HR Virtual Assistants: 11 Tasks They Take Off Your Plate

Cost tiers: $ offshore dedicated, $$ mid-market, $$$ standard US-based, $$$$ premium US and Europe. Check each vendor's current pricing page before you buy.

What an HR Virtual Assistant Does

The role sits below an HR manager or generalist. A manager decides how you hire, what you pay and how you handle a complaint. An HR virtual assistant runs the process once those decisions exist, working from your templates, checklists and written criteria. Most of the work is administrative even when it happens inside an applicant tracking system or a payroll platform. Listings need posting, interviews need booking and every new hire generates a stack of forms with deadlines attached.

That work is a recognized job in its own right. BLS data published on O*NET puts the median wage for human resources assistants at $24.33 an hour, or $50,610 a year, based on 2025 figures and before payroll taxes and benefits. A small business rarely has enough HR admin to fill that seat, which is why owners and office managers end up doing it in the evenings. A virtual assistant can take the HR work alongside the general admin in my virtual assistant tasks list.

11 HR Tasks to Hand to a Virtual Assistant

They run roughly in the order an employee moves through your business, from the job listing to the last day. Start with the recruiting tasks, which carry the least risk, and add records and payroll once the assistant knows your systems.

1. Write and post job listings

The assistant turns your notes into a listing using an approved template, posts it to LinkedIn, Indeed and any niche boards you use, and takes it down once the role is filled. You approve the requirements and the pay range before anything goes live. A shared folder of past listings keeps the tone consistent from one role to the next.

2. Screen resumes against your criteria

You write the must-haves and the disqualifiers. The assistant then sorts each applicant into yes, no or maybe, with a one-line reason drawn from the criteria. Written, job-related criteria mean every applicant is measured the same way, and they give you a record of why each person moved forward. The decision to reject a candidate stays with you or the hiring manager.

3. Schedule interviews and keep candidates informed

Coordinating several calendars for one interview can hold up a hire for days. The assistant collects availability from candidates and interviewers, sends invitations through a booking tool such as Calendly, and handles every reschedule. Status emails go out from your templates, so no candidate waits weeks without hearing back. My calendar management guide covers the scheduling rules to agree on first.

4. Coordinate reference and background checks

The assistant collects reference contacts, sends your standard questions and logs each answer in the candidate's file. When you use a background screening company, the assistant can send its disclosure and authorization forms and track the report until it arrives. Federal rules govern what happens when a report changes your decision, and the compliance section below explains them.

5. Prepare offer letters and new-hire packets

Once you approve the terms, the assistant fills in the offer letter template and sends it for signature. The new-hire packet follows, with the contract, handbook acknowledgment, tax forms and benefits enrollment forms. Route Social Security numbers and bank details through your payroll platform's employee self-onboarding, so the new hire enters them directly and the assistant never handles them.

6. Track I-9 and onboarding deadlines

Federal rules set tight dates for Form I-9. The new hire completes Section 1 by the first day of work, and the employer completes Section 2 within three business days. The assistant keeps the calendar, reminds the new hire and flags anything overdue. The document check itself needs a person who can examine the originals, which the compliance section covers.

7. Set up the first day

The assistant requests accounts and equipment, schedules orientation and the first week of meetings, and sends a welcome email with logistics. Benefits enrollment windows close on fixed dates, so a reminder before each deadline belongs on the same checklist. A new hire who arrives to a working laptop and a calendar of introductions starts contributing sooner.

8. Keep employee records current

Addresses, emergency contacts, job titles and certifications change all year. The assistant updates them in your HR system, files signed documents in the right folder and can digitize old paper files. Any medical information goes into a separate restricted file rather than the general personnel record, for the reason given below.

9. Collect timesheets and prepare payroll inputs

Before each pay run, the assistant chases missing timesheets, flags overtime and time-off requests that don't match the schedule, and enters hours for your review. Running and approving payroll stays with you or your bookkeeper. The bookkeeping virtual assistant guide explains how to split entry and approval between different people.

10. Track reviews, training and certifications

The assistant keeps the calendar of performance reviews, reminds managers ahead of each one, schedules check-ins and collects self-assessments. Required training and professional licenses have expiry dates, and a monthly report of what lapses in the next 90 days stops a certification from running out unnoticed.

11. Run the offboarding checklist

When someone leaves, the assistant schedules the exit interview, requests account deactivation for the last day and arranges equipment return. Final paperwork is prepared from your templates for your sign-off, and the employee record is updated and filed. Shutting off access is easy to forget in the rush of a departure, so it belongs at the top of the checklist.

