerts via email.

Monster also has a reputation for ease of use when it comes to uploading your resume and creating a profile quickly, as well as applying for multiple jobs with just a few clicks.

#5. Guru

While Guru caters to more skilled freelancers, it’s also a great place to find high-quality part-time Virtual Assistant jobs and Virtual Executive Assistant jobs. This platform focuses on opportunities in the areas of:

  • Administrative and secretarial
  • Writing and translation
  • Design and art
  • Sales and marketing
  • Education and training
  • Engineering and architecture
  • Legal
  • Programming and development
  • Business and finance

It’s free to set up a profile, and once you’ve done so you can use Guru’s filter feature to narrow your search. And, like other platforms, you can communicate directly with clients, create contracts, send invoices and receive payments on the website. 

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Guru offers a free plan that allows for up to ten proposals per month, and after that has four other plans in its pricing structure ranging from $11.95 per month for 50 pitches per month to $49.95 per month for 50 pitches but with a lower percentage fee taken out of client payments.

With all of its pricing plans, including the free one, Guru collects a percentage of payments ranging from 5% to 9%.

#6. FlexJobs

FlexJobs had an honorable start in 2007 as a website focused on providing legitimate work from home opportunities amidst a sea of scams and wild goose chases. It’s maintained a reputation as a quality job listing site and is a popular choice for finding remote assistant jobs and Virtual Assistant jobs for beginners.

Jobs listed on FlexJobs are screened by humans, and this site has a reputation for vetting and researching each listing in order to provide the highest quality opportunities. As a result, the pool of listings is smaller than some other sites (around 25,000 versus millions in some cases) but the remote job listings are higher caliber.

FlexJobs collects a monthly membership fee, ranging $14.95 for one month to $49.95 for one year, and you can also pay $6.95 to check it out for one week. This website also offers a cool savings feature to its members with discounts on things like computers, coaching and invoicing software.

#7. Indeed

Indeed is both a job listing site and a search engine, and for that reason offers a huge amount of remote job opportunities. This platform makes it super easy to search for Virtual Assistant jobs, and best of all it’s free to use for job seekers.

Indeed also offers cool features like a resume builder and even a mobile app specific to remote job listings so you can apply to opportunities directly from your phone. Like other platforms, you can communicate directly with businesses via the website.

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#8. Craigslist

We know, you might be saying to yourself, Craigslist? Really?” In our search for the best remote freelance job listing sites, however, this tried and true platform kept showing up again and again!

While a downside of Craigslist is that there isn’t any vetting or accountability for job listings, the upside is that there are a wide variety of opportunities and it’s both free and easy to use. A good way to search for quality remote job listings is to search in large cities with the term “remote.”

Job listings on Craigslist are accompanied by directions on how to apply and can involve applying through a business’s website or writing a great email pitch and hitting send.

#9. Facebook Groups

If you’ve never considered Facebook as a viable place to source great Virtual Assistant jobs, you’d be surprised at what a potential gold mine it can be! There are some groups specifically targeted for Virtual Assistants looking for work, and to find them you can simply do a search using the hashtag #jobopp to streamline your search within the groups.

For example, here are a few Facebook groups specifically for Virtual Assistants seeking work:

  • Virtual Assistant Tribe Job Board
  • Virtual Assistant (VA) Remote Jobs
  • Virtual Assistant Jobs

A definite perk of the gigs posted in these groups is that they’re hot leads, i.e. business owners looking to hire. Another bonus is that these groups also provide a great opportunity to learn from other Virtual Assistants, as well as network with possible clients and cultivate relationships for future work. 

#10. Remote.co 

Remote.co provides some great filters for streamlining your search for Virtual Assistant jobs, such as “high paying” and “freelance.” As well, it offers learning resources like articles, Q&A and an interface with 143 leading remote companies and virtual teams to answer your top questions about remote work.
 
Wondering what the value is in learning the answers to commonly asked questions about remote work? It gives you a leg up and an increased sense of confidence about what you’re doing when talking with business owners who may not “get” the value of hiring remotely (yet). 
 
How to find Virtual Assistant jobs

 

#11. Remoters

This website offers a job category for “Virtual Assistants, Translators & Other Jobs” along with a lot of other more targeted categories such as SEO, Content & Copywriting and Customer Support, for example. Remoters also provides a filter for “Part-Time” or “Project” and you can subscribe to job alerts to stay on top of new listings.

