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The Difference Between a Virtual Assistant and a Project Manager

By Kathy Dobson

Republish: EasyPublish™ Published: 07Sep2010 Word count: 454 Viewed: 172 time(s) Get Free Content For Your Site

With outsourcing on the rise today, it is very easy to confuse the job descriptions of outsourcers who will be working for you. For instance, some people are confused whether they need a project manager or a virtual assistant. This is very common since project manager duties overlap those of a virtual assistant. In order for you to distinguish whether you need a virtual assistant or a project manager, read on.

Project Manager Duties

Basically, the role of a project manager is to oversee all the goals, milestones, and processes of the project to ensure its timely and cost-effective completion. As the facilitator of the project, you can expect a project manager to wear many hats.

Duties of a project manager include setting up and running meetings, planning and execution, preparing reports and presenting it to the management, determining required resources, assigning tasks, and interviewing candidates. From these tasks, it is quite obvious to see that a project manager needs to communicate all the time in different forms.

But a project manager's duties go beyond doing. He must also be able to think and motivate people to do their job. Apart from this, he must have an open mind so he can learn new things that will help improve their business processes and maximize their human resources.

Virtual Assistant Duties

A virtual assistant, on the other hand, is considered as an independent contractor that offers specific services to your business. Often, a virtual assistant functions just like your secretary, but they carry out the tasks you assign from a home office, using their own computer, phone, and internet connection.

Some of the tasks a virtual assistant (VA) may perform include managing contact and customer lists, billing and accounting, preparing and sending out e-newsletters, setting appointments, handling correspondence, transcribing business documents, and handling client inquiries. There are also skill specific virtual assistants that work in content generation, link building, website design, etc.

For seamless work relationships, a virtual assistant must be a team player, be determined to see his clients succeed, have a basic understanding of the different business processes into play in their organization, be willing to accept and correct mistakes, and have good organizational and grammar skills.

By knowing the specific duties a project manager and a virtual assistant have, the distinction between their roles become clearer. Determining if you need a project manager or a virtual assistant depends on your current needs. Ask yourself if you need to hire someone to oversee your projects and manage your other outsourced workers or if you just need assistance in some areas of your business.

Your answer will reveal to you which outsourcer you need to hire that would be a benefit to your business.

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