Hire an Offshore Executive Assistant in Australia

The answer is yes. And you don’t need KPMG’s budget or PwC’s HR department to make it work.

What Does an Offshore Executive Assistant Actually Do?

An executive assistant (EA) is not the same as a general virtual assistant. Where a VA might handle one-off tasks (writing a social post, booking travel), an EA manages the operating rhythm of a senior person’s working life. That means:

Owning your calendar, including scheduling, blocking focus time, and managing competing priorities

Managing your inbox: filtering, drafting responses, flagging what needs action

Preparing for meetings: agendas, briefing notes, following up on action items

Handling board or client correspondence, including proposals and status updates

Coordinating travel, accommodation, and logistics end-to-end

Managing confidential documents and sensitive communications with discretion

A skilled EA based in the Philippines can work Australian hours without difficulty, and many have built careers supporting C-suite executives in professional services, financial planning and consulting firms. For the role profile Tarino recruits against, see the offshore executive assistant role page. If you mainly need one-off task support, the virtual assistant role may suit better.

What Does an Offshore EA Cost Compared to Hiring Locally?

These are typical market estimates. In Australia, an experienced executive assistant typically earns around $120,000 a year in base salary, plus 12% superannuation, leave entitlements and employer overhead. Total annual cost: around $134,000 or more.

An offshore EA based in the Philippines with 3–5 years of corporate experience typically earns around PHP 75,000 a month, equivalent to around $1,700 a month (about $20,400 a year) in direct salary. You’ll also want to factor in 13th-month pay (a statutory benefit for employees in the Philippines, equal to one twelfth of a year’s basic salary; see our 13th-month pay guide) and any agreed benefits. Our full salary guide covers current Philippines market rates across experience levels so you’re paying at the right end of the range.

The cost difference, typically around $114,000 a year, is why the large firms are looking at this. To see the numbers for your own firm, use the offshore hiring cost calculator. It’s also why a firm billing at $400/hour should be paying for senior work, not admin.

Why Every Search Result Shows You an Agency

When you Google “offshore executive assistant,” every result you find is from a managed staffing agency. Satellite Office. Hammerjack. Beepo. Offshore MVP. These companies will recruit an EA for you and then charge you a monthly markup on top of that person’s salary, typically around 30–50%, for as long as you hire them.

Over three years, that markup can add up to around $18,000–$31,000 or more in fees that go to the agency, not your EA. We’ve broken down exactly how agency markups work so you understand what you’re actually paying for.

The alternative is direct hire: you find the person, you hire them directly, and you pay their salary with no ongoing agency cut.

How to Hire an Offshore EA Without Going Through an Agency

Direct hiring takes more work upfront, but it’s not complicated if you follow a clear process.

1. Define the role precisely. Start with a written task list, not a job title. What does your current EA (or the gap left by not having one) actually involve? Calendar management? Client correspondence? Board minutes? Be specific. A vague role description attracts vague candidates.

2. Post on Philippines-specific platforms. JobStreet, Kalibrr, and OnlineJobs.ph are the main sourcing channels for offshore hires. For EA roles specifically, you want candidates who have worked in a corporate or professional services environment. Experience supporting bank executives, law firm partners or consulting principals is a good background indicator.

3. Screen with video first. An EA is going to represent you to clients, boards, and suppliers. Don’t shortlist anyone you haven’t spoken to on video. Look for written clarity, composure under probing questions, and concrete examples of how they’ve handled competing priorities or sensitive information.

4. Set a practical task. Give shortlisted candidates a realistic scenario: draft a meeting agenda from these notes, or sort this inbox based on these rules. You’re not testing aptitude. You’re seeing how they think and communicate under a time constraint.

5. Check references independently. Offshore hiring is no different from local hiring: verify past employment, ask referees directly about reliability and discretion. An EA handles sensitive correspondence, so this step isn’t optional.

6. Structure the employment correctly. Most Australian businesses hiring directly in the Philippines engage their EA as an independent contractor, or use a local Philippine Employer of Record (EOR) arrangement for payroll and benefits. Our guide to offshore employment compliance gives general background on the options and what to put in a contractor agreement. It isn’t legal or tax advice, so get independent advice on your structure.

7. Invest in onboarding. An offshore EA is only as effective as the systems you give them access to and the context you give them about how you work. The first 30 days are critical. Our onboarding checklist walks through exactly what to cover in weeks one, two, and four to set the relationship up properly.

Direct Hire vs Agency: The Honest Comparison

Going through an agency gets you a recruited EA faster and removes the sourcing work. The cost is ongoing: you’ll pay a management fee or margin for the entire duration of the relationship. For a multi-year hire, that fee will substantially exceed the cost of recruiting directly.

Doing it yourself typically takes 4–8 weeks of your time upfront. If Tarino runs the search, you typically receive a shortlist of 3–4 finalists in about 2 weeks. Once the hire is made, you hire your EA directly. You set the remuneration, the benefits, the working relationship. There’s no account manager in the middle.

For businesses that are serious about building a long-term offshore capability, rather than outsourcing a task indefinitely, direct hire almost always makes more financial sense beyond year one.

What This Actually Looks Like for a Small Firm

Take an illustrative example. A financial planning practice with 4 advisers hires a Manila-based EA to manage partner calendars, handle client correspondence, prepare advice packages for review, and coordinate compliance paperwork. Annual cost: around $22,000. Annual saving vs. an equivalent Sydney hire: roughly $112,000. The advisers could get back 15+ hours per week they were previously spending on admin.

The numbers are estimates, but the shape is what direct offshore hiring typically looks like for professional services firms.

If you want to make that hire without using an agency, Tarino handles the sourcing and screening. We start with 1,000+ candidates per role and narrow them through CV and quality screening (40% remain), video screening (20%), a practical assessment (10%), a structured interview (5%) and finalist review (2%), then send you 3–4 finalists. The fee is one-time: $250 upfront and $4,750 on hire, $5,000 excl. GST, with no ongoing charges. Each placement includes 6-month replacement cover for the same role, on the conditions in your Scope of Work, and more than 95% of placements are still in the role at 6 months. You hire them and keep the savings from day one. See pricing, or book a 30-minute call.