Office Assistant
In Person / Virtual

An Office Assistant these days are so much more than answering an office phone, scheduling appointments, and providing general administrative support in a corporate office. Most often an Office Assistant also are responsible for posting social media content, managing the company's blog and update general information of the company's website.

A Virtual Office Assistant does all of the above, but only works remotely. Some companies may only need you for few hours a week, which will allow you to work for several companies at same time. You can be on an island in the Caribbean in the middle of the winter and work for someone who's battling a snowstorm in Chigago or New York! Virtual Office Assistants (V.A.) often works with social media updates, maintain blogs and websites, and help with customer service and inventory for e-commerce businesses. You may also be requred to do some general graphic design in terms of creating and editing images suited for the company. However, one MAIN difference between the V.A. and a corporate employed Office Assistant, is that you can become your own boss and grow as an independent business owner!. So when you look for a school, make sure to study thier course content. A plus is a V.A. course that contains a class that covers information on how to be a self-employed V.A. and business owner as well!

Bookkeeping

As a bookkeeper you are basically in charge of entering and keeping track of the company's expenses and income. There are many bookkeeping software that you are required to learn, the most popular being Quickbooks. Bookkeeping courses vary between 2 - 12 weeks, depending on how detailed the course is. Quickbooks offers their own certification, and provides a two-day 'Mastering Quickbooks' as a step to get certified in Quickbooks. You will learn the difference between Debit and Credit in bookkeeping (differs from how these are related in your personal finances!), what money in a business is considered an Asset, Liability, and Equity. If you like being organized and have an eye for details, and also have a good sense for numbers, then a career in bookkeeping is definitively something for you. Note that being good with numbers, doesn't mean that you need to be a genius in math! There are many, many mathematicians and scientists who can't even balance their check-book!

The opportunity to be self-employed! Many small businesses hire contract bookkeepers, which gives you the opportunity to work for yourself and set your own hours. There are also opportunity to work remotely as well, however, as you are dealing with a business' personal finance documents, often companies do want you to come to their office a few times a month to perform the bookkeeping. But there are many secure softwares that exists that provide secure connections for remote access.