Hi. The actual question is at the bottom of the page, after I have
explained what I need. Please read on. Thanks.
I have a number of administrative tasks that have a deadline
of August 10th (8 days left, including one long weekend), to be done
in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
I figured out that I need help. I am looking for a secretary, who is:
1) trustworthy
2) with excellent and verifiable references
3) intelligent, capable, reliable, flexible, mature (in experience and
judgement, not necessarily age), and able to work indipendently.
4) available immediately, and hopefully willing to do some work (or
lots of work) during the long weekend.
5) reasonably priced
6) able to work on the tasks in their own home / office. Having their
own computer would be a great asset.
The tasks will be briefly explained by me, but the secretary will have
to work independently. Some example of tasks for the secretary are:
1) Complete a "small claim court" application. The necessary
documentation is already done. I believe what remains to do is to
fill out a form and deliver it, but I am not sure. ***> NOTE: Please
do NOT give any information about applications to a "Small Claim
Court" within this question. I don't need it now. Thanks
2) Do searches on the Internet
3) Make special arrangements with some companies (nothing technical or
requiring special knowledge).
4) Etc.
Please Note:
* The deadline for the tasks is not negotiable.
* All my friends, family, and colleagues are either on vacation,
helping me already, or too busy themselves.
* From previus experience, Temp Agencies seem to send applicants that
do not necessarily have all qualifications, so it usually takes time
and effort to interview more than one.
* DO NOT, I repeat DO NOT, propose yourself as a candidate for now. I
first want an answer to my question. If this fails, we'll see.
* I need an answer ASAP, but it has to be a good one, that will
actually help me really soon. I am running out of time.
The QUESTION is:
1) how do I get such a person in such a brief time, without having to
spend a lot of time looking around and checking references?
2) how do I make sure this person is trustworthy and will not devulge
any private information acquired during his / her work?
Thanks
ghost2006 |
Request for Question Clarification by
czh-ga
on
02 Aug 2006 17:35 PDT
Hello ghost2006-ga,
Have you tried craigslist? I have a lot of friends and acquaintances
who have had very good luck with this kind of job postings.
http://edmonton.craigslist.org/
Good luck.
~ czh ~
|
Request for Question Clarification by
umiat-ga
on
02 Aug 2006 18:43 PDT
Hello, ghost2006-ga!
I think your solution might lie in hiring a Virtual Assistant. I don't
want to post this suggestion as an answer unless you consider it a
worthwhile route.
For the benefits of hiring a Virtual Assistant, see:
http://canadianva.net/files/hire-va.html
* If you want to stay local, there are several names within Alberta
that would probably be up to the tasks you have in mind. I cannot
suggest particular names, since it will be up to you to determine if
they are qualified and trustworthy according your own standards.
The following webpage has links for VA's in your province.
http://www.va4u.com/registers/namerica/alberta.shtml
Here is another page of Alberta VA links (there may be overlap)
http://www.abcsvcs.com/can.htm
Virtual Assistants located throughout the rest of Canada can be found
on the following link. Keep in mind that they do not necessarily have
to be near you in order to be effective!
http://www.va4u.com/registers/canadian_virtual_assistants.shtml
=
Please let me know if this route is an acceptable suggestion as an answer.
Sincerely,
umiat
|
Clarification of Question by
ghost2006-ga
on
02 Aug 2006 19:19 PDT
Thanks guys, I will certainly look these up. This is for umiat.
Could you please tell me what a VA is? Thanks
ghost
|
Request for Question Clarification by
boquinha-ga
on
02 Aug 2006 19:22 PDT
I believe by "VA," Umiat means "Virtual Assistant."
Cheers,
Boquinha-ga
|
Request for Question Clarification by
umiat-ga
on
02 Aug 2006 19:25 PDT
Yes - VA means Virtual Assistant.
What's a Virtual Assistant?
http://canadianva.net/files/whats-a-va.html
|
Clarification of Question by
ghost2006-ga
on
02 Aug 2006 19:37 PDT
Sorry guys. I did understand that. What I do not know is what a
Virtual Assistant is! What do they do, who are they, how are they
selected, etc. Thanks
ghost
|
Clarification of Question by
ghost2006-ga
on
02 Aug 2006 19:48 PDT
P.S. Only UMIAT-GA needs to answer my previous clarification. Thanks to all
ghost
|
Request for Question Clarification by
umiat-ga
on
02 Aug 2006 20:40 PDT
Hello again, ghost!
You certainly don't want to hire just anyone who hangs out their
shingle and advertises as a Virtual Assistant. Many VA's go through a
certification program and advertise through an organization like the
Canadian VA network or work for an established group of individuals.
