What To Hire A Virtual Assistant For in 2026
Zack AllenJanuary 6, 20264:04
"Virtual assistant" isn't a role. Here's how to find the role you need, and four we hired for most in 2025.
Last year we made 47 virtual assistant placements for clients at my overseas recruitment firm. My e-commerce business has done $4.2 million in revenue since 2022, and my team in the Philippines runs my operations.
A virtual assistant doesn't exist
Despite the title, a virtual assistant isn't a role. It's a category of hire. What it means is an overseas hire, someone outside the US or UK job market, whether that's the Philippines, South America or South Africa.
We avoid the term so we can get specific about the role. Post a job titled "virtual assistant" and you get generic candidates who can do anything and nothing at the same time.
Don't delegate what you haven't done
The one thing not to do: don't hire for tasks you haven't done yourself.
I see hiring as a way to buy back your time from work that's no longer worth it. To hold someone accountable for success in that work, it helps to know how to do it yourself.
Find where you're the bottleneck
The role depends on your business. Start by finding where you're the bottleneck: where your time goes that's no longer its best use.
The best way is an audit of your week. Our clients use a time audit dashboard to log their day, but pen and paper works too. By the end, you're answering two questions:
- If I had three extra hours every day, where would I spend them? That's where the time you buy back goes.
- What work generates zero revenue but has to get done, and I'm still doing it? That's what you delegate.
Four roles we hired most in 2025
Executive assistant. Email, calendar, meeting prep, inbox and travel. Best for service businesses, coaches and consultants.
E-commerce assistant. Inventory, logistics and listings. Popular with Amazon sellers, Shopify stores and TikTok Shop sellers.
Client success. Tickets, live chat, onboarding calls and check-ins. Common for software and coaching businesses.
Appointment setter. Inbound calls, warm lead dials and booking calls for your closer. Good for real estate agents, home service businesses and anyone running Facebook ads.
Others we've hired: lead generation, purchasing, guest experience, marketing assistant, bookkeeper and graphic designer.
It's broad on purpose. A virtual assistant can do almost anything you can teach or coach someone to succeed at in your business. Start with what you need and work backwards to the person.
The short version
- Stuck in admin, the calendar and the inbox? Hire an executive assistant.
- E-commerce logistics weighing you down? Hire an e-commerce assistant.
- Support tickets eating your day? Hire client success.
- Calls and leads taking over? Hire an appointment setter.
Once you know the role, the next step is attracting the right person for it.
Transcript
Show the full transcript
Today, I'm going to show you what roles to hire a virtual assistant for in 2026. Last year, we made 47 virtual assistant placements with our clients at my overseas recruitment firm. In my e-commerce business, we've done $4.2 million in revenue since 2022. And I have my own team based in the Philippines that helps me run all my operations. Now, the first thing we have to get out of the way is that a virtual assistant does not exist.
Contrary to what the title might say, it's essentially a category of hire. And really what it means is an overseas hire. Basically, someone that's not in like US, UK job market. It could be Philippines, could be South America, South Africa. And the reason why we don't use the term virtual assistant is so that we can get very granular on the actual role that we're hiring for. Because when you make a job posting with a virtual assistant title, you get generic virtual assistant candidates that can do anything yet nothing at the same time.
And so we need to get specific on what the role is we're hiring for. Now, what not to do here, the one not to do is do not hire for a tasks that you have not done yourself. I see hiring virtual assistants as a way to buy back your time from the things that are no longer worth yours. And so in order to be able to hold someone accountable to success in that role, I think it works best if you already know how to do it.
Now, the first thing we have to do is choose the role that we're going to hire for. Now, this is going to be very dependent on the business you run. And so, the first thing we have to do is identify where you are the bottleneck, where your time is being spent, that it is no longer the best use of it. And so, the best way to do this is to take an audit of your week.
For our clients, we have a time audit dashboard where you can log throughout your day, but also pen and paper can get the job done, too. And by the end of it, there's two questions that we're trying to answer. The first is, if I had three extra hours every day, where would I spend those hours? Where would I allocate my time? And what work is generating zero dollars in revenue, but has to be done to keep the business moving forward that I'm still doing.
This is going to be the stuff that we delegate. This is going to be where we reallocate that time we bought back towards. There's four common roles that we hired for in 2025. First one is executive assistant. Someone to handle your email, your calendar, meeting prep, inbox, travel, that kind of stuff. Best for service businesses, coaches, consultants. Then there's an e-commerce assistant. So someone to handle the inventory, the logistics, the listings. popular for Amazon sellers, as you can imagine, Shopify stores and Tik Tok shop sellers.
Then there's client success, someone to handle tickets, live chats, onboarding calls, check-ins. This is commonly useful for software businesses and coaching businesses. And then there's an appointment setter, someone to take inbound calls, make warm lead dials, and book in with your closer. This is for real estate agents, if you're running Facebook ads, or if you have a home service businesses. Couple more roles would be lead genen, purchasing, guest experience, marketing assistant, bookkeeper, graphic designer.
Now, you notice it's very broad and the reason why is because a virtual assistant is basically I say anything that you can teach someone or anything you can coach someone to succeed in in your business and more depends on what you need and then we work backwards to find that person. So to give you a quick overview, if you feel like you're stuck in the admin, the calendar, the inbox, an executive assistant is the best fit.
If e-commerce logistics are what's weighing you down, an e-commerce assistant is what you need. If support tickets, client tickets are eating up your day, you need to hire client success. And if calls and leads are taking up your day, then an appointment setter is your best move. Now, now that we know what to hire for, we have to figure out how to attract the right virtual assistant for whatever that role is in the year 2026.
So, if you want to watch that, it's covered up in this video right here.
