How to Find a Virtual Assistant You’ll Want to Keep

If you’re working out how to find a virtual assistant (VA), your week is probably already full of email, scheduling, and travel logistics. A VA is a remote assistant who takes that admin work off your plate.

The catch is that the easiest VA to find is often the first one to leave.

Each departure sends you back to recruiting and training. That eats the very hours you hoped to save.

This guide is for founders, executives, and business owners. It shows you where to look, what to ask, how to onboard, and when an executive assistant (EA) is the better fit.

TL;DR: The Short Path to a VA Who Stays

Here’s the whole process in brief:

• List the work you want off your plate before you search anywhere.
• Put a dollar value on your hour so you know what support is worth.
• Match the level of support to that work, from a task-based VA to a senior EA.
• Search the channel where that level of assistant actually works.
• Ask every provider how much of your fee the assistant takes home.
• Interview candidates using real scenarios from their past roles.
• Give your new assistant full context and trust from the first day.

Why So Many Virtual Assistant Hires Don’t Last

Many executives blame the assistant when a VA hire falls apart. But the trouble usually starts before the first interview.

These 4 patterns cut many VA partnerships short:

• Hiring on the lowest hourly rate: A low rate usually buys less experience. You end up spending your own time checking work and re-explaining tasks.
• Starting without a defined job: A request for “help with admin” gives a new VA nothing to prioritize. Urgent requests then sit beside trivial ones until something slips.
• Hiring the wrong level of support: A task-based VA isn’t hired to run your calendar like a partner. Expecting that sets you both up for frustration.
• Skipping onboarding: Under pressure, it feels faster to do things yourself. Your VA never builds the context to work without you, so the arrangement quietly fades.

How to Find a Virtual Assistant in 7 Steps

A VA who stays starts with a clear picture of what you need.

Work through these steps in order:

1. List the Work You Want Off Your Plate

For a week, write down every task you handle that someone else could do. Include the work that keeps sinking to the bottom of your pile, like expense reports or an unfiled insurance claim.

Then sort the list into 3 groups:

• Recurring tasks: These repeat daily, weekly, or monthly. Inbox triage, scheduling, and expense reports belong here.
• Projects: These have a clear start and finish. A board meeting, an office move, or a family vacation all count.
• Responsibilities: These are areas you want someone to own outright. Being the first point of contact for your vendors is a common example.

Keep this list close. It becomes your job description now and your onboarding plan later.

2. Put a Dollar Value on Your Own Hour

What’s an hour of your time actually worth? The answer tells you how much support makes financial sense.

To find it, divide your annual net profit by 2,080 hours. That’s the full-time work year the Bureau of Labor Statistics uses to calculate annual wages. If you draw a salary, use your annual pay instead.

If your business nets $350,000 a year, your time is worth about $168 an hour. Losing 1 hour a week to admin costs you about $8,736 a year.

So any task worth far less than that hourly figure is a strong candidate to hand off.

This formula comes from The 29-Hour Work Day, a book by our co-founders, Ethan and Stephanie Bull. You can get a free digital or audio copy for their full playbook on hiring and working with an assistant.

3. Match the Level of Support to That Work

Assistants fall into 3 broad levels. Your list from step 1 points to the right one.

Here’s how each level lines up with that list:

• VA: A VA handles defined, repeatable tasks. Your list fits a VA if it’s mostly recurring tasks.
• EA: An EA is a senior assistant who manages your calendar, communication, and projects as a partner. Your list calls for an EA if it’s full of projects and responsibilities.
• Fractional EA: A fractional EA is an experienced EA you share with a few other executives for a flat monthly fee. This level suits you if you need EA-level work but not 40 hours a week of it.

The 3 levels also differ on cost, experience, and turnover:

Fractional support gives you EA-level help for 50 to 80% less than a comparable in-house hire.

4. Search Where That Level of Assistant Works

Each place to find a VA trades off cost, speed, and how much vetting falls on you.

Pick the channel that matches the level you chose:

• Freelance marketplaces: Platforms like Upwork and Fiverr give you a large pool of VAs and visible rates. You handle all the screening yourself, so they suit simple, well-defined tasks.
• VA agencies: An agency screens candidates for you and usually replaces an assistant who leaves. Ask how many executives each assistant supports, because that number varies widely.
• Fractional EA services: These firms match you with a seasoned EA for a set share of their week. You pay a flat monthly retainer, so there are no hours to track.
• Referrals and job boards: A colleague’s recommendation or a post on LinkedIn or Indeed can turn up a direct hire. You then take on the contract, payroll, and day-to-day management yourself.

Our breakdown of the best places to hire a virtual assistant compares each channel in more detail.

5. Ask What the Assistant Actually Takes Home

Before you sign with any provider, find out how much of your fee reaches the person doing the work. In our experience, assistant pay is one of the clearest signals of how experienced someone is and how long they’ll stay.

