Near’s Virtual Assistant Services - Are They Legit? Here’s Our Review

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‍Virtual assistants (VAs) are remote workers who provide administrative, technical, or creative support to businesses. They can handle various tasks, from scheduling appointments and managing emails to designing graphics and conducting market research.

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While VAs offer numerous benefits, including increased efficiency, cost savings, and flexibility, businesses often face challenges when hiring them. Finding suitable candidates with the right skills and experience can be time-consuming and difficult. Additionally, traditional job boards and freelance platforms may not provide the specialized talent for specific business requirements.

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This is where specialized VA services come in.

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Why turn to specialized VA services?

Specialized VA services are platforms that provide a VA to a business based on its specific needs and requirements. Hiring from such services is beneficial for the following reasons:

• Tailored skillsets: VAs are matched based on your business needs, ensuring a better fit.
• Industry expertise: Specialized VAs often have experience in your business sector, leading to more efficient work.
• Focused support: Receive help with niche tasks that require specific knowledge or expertise.
• Higher quality control: These services often vet VAs, ensuring higher quality and reliability.
• Faster onboarding: VAs from specialized services are accustomed to your industry's tools and processes, reducing training time.

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What is Near? 

Near is a fully managed VA recruiting platform that helps businesses find, hire, onboard, pay, and retain remote professionals from Latin America.

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With a vast pool of 35k+ candidates, the company claims to recruit a VA within 21 days. It also claims to thoroughly screen and vet a candidate before finally placing them in your organization.

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Apart from recruiting, the company also helps businesses with other tasks related to VA management, such as payroll and compliance.

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Founded in 2020, Near has its headquarters in Texas, USA.

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What does Near offer?

Near VAs are skilled in several administrative and executive duties. To name a few:

• CRM
• Bookkeeping
• Email management
• Data entry
• Research
• Project management
• Social media management
• Client follow-up

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As for the industries, they specialize in SMBs, non-profits, D2C, tech, startups, large corporations, etc. 

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Additionally, Near lets you hire VAs with different experience levels, too. Here are the four categories you can choose from:

• Junior VA: 1-2 years of experience
• Mid-level VA: 3-5 years of experience
• Senior VA: 5+ years of experience
• Manager/Director of VA services: 7+ years of experience

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What are the pricing plans that Near offers?

Near does not mention its pricing plans explicitly on its website. To get a quote, you must reach out to its sales team.

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Where are Near VAs from?

Near sources its VAs from Latin America. This includes countries like Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, Panama, Peru, etc. The platform claims all its professionals are educated, skilled, English-proficient, and work in US time zones.

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How credible is the company?

Near is a fairly credible company. With a total of 21 reviews, it’s rated 4.9/5 on G2.

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How do I hire a VA with Near?

The process of hiring a VA with Near is simple. 

1. Discovery session: You will get on a sales call with Near’s team, wherein you will be required to highlight your delegation needs based on which Near will scout the best candidates for you.
2. Kickoff call: Now, Near will assign you a dedicated recruiter with whom you will highlight the ideal candidate profile and create your hiring framework.
3. Interview and hiring: Finally, within three days, Near will send you the profiles of the most suitable candidates from its roster. You can interview the ones you deem the best fit and hire any one of them.

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What are some pros and cons of Near?

Upon thorough evaluation, here are some pros and cons of hiring with Near that we could identify:

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Pros:

1. Near offers fully managed VA services: Near undertakes all aspects of VA hiring for you—right from selecting the best candidates to payroll and compliance management. This makes it a very comprehensive VA hiring solution.
2. The platform’s talent pool is vast: Near hosts over 35k professionals and skilled experts. This enormous talent pool makes it an ideal choice for all types of businesses.
3. You get high-quality VAs: Near claims all its VAs are educated, skilled, and vetted. So you can be assured of their service quality.
4. Near’s hiring process is rapid: Near claims to recruit a VA in a business within a record 21 days. This swift hiring speed makes it one of the most coveted platforms in the industry.
5. The company is credible: Near is listed on a few independent review websites, and its ratings on each are satisfactory, making it a credible company for VA hiring.
6. You won’t encounter time zone issues: Near claims all its VAs work during US business hours. So, there’s no chance of disruptions occurring during collaboration. 

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Cons:

1. Near’s range of services is limited: Although Near’s roster of VAs is extensive, its range of services is narrow. So, it’s not the most versatile platform in terms of delegation. 
2. The platform isn’t transparent: Near does not mention its pricing on the website. So, it’s impossible to gauge whether its services are fairly priced or expensive.

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Our review—what do we think of Near?

Near is a well-known VA recruiting platform. It not only sources top talent from across Latin America but also matches you with the best ones that meet your requirements and helps you manage them. This all-round approach makes it an ideal choice for most businesses. But not all.

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Since Near’s range of services is very limited, many businesses may not find it appropriate to satiate their delegation needs. Moreover, the platform’s pricing is also unavailable, so you never know if their services are within your budget. Hence, go for a platform that offers a wide range of services and discloses its pricing plans. This will help you make a more informed decision. 

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Stephen is one of the founders of Lumiere and a Harvard College graduate. He founded Lumiere as a Ph.D. student at Harvard Business School. Lumiere is a selective research program where students work 1-1 with a research mentor to develop an independent research paper.

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