You have finally made the decision and want to become a virtual assistant. You have read about the career, you know what it is and what skills you must develop to be successful. Now, the next step would be to prepare for it. You can learn some knowledge at university, but if this is not your case, do not despair. There are free virtual assistant course and today we are going to leave you a list of the best.
We recommend that you look for the one that best suits your needs or your area of expertise. This way you will be more familiar with the specific tasks that characterize each area of interest.
1. Certification in personal productivity – Google Activate
If this is your first immersion in the world of virtual assistants, as a recommendation in this list of free virtual assistant course, we leave you with the Google Activate Personal Productivity certification. This is ideal if you want to learn strategies to increase your performance on a project or when looking for a job.
In this course, you will gain knowledge in time management, personal branding, online reputation, idea generation, and more. Do you have little time in the day? Don’t worry! You will learn through pre-recorded classes, readings, and small quizzes that you can solve at your own pace. Likewise, if you want to obtain the final certification, you must take a final exam.
Additionally, you have the benefit of being able to review all the learning material unlimitedly, in case you ever need to remember a key concept.
On the Google Activate page, you can find other virtual assistant course free focused on communication, productivity, and finances, areas that will help you in your virtual assistant free training. In particular, we suggest you increase productivity at work and commercial communication. Who will teach you? The certification is carried out by Google.
Discover: Why hire a virtual assistant
2. Successful Negotiation: Essential Strategies and Skills – Coursera
Another free virtual assistants course that we suggest is this one from the Coursera platform. You will love it if in your daily life, you are delegated tasks with more responsibility such as negotiating with suppliers and it will also help you negotiate your contracts. Remember that this is one of the main skills of virtual assistants.
With this course from the University of Michigan you will be able to enhance your skills to: plan your negotiation strategy, negotiate successfully, close a contract, and evaluate the perceived benefits. The course takes approximately 17 hours to complete, but since it is 100% online, you will be able to progress at your own pace with flexible deadlines for submitting your assignments.
You will learn through explanatory and exemplary videos. Students even say they feel like they are analyzing an episode of Breaking Bad or House of Cards! In addition, you will have to solve questionnaires and a final exam. You can choose to complete the course for free or go for certification (which does have a cost).
Who will teach you? The course is hosted on the Coursera platform but is taught by Professor George Siedel of the University of Michigan. He is an honorary member of the Center for International Legal Studies in Salzburg, Austria, since 2006, and is recognized for his research in proactive law and negotiation and alternative dispute resolution.
3. Digital skills certification for professionals – Google Activate
Among the free virtual assistants course offered by Google Actívate, we also recommend taking this certification in digital skills. Nowadays virtual assistants must handle all types of office programs very well, but they also develop soft skills and personal competencies that allow them to lead and optimize their work.
In this course, you will be able to learn and refine your skills to keep your operating system updated, problem-solving techniques, some fundamental security aspects, rules for the correct treatment of information, tools for content creation, and communication management.
Likewise, you will learn to develop personal skills to move like a fish in the sea within this new virtual environment. This course is highly recommended for those people who do not have much control over technology but want to give it a try .
Who will teach you? The certification is carried out by Google.
4. Personal management – EdX
In the day-to-day life of a virtual assistant, it is common for them to have to lead a team or provide guidelines for a job. Human management is a skill that not only this type of professional must develop, but all people. Therefore, as part of these free courses for virtual assistants, we present this EdX Personnel Management program.
You will learn the difference between People Management and Human Resources Management, how to assign tasks based on skills, and the importance of building networks for the organization of a company. Likewise, two modules on effective communication and self-management will be addressed.
It works similarly to Coursera, the course is hosted on the aforementioned platform, but is offered by the Indian Institute of Management–Bangalore (IIMB). It lasts 6 weeks if you dedicate 2 to 4 hours a week to it. The only disadvantage of this course is that the videos and all the material are in English (as are the subtitles). If you know the language, go ahead and take it!
Who will teach you? Your instructor will be Vasanthi Srinivasan , a professor at IIMB. She specializes in human behavior and human talent management.
Now is your turn
There are many other virtual assistant courses on both EdX and Coursera. There are also sites like Udemy, where you can access massive open online courses in your favorite area.
Remember that specialization is one of the most important ways to differentiate yourself! A course can make a difference, so we encourage you to train as a professional.
We hope this article has been useful to you, and if so, don’t forget to share it with your colleagues!
Meet Adam, the Managing Director of a Real Estate Virtual Assistant Company. Adam has been working in the industry since 2019 and has a wealth of experience in making outsourcing work for real estate businesses. He fell in love with real estate at a young age and has been working in the field since 2005. Adam’s passion for real estate and helping other business owners thrive led him to start his own real estate business in 2019, and eventually, to establish a real estate virtual assistant company to take it to the next level. Adam’s wealth of experience and knowledge in real estate and outsourcing make him the perfect person to guide you in setting up your virtual assistant team. Feel free to reach out to him on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, or Instagram.