Another nice feature of this site is that it’s also a great platform for resources, like a blog, interviews and an event listing tab. Another fun feature is that Remoters, which caters to the “digital nomad” crowd, provides a listing of places you can stay while traveling the world, called “Colivings.” Here’s to the laptop lifestyle! 

#12. SolidGigs

SolidGigs touts itself as offering “hand-picked job alerts for the best 1% of freelance jobs on the web.” This job listing search engine doesn’t just offer a scrape of what’s out there when it comes to remote job listings, but rather has a team that manually checks nearly 100 sites, gig lists and job boards for the best freelancing opportunities.

While they’re not posted front and center on SolidGig’s website, this platform also provides courses and tools available once you become a paid member. 

#13. CloudPeeps

CloudPeeps is free for clients, but freelancers have various transaction fees applied. They can also choose to unlock other features and lower transaction fees with a monthly paid plan. 

A nice feature of CloudPeeps is that it offers both ongoing remote job positions as well as one-time projects. This is a pretty massive platform, catering to over 20,000 customers (clients) in over 150 countries. As a result of its size, CloudPeeps is able to offer several category areas for searching for work, such as social media, content marketing, design and SEO, for example.

Agency Websites for Virtual Assistant Jobs

As a Virtual Assistant, you may decide to forge ahead on your own and source your own gigs, or you may choose to go the route of working with an agency (or both – depending on the agency’s policies). Below you’ll find a few of the more popular agency sites for finding remote Virtual Assistant jobs.

#14. Belay

One of the more popular agency sites out there, Belay offers categories for Virtual Assistants, Virtual Bookkeeping, Website Specialists and Social Media Strategists. To work with this agency, the process involves applying then going through an assessment process which includes two interviews and a skills assessment.

Once approved, Belay matches VAs with clients and requires a minimum of 10 working hours per week, and also facilitates full-time positions. Belay’s website provides resources like a blog, podcast and classes. 

The “cut” that Belay receives from a Virtual Assistant’s pay isn’t readily accessible on their website, and is most likely revealed once the application process has started.

How to find Virtual Assistant jobs

 

#15. Boldly

Boldly employs freelancers and Virtual Assistants on a W-2 basis. While this may not be the ideal chosen route for everyone, for some this format offers a “best of both worlds” scenario, i.e. being able to work remotely while having the sense of security that comes with the idea of being formally employed.

Virtual Assistants are required to work a minimum of 20 hours per week, and full-time opportunities are also available. While there are no up front fees for VAs, the application is fairly hefty – a few video interviews and a requirement of “seven years professional experience” for example. Boldly provides its employees with training and the average rate of pay is $22-$24 per hour.

#16. Don’t Panic Management 

Great name, right? Don’t Panic Management connects VAs with clients and the agency handles contracts, negotiations and billing. All Virtual Assistants start off as contractors, with the option to be promoted to a part-time employee with eligibility for benefits.

Don’t Panic Management requests that its VAs work at least 15 hours per week, which often translates to one to three clients. This platform also offers higher-level positions, like Executive Assistants, Marketing Assistants and Content Producers that range in pay from $45 to $65 per hour (keep in mind that the agency receives a portion of this pay). 

How to find great virtual assistant jobs online

 

#17. Delegated

This agency has been around for over ten years and prides itself on facilitating quality, long-term client-VA relationships. Delegated is looking for team members with at least five years’ experience, although the specific kind of experience seems somewhat open-ended, i.e. “Five years or more of relevant experience as an executive administrative assistant or similar role. Virtual or remote freelance work experience a plus!”

If you choose to go the route of applying with agencies that require experience, keep in mind that your “offline” professional experience definitely counts!

Delegated also clearly outlines some other “must-haves” on its website, like excellent written communication skills, as well as other “preferred skills” such as CRM (Customer Relationship Management) experience and knowledge of Microsoft Suite and Google apps. 

#18. Zirtual

Zirtual markets itself as an agency that finds and trains VAs that are “better at the things you don’t even like doing.” Focused on higher-level Virtual Assistants, this platform requires being based in the US and college-educated in order to apply.

Zirtual offers a variety of work categories for VAs, including research, content marketing, inbox management and event planning, for example. Another “perk” that Zirtual offers business owners is working with one dedicated Virtual Assistant, versus a rotating team of team members (which is considered a downside of some agency sites by business owners). With the right client, this ideally translates to consistent, long-term work for a VA.