* Certification is NOT necessary, however, especially when one has
many years of experience with a variety of companies and diverse
office responsibilities.
Some VA's specialize in certain aspects of administrative office
work. Others are more general. In either case, it is essential to hire
someone who is serious enough about their profession to maintain a
good web presence and tell about their prior work experience.
=
Those Virtual Assistants affiliated with the Canadian VA.net must
agree to a certain code of ethics.
See the following link
http://canadianva.net/files/ethics.html
==
I have gone through a few of the links for Alberta-based VA's who are
affiliated with the Canadian VA network site and have culled out some
names that have a good web presence and list their work experience and
certifications.
http://canadianva.net/files/va-directory.html#alb
Martin Management Virtual Professionals
Jill Martin, Owner/Operator
P.O. Box 48115
St. Albert, AB T8N 5V9
P 780-868-8063
F 780-418-4070
http://www.virtualprofessional.ca/
About and Code of Ethics
http://www.virtualprofessional.ca/index-1.html
Martin Management Virtual Professionals ("MMVP") was founded in 2005
by Jill M. Martin. A graduate of the University of Alberta and Grant
MacEwan Paralegal Program, Jill worked in the legal field for 10 years
before starting her own Virtual Assistance firm. Having worked for one
of Canada?s leading law firms, alongside top-tier lawyers and their
international clients, she understands the challenges businesses face
on a daily basis and the need for highly-skilled administrative
support. For this reason MMVP was created.
Headquartered in St. Albert, Alberta, Canada, to MMVP there are no
geographical boundaries.
==
King & Associates International
Virtual Office Assistance
Phone: 780-458-8244 Cell: 780-995-8244 email: rcmking(at)telus.net
42 Delage Cres., St. Albert, Alberta Canada T8N 5Y8
http://www.pcpages.com/kai/
The Staff
http://www.pcpages.com/kai/assist.html
==
I like this one!
The Timely VA
Stephanie Sutton, Professional Virtual Assistant
Calgary, AB
P 403.255.3223
F 403.255.3285
http://www.thetimelyva.com/
About
http://www.thetimelyva.com/pages/about.html
==
You can continue down the list and look at the other websites for
Virtual Assistants throughout Canada. You do not need to stay in
Alberta. It is quite easy to cull out the more professional services.
I would not recommend contacting those who have not even bothered with a website!
==
Let me know if this helps!
umiat
|
Clarification of Question by
ghost2006-ga
on
03 Aug 2006 11:26 PDT
Thank you UMIAT for your furtehr research. Thanks CZH for your
suggestion. Please both STOP now. I am now going to look into the
options you have given me, and I will let you know soon who is the
winner! Cheers
ghost2006
|
Request for Question Clarification by
tisme-ga
on
03 Aug 2006 18:03 PDT
Hello,
I would recommend calling local schools and seeing if you can get a
secretary from them. I know from direct experience with multiple K-12
schools that the average school secretary is amazing. Since they don't
work for the summer, I am sure if you called a few schools they would
be able to have some interested candidates call you back.
Just an idea,
tisme-ga
|
Clarification of Question by
ghost2006-ga
on
07 Aug 2006 22:29 PDT
Hi. I am back. The results are:
CZH-GA: No, actually the site was of no help to me. I am ready to
assume that if I had had the time to look through it more thoroughly
it could possibly have helped. However, after about 20 minutes of
going through it, I did not find anything useful. Thanks anyway, it
might work for someone less rushed than I am.
UMIAT-GA: Hi. This was a valid suggestion, and well researched.
Again, it would have needed more time checking references etc. than I
had. Also, I did need my to-be secretary to come and work with me at
my place at times, so the VA option was not really good for me.
However, if in the next cuple of months I find a need for a VA for
other reasons, I will happily post another question ($20) just for
you. You can answer it right away. UMIAT, please let me know what is
the best way to make it easy for you to become aware of the new
question, if any. (do I make a new question called "For UMIAT-GA"?
and/or do I post a comment here? or what?) Thanks... but stop
checking past the end of October.
TISME-GA: Hi. Yours was actually the best answer I got, since it had
the advantages of my being able to get quickly some solid references
(like the principal, vice principal, teachers, etc), it was aimed at
local people that likely was available for the summer, and I agree
with you on the abilities of school secretaries. So you get the
award! Even if it turned out after all that before I had time to
start searching schools, a friend of mine did find me the exactly
right person. I still think that you do deserve to answer this
question. Could you please do it ASAP? I'd like to rate it now.
Thanks
ghost2006
|
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