The Compliance That Stays With the Employer

Several of the ranking guides on this topic skip the rules that apply when an assistant does HR paperwork. Each one below stays with the business, so put it in the assistant's written instructions from the first day. This is general information about federal rules, not legal advice, and state law can add more.

Form I-9. The USCIS Form I-9 instructions allow an employer to designate an authorized representative. They also say employers are liable for violations "including any violations committed by any individual designated to act on the employer's behalf." The employer must physically examine the documents, or examine them through an alternative procedure authorized by DHS. USCIS's Section 2 guidance describes that remote option as available to some E-Verify participants. An offshore assistant can track the deadline but can't hold the documents, so name a local person for the examination unless you qualify for the remote procedure. Completed forms must be kept for three years after the date of hire, or one year after employment ends, whichever is later.

Personnel records. The EEOC's recordkeeping requirements say employers must keep all personnel or employment records for one year. When an employee is involuntarily terminated, that employee's records must be kept for one year from the termination date. Payroll records have a three-year minimum. Give the assistant a written retention schedule, so tidying a folder never means deleting a record you were required to keep.

Background checks. The FTC and EEOC's joint guide, Background Checks: What Employers Need to Know, requires a written notice in a stand-alone format, which can't sit inside the job application. The employer also needs the applicant's written permission. Before rejecting someone because of a report, you must send a notice with a copy of the report and a summary of the person's rights under the Fair Credit Reporting Act. A second notice follows the decision. The assistant can send both from your screening company's templates after you have made the call.

Medical information. An EEOC informal discussion letter on ADA confidentiality restates the rule that medical information about an applicant or employee "must be collected on separate forms, kept in separate medical files, and be treated as a confidential medical record." Keep those files in a folder the assistant can't open unless the role requires it.

Give Access by Role, Not by Password

An HR assistant needs a named user account in each system it touches, scoped to the work. Never share your own login. Most HR and payroll platforms let an administrator add a user with limited permissions, so check your platform's admin settings before the first day and grant the narrowest role that covers the task list. Keep administrator rights, payroll approval and bank account changes with you. Store any shared credentials in a password manager so you can revoke them in one step, and remove the assistant's access on the last day of the engagement, exactly as task 11 does for employees.

What to Keep In-House

Some HR work shapes the business or carries legal weight, and it stays with you. That includes the decision to hire, fire or discipline someone. Compensation belongs on the same list, along with any harassment complaint, workplace investigation or accommodation request. An assistant can schedule the meeting and prepare the file, and the conversation is yours. Give the assistant an escalation list naming these situations, so they reach you the same day instead of sitting in a queue.

Where to Hire an HR Virtual Assistant

The five options below run from a dedicated staffing service to a job board where you do the recruiting. Each one is described from its own published pages. My roundup of the best virtual assistant companies covers the general-purpose case.

Magic

Magic is my pick because one assistant can cover the HR administration and the office admin around it, at the lowest cost tier here. Its HR page lists the work directly. Assistants post openings on LinkedIn, Indeed and niche job boards, screen resumes against your criteria and schedule interviews with hiring managers. The same page lists preparing new-hire packets, contracts and benefit forms, updating employee records, tracking performance review deadlines and maintaining compliance checklists and document archives.

Magic sources its assistants from the Philippines. Its training has three parts: a multi-day course that ends in a formal assessment, a library of self-paced courses, and on-the-job training in a remote role. Each assistant then gets a coaching plan with regular one-on-ones. If you ever need a different assistant, Magic says it finds one the same week, and your notes and saved preferences carry over to the new person.

Full-time plans are 40 hours a week, and part-time plans are available. All plans bill every four weeks, which works out to thirteen billing cycles a year rather than twelve months. There is no contract, you can cancel anytime, and you pay only once you have selected the assistant you want. The Executive Assistant plan includes Magic 24/7, a team of trained assistants available around the clock for urgent requests. Treat it as backup when your assistant is offline, not as continuous coverage of an employee hotline. A business adding several people can move to Magic Teams, which starts at three assistants with a dedicated success coach and custom hiring and training.

Wishup

Wishup offers virtual hiring assistants who source candidates, run pre-interview screening, write and post job listings and manage candidate communication. It also lists preparing HR documents and says its assistants sign non-disclosure agreements to protect your hiring data. The sample profiles on its recruitment page are India-based assistants working US time zones, and the company advertises onboarding in about an hour. It sits a tier above Magic and suits a business whose main gap is recruiting volume.