Freelance Writing Job Listing Websites

We’re kind of (okay, a lot) partial to freelance writers around these parts as it’s how Horkey HandBook got its start – as a place for Gina to showcase her writing. For that reason, we’re going to throw in a couple of job listing sites for freelance writers in this list.

Whether you’re a freelance writer or a Virtual Assistant providing writing services, job boards can be a good place to start and gain some experience. The rate of pay can be lower, as with any job listing website, but it’s also a great way to get a feel for what’s out there in the freelance writing world.

#19. Freelance Writing Jobs

While this job board may not have the snazziest name (kind of ironic for a writing website, right?) it’s a favorite of many freelance writers and has even been touted as a great place to find your first writing gig.

Freelance Writing Jobs posts a daily roundup of writing jobs from around the internet, and its website also has a great blog and an archive of resources and tips for writers at any level of experience.

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Another great aspect of this job board is that it provides a variety of types of writing jobs from a variety of niches, so there’s something for everyone. You can also find anything from part-time remote assistant jobs to full-time ones in the writing industry, such as editing and full-time technical writing positions, for example.

#20. ProBlogger

The ProBlogger job board is another favorite of freelance writers, and the website it’s hosted on is also full of resources like a blog, podcast and courses. It also has an associated Facebook community so you can rub elbows with fellow writers.

There’s a nice range of writing jobs represented on ProBlogger, from projects for beginners to more seasoned writers. While there are a great deal of blog content jobs listed, including from some big-name blogs, there are also other opportunities like copywriting gigs.

The jobs listed on this website have a reputation for being high quality, as businesses are paying to post their job opportunities. ProBlogger is free to use for job seekers, and you can streamline your search for writing jobs with the website’s filtering feature.

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How to Have Qualified Virtual Assistant Leads Sourced for You

So now you have several online job listing sites to check out in your search for Virtual Assistant jobs – and a couple for freelance writing jobs. As we covered earlier, there are certainly some pros and cons to using online job boards, and our recommendation would be to make using these just one of your strategies for sourcing and pitching remote assistant jobs.

When it comes to finding qualified Virtual Assistant leads, we also have one more resource to share with you. Within our Virtual Assistant training program, The #FullyBookedVA System, we post two kinds of leads for our students in our VA Leads program – business owners who make use of our free VA Finder program as well as an ongoing round-up of quality online job listings for Virtual Assistant jobs.

These opportunities represent a variety of industries and services and range anywhere from Virtual Assistant jobs for beginners to higher-level Virtual Executive Assistant jobs.

How is VA Leads different from a job listing website?

In one aspect, the remote assistant jobs we post are similar to those you’d find on job boards and job listing sites – they’re considered “hot leads” as they represent business owners actively seeking help and who are ready to hire.

The differences between VA Leads and opportunities found on job boards, however, are that:

  • The competition for the positions we post is significantly lower – like a tiny fraction of the competition on job listing sites.

  • We require a minimum rate of pay of $20 per hour (although most often these leads pay more than this) for our students in order to post an opportunity.

  • We screen the leads and job opportunities to ensure their legitimacy.

  • These leads are an included perk in The #FullyBookedVA System and come at no additional cost to our students.

Ready to Find Your First (or Next!) Virtual Assistant Job?

When it comes to finding and pitching quality Virtual Assistant jobs, the world is your oyster baby – seriously! There are lots of places to look for qualified leads and opportunity is literally everywhere. You just need to know where and how to look.

Job boards and job listing websites can be a great option for seeing what’s out there and landing Virtual Assistant jobs that will help you gain experience. It’s also an opportunity to figure out what kinds of services you like to provide, and what you don’t enjoy so much.

Keep in mind that using job listing websites is just one option of many and that your chances of scaling your Virtual Assistant business to a long-term, well-paying endeavor are higher when you source quality clients yourself (or have them sourced for you!). Inside The #FullyBookedVA System, we teach our students where to look for qualified leads, how to approach and pitch them and a step-by-step approach to getting started, building a client roster and scaling a business.

If fast-tracking your journey as a Virtual Assistant sounds like the right choice for you, join us in The #FullyBookedVA System and let’s do it! 

Laura Nicholls

COMMUNITY + BLOG MANAGER

Laura manages the VA Leads Community, the blog and does a ton of other things for Horkey HandBook behind the curtain! She’s also an alum of both 30 Days or Less courses (VA and freelance writing!). She started off as a writer and branched out into building her VA business focusing on executive management and content creation. Laura is in love with her life in Northern California taking care of horses and being full-time single mom to her daughter.

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