Many of us have had a brief understanding of what a virtual expert career would entail, but you probably don’t know how having a virtual expert career can help you gain the freedom, flexibility, and financial security you desire and deserve.
Does the sheer idea of working anywhere, on your own schedule, intrigue you or boost your productivity? Or that most of your business communication is done through emails or video calls so you can reduce the amount of scheduling and logistical faff surrounding the meeting? If your answer is yes to both, there is an absolute way to achieve it, and that is, by having a virtual expert career.
What is a Virtual Expert?
A virtual expert, typically abbreviated to VE, is generally somebody who provides a range of services to both small businesses and large companies. The virtual expert usually works remotely as an independent professional from a home. Because virtual experts or employees work from home, they usually need a good internet connection and a reliable laptop. These could be for the sole purpose of performing certain roles, including typical secretarial work, website editing, social media marketing, customer service, data entry, content writing and many other remote tasks.
Many of the virtual experts tend to specialise in one or two of the fields above, in order to meet the needs and assist modern businesses. However, from a company’s standpoint, virtual experts need to be only specialised in a narrowly-niched field and be extremely good at that. Why? Because most companies typically look for knowledge and skills that are highly in demand or greatly sought after. These may include technology skills, administrative skills, communication skills, planning and organising skills, writing skills, etc.
In this blog, we dive deeper into the topic and show you the A to Z of being a virtual expert and how you too, can assist modern businesses by providing services outside of corporate walls.
The 21st Century Virtual Experts
Today, many virtual experts cherish their newfound freedom, that is, the freedom to work when they want, where they want, and on what they love. As they learn to adjust the virtual expert ways of working, they realise there’s a huge opportunity to scrap the traditional requirement of presenting in the office to do their jobs and reclaim their personal freedom. They also learn that with balance and moderation, they can enjoy all that freedom and not cause injury to productivity, even when their work hours differ from the traditional 9-to-5.
In addition, they may enjoy the benefits of higher average salaries in some cities and some of the awesome aspects of a remote working team. Some of these include having a better work-life balance, feeling healthier, skipping long uncomfortable commutes, learning some impressive communication skills and knowing how to use certain awesome applications in managing time and meetings. You can read all about the 10 awesome aspects of working remotely here.
Having such easy access to freedom and employment benefits are just some of the perks that come with the job. No doubt, when some people look for their next career move, they will consider a virtual expert career as a more attractive option due to its flexibility and remuneration.
Virtual Expert Jobs: The Opportunities
While being a virtual employee can mean taking on the role of an independent contractor, you can also work for certain establishments that offer virtual expert services to small businesses or large companies. Your employer will help you as you learn to adjust to a virtual expert’s ways of working.
In Singapore, this is quite common as virtual experts get to embrace some of the opportunities that come from shaping this collaboration. It is easy and it can also be extremely motivating and uplifting for virtual experts who hate the idea of working in isolation. There is a place to connect with co-workers and build relationships, and the opportunity to work in close proximity to others is always there.
Plus, there is a huge opportunity to improve areas in your life that actually matter and that can’t go out the window.
- Travel. Conferencing technology like Skype, Zoom and Google Meet would reduce travel and logistical expenses.
- Technology. Upgrading technology would help a company stay competitive and build its brand as the best place to work. In this case, the costs for upgrading such technology can be offset by profits.
- Space. Joining video meetings in spaces most of us feel comfortable in (our homes), it is normal to feel more at ease and more confident than you would if you were sitting around a table in an office.
- Health. Switching to a work from home schedule can greatly lower stress and the risk of burnout. This would keep workers emotionally, physically and mentally healthy.
- Work/life balance. Empowering workers would enhance work/life balance. Satisfaction ratings would rise, and recruitment would become easier.
- Sustainability. Reducing travel, office energy costs and paperwork would decrease the environmental footprint.
- Retention and engagement. Flexibility would enhance the employer value proposition, improving retention and supporting diversity.
What Kinds Of Virtual Experts Companies Are Looking For?
Now, you are seeing the benefits and opportunities that a virtual expert career can provide and are choosing to run with it over the long term. Your experience of the past two working years then would be crucial to determine what type of virtual expert role you may take on. For example, if using technical applications and programmes is your expertise, or if familiarity with computers is at your core, you can cover the duties of a techie and be incredibly good at it.
On the other hand, if you are career planning for the very first time, you will need to know what types of virtual employees there are and how to ensure your education and skills are relevant to the niche you are looking for. This can be overwhelming to some fresh graduates at first, which is why most graduates would maturely reflect and evaluate their abilities and interests, take time to understand their preferences, and honestly face the areas they want to develop before making any important decision.
If this is done well at the start, the likelihood of choosing the right niche that works best for you is far greater–and it can provide you with outcomes to help you achieve your short- and long-term career goals. Now if you are a fresh graduate wanting to explore how you can integrate your education and experiences with an exciting career, here are a few virtual expert roles to get you started.
Marketers
Marketers are responsible for improving the company’s public relations. They are constantly required to communicate the company’