Best Sites to Find Executive Virtual Assistant Jobs (2026): Who Each Suits and How to Land a First Gig

Which site is best for executive virtual assistant jobs?

It depends on how you want to be found:

Platform fees change. Check each platform's official fee page (linked in Sources) before you set your rates.

Is LinkedIn a good place to find executive VA work?

For senior executive support, LinkedIn is often the most natural place to start. Founders, chiefs of staff and recruiters look for assistants there, and your profile works as your portfolio.

How to land a first gig:

1. Change your headline from "Virtual Assistant" to something specific, such as "Remote Executive Assistant for Founders: Inbox, Calendar, Travel."
2. Search "executive assistant remote," "executive assistant contract" and "chief of staff assistant," then save the searches and turn on alerts if available.
3. In your About section, list your tools (Google Workspace, Notion, Slack, Trello), your time zone overlap and the kinds of executives you support.
4. When a post fits, message the hiring manager or founder directly with a short note instead of relying only on the application form.

Read each listing to see whether it accepts contractors.

Should I look at EA/VA staffing agencies?

Specialist executive-support staffing and placement firms match assistants with founders and executives. They suit people with a few years of relevant experience who want a vetted introduction rather than a cold pitch. Senior executive roles are often filled this way, or through referrals.

To find them, search phrases such as "executive assistant staffing remote contract," "virtual executive assistant placement" and "remote EA recruiting agency." On each firm's own site, check:

• Whether it places remote or contract assistants right now, or only employees.
• How you are paid and whether it charges candidates any fee. Be cautious if it asks you to pay to be placed.
• What its screening involves, and what client types it serves.

Prepare a one-page summary of your tools, past executive-support scope and references. Screening often asks for proof, such as how you managed a busy calendar or handled confidential information, so have a concrete example ready.

Is Upwork a good place to start as an executive VA?

Upwork suits people who want a structured way to build proof: a profile, completed contracts, reviews and tracked hours. Check Upwork's freelancer service fee page for current terms before pricing your work.

How to land a first gig:

1. Make your profile title specific, such as "Executive Assistant for Founders: Inbox, Calendar, Travel."
2. Search "executive assistant," "inbox management" and "calendar management" rather than the generic "virtual assistant."
3. Write each proposal around one problem in the post. If the client mentions a messy inbox, say how you would triage it in week one.
4. Take a small, well-scoped first contract to earn a review, then raise your rate on the next one.

Can r/forhire lead to executive assistant work?

Sometimes, but screen carefully and set expectations. r/forhire is a public subreddit where people post that they are hiring. Most fresh public posts there skew toward smaller or general admin gigs, while senior executive roles more often go through LinkedIn, referrals or agencies. Treat these posts as a way to build a first reference and a track record. Executive-level work often takes longer to land.

Read the subreddit's rules and posting tags, sort by New, and reply while a post is fresh. To narrow results, try:

• site:reddit.com/r/forhire hiring remote
• site:reddit.com/r/forhire "executive assistant"

In any thread, look for clear scope and stated payment terms, and skip anything vague about what you would do or how you would be paid.

Example (hypothetical): a founder posts that they need someone to manage their inbox and calendar across two time zones. A strong reply is short:

Hi, I support founders with inbox triage and calendar management in Google Workspace. For week one I'd set up triage rules, a shared calendar template and a Friday summary of open items. I overlap with your hours from 9 to 1 Eastern. My rate is X per hour; happy to start with a two-week trial scope.

Avoid a generic paragraph about yourself. Name the detail from their post.

How do I set a rate for executive VA work?

Don't copy a number from a random thread. Start from the annual income you want, divide by the hours you can realistically bill, and add room for self-employment costs and platform fees. You can also compare against what an in-house executive assistant earns in the client's market, using a source you can cite. Then offer a two-week trial scope, so the client sees your work before committing to a longer retainer.

Where does Sidequestboard fit in?

Sidequestboard is a curated discovery dashboard for fresh public opportunities from communities and social platforms. It is not a marketplace, and clients do not post jobs on it. It gathers public posts into one feed so you do not have to check Reddit and other communities by hand, and you can save the ones that fit.

It helps most when your problem is timing. Posts get buried fast, and replying early gives you a better chance of being seen. You open the original post, respond directly at the source, and can use the draft-a-first-reply feature as a starting point. For executive support, edit it with the specific detail about their calendar, tools or time zone.

Be realistic about fit: the linked freelance virtual assistant jobs feed is a general VA feed, not executive-only, so expect many smaller admin posts alongside the occasional executive-support lead. It does not guarantee jobs, interviews or income. It shortens the search so more of your time goes to pitching.

What about Contra and PeoplePerHour?

Look at these after the options above.

• Contra suits independents who already have work to show. Build a profile around one or two case-style entries, such as an inbox triage system or travel-itinerary template with client details removed. See Contra's pricing page for current terms.
• PeoplePerHour is most relevant in the UK or EU or for fixed-price projects. Package something narrow, such as "Weekly Inbox and Calendar Admin for One Executive: 5 hours per week, daily triage, scheduling and a weekly summary." Check PeoplePerHour's fee terms before you price it.

How do I choose and land my first executive VA gig?

1. Want direct roles or recruiters? Sharpen your LinkedIn headline and set up saved searches.
2. Want a vetted placement? Search for specialist staffing firms and confirm they take contractors.
3. Need proof? Start on Upwork and take one scoped contract.
4. Want direct clients? Reply early to r/forhire posts with a short, specific message.
5. Tired of juggling tabs? Use a discovery feed to see fresh public posts in one place and edit a draft reply before you send.
6. Already have samples or based in the UK/EU? Add Contra or PeoplePerHour on the side.

Executives hire on trust, so address confidentiality up front in every pitch. Say you will sign an NDA, use a password manager and delegated inbox or calendar access instead of shared credentials, and keep client details out of your portfolio. Then state your tools, such as Google Workspace, Notion or Trello, and what the first week will look like. Be wary of any post that promises easy money for simple typing or data entry; that is not executive-level work.

When you are ready to scan fresh public posts in one feed, you can get Sidequestboard on iPhone from the App Store and save relevant leads as you go.

Sources

• Upwork — Freelancer Service Fee — Official platform fee information; verify current terms before relying on pricing.
• PeoplePerHour — Service Fees — Official platform fee information; verify current terms before relying on pricing.
• Contra — Pricing — Official platform fee information; verify current terms before relying on pricing.