Offshore Virtual Assistants Australia

That’s not hiring a VA. That’s renting one, and paying an ongoing margin to someone who isn’t doing much of the work after week one.

There’s a different way to do it. You hire the person directly. They work for you, not for an agency. You pay them a fair wage, and there’s no intermediary taking a cut month after month.

This is how it works.

What an Offshore VA Actually Does

First, let’s be specific about the role, because “virtual assistant” means different things to different people.

In a professional services firm in Australia, an offshore VA typically covers:

Email and calendar management

Client communications and follow-ups

Document preparation and formatting

CRM updates and data entry

Scheduling, booking and coordination tasks

Basic research and reporting

Social media posting and inbox management

It’s the work that sits between “needs the owner’s expertise” and “needs someone locally present”. That’s a surprisingly wide lane, and it’s where many founders are quietly buried. Our offshore virtual assistant role page lists the tasks and software we screen for.

If you’re spending two hours a day on emails, calendar juggling and admin that doesn’t need your professional judgement, that’s the role. The question is whether you pay around $80,000 a year plus super for a local person to do it, pay an agency around $2,200 a month for someone they manage, or pay a direct hire around $1,100 a month and hold the relationship yourself. See the full salary guide for Filipino talent for typical direct hire rates by role, or run your own numbers in the cost calculator.

Why Every Google Result Is Trying to Manage Your VA

This isn’t an accident. The agency model is profitable, mostly for the agency.

Here’s how it commonly works: an offshore VA agency hires staff in the Philippines at a market rate (say around $1,100 a month). They charge you around $1,800 to $2,500 a month. The difference, roughly $700 to $1,400 a month, is their ongoing margin, every month, for as long as you keep the VA.

Some agencies are transparent about this. Others aren’t. Either way, much of what you’re paying for after the first few weeks isn’t extra service; it’s the right to keep using a hire they control.

The agency has a strong incentive to keep you dependent on them. If you ever want to take the VA on directly, there’s often a clause in the contract that prevents it, or a significant buyout fee.

You can end up in a situation where you’ve built a working relationship with someone, they know your business and they’re good at what they do, but you don’t hold that relationship. The agency does.

What Direct Hire Actually Looks Like

Hiring a VA directly isn’t as complicated as agencies suggest. The process has a few moving parts, but none of them are exotic.

Step 1: Write a clear task list, not a job title. Before you advertise, document what you need done. Not “virtual assistant”, but the specific tasks, approximate hours per week, tools they’ll use and any domain knowledge required. A good candidate will screen themselves in or out based on this. A vague description gets you vague applicants.

Step 2: Post to the right channels. The Philippines has a deep market of skilled remote workers. OnlineJobs.ph is the best-known job board for hiring Filipino remote workers directly. You post the role, receive applications and shortlist candidates yourself, or work with a recruiter who does this for you.

Step 3: Run a proper screening process. Video call first, every time. You need to see how someone communicates, not just read their CV. Follow that with a practical task: a short piece of work representative of what they’d actually do. Assess the output. Ask for references and check them.

Step 4: Set up the engagement correctly. Many Australian businesses engage Filipino remote workers as independent contractors, under a written independent contractor agreement (ICA) covering rate, hours, IP ownership, confidentiality and notice terms. If you want a formal employment arrangement, a Philippine employer of record (EOR) service can handle statutory contributions for an extra monthly fee per hire, which varies by provider. Our overview of the compliant way to hire offshore staff in Australia shares general guidance on both options. It isn’t legal or tax advice, so check your setup with an independent adviser.

Step 5: Onboard properly. The first 30 days set the tone. Give them a clear task list, access to tools, a check-in rhythm and feedback. This is where most offshore hires either settle in or quietly disengage. See our full first 30 days checklist for Australian business owners for a week-by-week breakdown.

What It Actually Costs

A skilled general admin VA in the Philippines typically costs around $1,100 AUD a month (about $13,200 a year) as a direct hire. An executive assistant is typically around $1,700 a month (about $20,400 a year). Client relations and customer support roles sit in a similar range. These are market estimates; actual pay depends on experience and the role.

Add 13th month pay (one extra month’s salary, mandatory for employees in the Philippines), equipment if you provide it, and an EOR fee if you use one, and you’re usually still well under $20,000 AUD a year for a full-time hire.

Compare that to:

A local admin assistant: typically around $80,000 a year plus super and leave loading, roughly $90,000 or more all-in

An agency-managed VA: commonly around $1,800 to $2,500 a month ($21,600 to $30,000 a year), with an intermediary between you and the hire for as long as it runs

Direct hire gives you the cost saving of offshore without the ongoing markup of the agency model. If you need more senior support, our offshore executive assistant role page covers that role in detail.

The Part No One Tells You About

The biggest factor in whether an offshore VA works isn’t the hire. It’s the handover.

Most founders delegate tasks, not context. They tell the VA what to do without explaining why it matters or how it fits into the business. The VA follows instructions literally, gets feedback that things aren’t quite right, and eventually stops taking initiative because they’ve learned that’s safer.

The fix isn’t complicated. Spend the first two weeks being more available than you think you need to be. Walk them through not just the task list but the business context. Record screen walkthroughs for anything complex. Check in daily for the first month: short calls, not long reviews.

The businesses that get this right end up with an offshore team member who works like a trusted internal hire. The ones that skip it get someone competent but limited, and blame offshore hiring instead of their own onboarding.

How Tarino Helps

If you want to hire a VA directly but don’t want to run the recruitment process yourself, that’s what Tarino does.

We typically start with 1,000+ candidates per role and screen them in stages: CV and quality screening (40% remain), video screening (20%), a practical assessment (10%), a structured interview (5%) and finalist review (2%). You get a shortlist of 3–4 finalists in about 2 weeks. You choose, you hire, and you hire and pay them directly from day one.

Our fee is $250 upfront to start the search plus $4,750 when you hire, $5,000 excl. GST in total, with the $250 credited back when you hire. No ongoing margin and no monthly markup. The hire works for you, not for us. See pricing for the detail.

More than 95% of our placements are still in the role at 6 months. If a hire doesn’t work out within the first six months, our 6-month replacement cover gives you a replacement search for the same role at no extra recruitment fee, on the conditions in the Scope of Work and terms.

Ready to hire your first offshore VA without an agency in the middle? Book a 30-minute call and we’ll walk you through the process.