Ask these 4 questions on every provider call:

• Assistant pay: What share of my monthly fee goes to the assistant? A low share usually means a less experienced assistant who leaves for a better offer.
• Executive load: How many executives does each assistant support? The more people share one assistant, the longer your requests wait.
• Billing model: Do I pay by the hour or a flat retainer? If it’s hourly, who keeps the hours I pay for but don’t use? Hourly billing also pays an assistant less as they get faster at your work.
• Written terms: Is there an agreement covering confidentiality, cancellation, and what happens if my assistant leaves? A good provider puts all of this in writing before you start.

Vague answers to any of these are among the clearest red flags in an assistant provider.

6. Interview for Judgment With Real Scenarios

A resume shows where someone has worked. The interview should show how they think when a day goes sideways.

Ask each candidate to walk you through real situations from past roles:

• A full day with a past executive: Specific details about the people, tools, and timing suggest the experience is real.
• A calendar conflict they resolved: Listen for how they weighed priorities and who they kept informed.
• A crisis they handled: A canceled flight before a board meeting tells you more than any list of skills.
• A request they declined for an executive: Strong assistants can say no on your behalf so gracefully that the other person still feels respected.

Watch the small talk and tone as closely as the answers. Ask yourself whether you’d trust this person in front of your largest client.

For finalists, assign a short task from your own week, like scheduling a 3-person meeting across time zones. For references, confirming dates and job titles is usually enough.

These executive assistant interview questions give you more prompts to work from.

7. Onboard With Full Context From Day One

Your assistant can only act for you as well as they understand your world. Front-load that context in the first week.

Share these 4 things up front:

• Your people: List your key clients, board members, direct reports, and family members, including their birthdays.
• Your preferences: Note your preferred flight times, seats, meeting buffers, food allergies, and favorite restaurants.
• Your access: Grant delegated access to your calendar, contacts, and inbox, plus any loyalty program logins.
• Your rhythm: Explain when you think best, which meetings you protect, and who’s allowed to interrupt you.

Recording yourself on a task, like booking a flight while explaining your choices, cuts down on back-and-forth questions.

Trust your assistant fully from the start. Pull back only if their actions give you a reason.

Our executive assistant onboarding process maps out the first 30 days in detail.

How a ProAssistant Differs From a Typical Virtual Assistant

If your list from step 1 calls for more than task support, that’s where ProAssisting comes in. A ProAssistant is one of our US-based fractional EAs.

We accept less than 5% of applicants. Each ProAssistant also supports a maximum of 3 executives, which leaves time to learn your people, preferences, and priorities.

Plans for 1/3, 1/2, or 2/3 of a ProAssistant’s resources start at $3,300 per month.

Those plans send more than 75% of your retainer straight to your ProAssistant, who brings at least 5 years of executive-level experience. Replies come within an hour or less during US business hours.

Your ProAssistant covers 5 roles our co-founders call the performance multipliers:

• Business partner: They sit in for you at meetings and act as a sounding board for new ideas.
• Chief of staff: They serve as the single point of contact for your clients, team, family, and vendors. This is a logistics role that differs from the traditional chief of staff who tracks company goals.
• Project manager: They own projects like a board retreat, an office move, or complex travel from start to finish.
• Assistant/scheduler: They run your calendar, inbox, and daily logistics.
• Personal assistant: They handle life outside work, from home contractors to family trips.

You’re a 30-minute meeting away from saving hours of your time every week. Schedule a free consultation with our co-founder Ethan Bull to see whether a ProAssistant fits your workload.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Here are quick answers to common questions about finding a VA:

How Much Does a Virtual Assistant Cost?

A VA’s rate depends on where they live, how experienced they are, and whether you hire directly or through an agency. Freelancers usually bill by the hour, while agencies and fractional services often bill monthly. This breakdown of virtual assistant costs compares the options side by side.

Is Hiring a Virtual Assistant Worth It?

It’s worth it when the time a VA frees up is worth more than what you pay them. The hourly-value math from step 2 shows you where that line sits for your business.

How Do I Know If a Virtual Assistant Is Trustworthy?

Ask whether the assistant or provider signs a nondisclosure agreement and runs background checks. Then confirm past roles and dates with former employers. A candidate who overshares about past executives will likely overshare about you too.

Should I Hire a US-Based or Offshore Virtual Assistant?

Offshore VAs usually cost less, but a big time zone gap can delay urgent requests. A US-based assistant works your hours, which matters most when your work is time-sensitive.

Can a Virtual Assistant Handle Personal Tasks?

Yes, many VAs handle personal tasks like appointments, errands, and family travel. Agree on this before you hire, since some assistants decline personal work. Handing off personal logistics can free up as much time as handing off business tasks.

Find an Assistant Worth Keeping With ProAssisting

An assistant who stays gets better every month. They learn your people, your habits, and what matters most to you.

That knowledge is what turns extra help into real time back.

ProAssisting gives you that kind of long-term partner. We match busy leaders with US-based executive assistants called ProAssistants. Each one has at least 5 years of experience and supports no more than 3 executives.

ProAssistants have supported leaders at Fortune 500 companies like Oracle, Target, and JPMorgan Chase. You get that premium support for 50 to 80% less than hiring in-house.

Your first step takes just 30 minutes. Book a free consultation to find your ProAssistant match.