On this page4 sections
What a General Admin & EA Hire Can Do For Your Business
A Philippines-based admin or EA hire found through Tarino can take on the tasks below. Use this as a guide when scoping the role before your call. Our offshore admin assistant role page and executive assistant role page cover each role in more detail, and if you need someone to run the whole office, read our guide to hiring an offshore office manager.
| Task | What this looks like in practice |
|---|---|
| Inbox management | Monitoring and managing email inboxes. Responding to routine enquiries, forwarding to the right person and flagging items that need attention. |
| Draft correspondence | Preparing emails, letters and other written communications for review. Accurate, well-structured and ready to send with minimal edits. |
| Client communication | Handling client enquiries professionally. Keeping to the firm’s tone and standards across all written correspondence. |
| Newsletter & campaign support | Drafting and scheduling client newsletters and email campaigns via platforms like Mailchimp or ActiveCampaign. |
| Task | What this looks like in practice |
|---|---|
| Appointment setting | Booking and confirming client and internal meetings across time zones. Sending reminders and managing rescheduling. |
| Calendar management | Keeping the principal’s calendar current. Flagging conflicts, communicating changes and preventing double-bookings. |
| Travel coordination | Researching and booking flights, accommodation and transfers. Preparing detailed itineraries. |
| Event coordination | Helping with webinar setup, client events and team meetings. Managing RSVPs, logistics and post-event follow-up. |
| Task | What this looks like in practice |
|---|---|
| Data entry | Entering data accurately across CRM, spreadsheets and databases. Checking for errors before saving. |
| CRM management | Keeping client records current. Logging interactions. Generating reports. Maintaining data quality. |
| File management | Maintaining an organised, consistently named digital filing system. Filing documents promptly in the right place. |
| Form & document preparation | Accurately pre-filling forms, agreements and standard documents. Finding the information needed without being chased. |
| Meeting minutes | Recording accurate, concise meeting notes. Distributing them to the right people within an agreed timeframe. |
| Invoice & billing support | Preparing and sending client invoices. Tracking outstanding payments. Maintaining billing records. |
| Task | What this looks like in practice |
|---|---|
| Research tasks | Completing research requests efficiently and accurately. Summarising findings clearly. Flagging gaps or ambiguities for review. |
| Report preparation | Drafting and formatting reports, presentations and summaries to a professional standard. |
| Process documentation | Capturing workflows and SOPs clearly in written or video format. Keeping documentation current as processes change. |
| Social media scheduling | Drafting and scheduling posts across LinkedIn, Instagram and Facebook using tools like Buffer or Hootsuite. |
| Basic graphic design | Creating simple graphics, infographics and branded assets using Canva or similar tools. |
The tasks filling your day, such as inbox management, scheduling, data entry, client follow-up and reporting, are exactly what a skilled offshore EA handles best. They’re process-driven and repeatable, and they don’t need to be done in the same room. Hires work your business hours, so they’re online when your clients are. Philippine admin and EA professionals are used to supporting busy principals remotely, often across several workstreams at once. For business owners and senior staff spending hours a week on work that doesn’t need their expertise, this is one of the fastest ways to buy back time.
Where to start
If you’re not sure what to hand over first, start with the work you do every week that follows the same steps each time: inbox triage, diary management, data entry and invoicing are the usual first four. Write down how you do each one, even roughly, and share it in the first week. Leave anything that needs your judgement, such as pricing, client advice or hiring decisions, with you until the routine work is running smoothly. Our first 30 days checklist covers the handover in more detail.
How we screen admin and EA candidates
A good EA is more than organised: they’re proactive, discreet and communicate clearly without needing to be chased. 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%). For admin and EA roles we look at written English, attention to detail, software fluency and the kind of initiative that makes a hire useful from the first weeks. The practical assessment is tailored to the role, and you get a shortlist of 3–4 finalists in about 2 weeks.
What it costs
You hire and pay them directly, so there’s no monthly agency margin on top of their salary. Compare a local hire, an agency and a direct offshore hire for your business in the offshore hiring cost calculator.
Tarino’s fee is one-time: $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. There are no ongoing markups. More than 95% of our placements are still in the role at 6 months, and 6-month replacement cover applies for the same role, on the conditions in the Scope of Work and terms. See pricing for the detail.
If you’re regularly doing work that someone else could handle, it’s worth a conversation. Book a 30-minute call and we’ll help you define the role and find the right person.
This page is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Check your situation with a qualified adviser.