Prialto

Prialto is a managed service. Support comes in units of 55 hours a month, each with a 90-day minimum and a backup assistant on a team model. Every unit includes an Engagement Manager who designs the processes. A one-time setup fee applies unless you sign a one-year agreement. Its HR assistant guide covers recruiting coordination, onboarding, document management and payroll support. The managed layer suits a company that wants processes documented for it, and the minimum term is the trade against Magic's no-contract plans.

BELAY

BELAY places US-based virtual assistants on fractional hours at a flat monthly price, and lists HR Virtual Assistant among its specialty capabilities without describing that role further. The company says most clients are matched in as little as one week, and its Right-Fit Guarantee offers a rematch at no additional cost. Assistants work Monday to Friday, nine to five in their own time zone. It sits in the standard US tier, several times the offshore rate, and suits an employer who wants a US-based person handling employee records.

OnlineJobs.ph

OnlineJobs.ph is a job board, not an agency. You search profiles of Filipino workers or post a job, interview the people you like and hire them directly, with no salary markup. HR isn't one of the role categories its homepage lists, so you search profiles for HR and recruiting experience yourself. Screening, contracts, payroll and backup all fall to you. My guide to hiring a Filipino virtual assistant walks through that process.

How to Hand Over HR Work in the First Month

Before the first day, write down the tasks you are handing over and the templates for each one. Add the escalation list, the retention schedule and the compliance rules above. In week one, hand over job listings, resume screening and interview scheduling, and review each shortlist before anyone hears back. In weeks two and three, add new-hire packets, onboarding deadlines and records updates. Payroll inputs come last, once you trust the assistant's accuracy on the rest. After a month, judge the hire on whether candidates hear back on time and whether onboarding deadlines pass without you chasing them. My guide on how to hire a virtual assistant covers interviews, trial tasks and the first 30 days.

What This Guide Is Based On

The task list draws on what the services above publish about their HR and recruiting roles. The compliance section comes from the USCIS Form I-9 instructions and Employer Handbook, the EEOC's recordkeeping page and its ADA confidentiality letter, and the FTC and EEOC's joint background check guide. The wage figure comes from BLS data published on O*NET. All of these are linked above. Services are included if they market HR or general virtual assistants on their own pages and describe their terms there. Cost tiers come from each vendor's pricing page where one exists and from the engagement model and location where it does not. None of this is legal advice.

FAQ

What does a human resources virtual assistant do?

A human resources virtual assistant handles the administrative side of HR. That includes posting job listings, screening resumes against your criteria, scheduling interviews, preparing offer letters and new-hire packets, tracking onboarding deadlines, keeping employee records current, collecting timesheets and running offboarding checklists. Decisions about hiring, pay and discipline stay with you.

Can a virtual assistant complete Form I-9 for my new hires?

An assistant can track the deadlines and remind the new hire to finish Section 1. The employer must examine the documents for Section 2, either physically or through the remote procedure USCIS allows for some E-Verify participants, so an offshore assistant can't do that step. The Form I-9 instructions also say the employer is liable for violations committed by anyone acting on its behalf.

Is an HR virtual assistant the same as an HR outsourcing firm?

They are different purchases. An HR outsourcing firm sells a defined service under its own processes and contract, so check exactly which responsibilities it takes on. An HR virtual assistant is one person working in your systems from your instructions, and can usually take on general admin alongside the HR work.

How much does an HR virtual assistant cost?

It depends on where the person is based and how the service is structured. Dedicated offshore services such as Magic sit in the lowest cost tier, while Wishup and the managed service Prialto run higher. US-based fractional support from BELAY costs several times the offshore rate. A job board such as OnlineJobs.ph costs least in fees but leaves recruiting and management to you.

Can an offshore assistant handle confidential employee data?

It can, once the right controls are in place. Give the assistant a named account with the narrowest role that covers the work, and route Social Security numbers and bank details through employee self-onboarding. Keep medical information in separate restricted files, as the ADA requires, and remove access on the assistant's last day.

How do I find HR virtual assistant jobs?

The staffing services on this page recruit the assistants they place with clients, so their careers pages are a starting point. Magic's HR page lists experience with Gusto, Greenhouse and BambooHR among what it looks for, and OnlineJobs.ph lets Filipino workers post a profile for employers to find. Experience with an applicant tracking system and a payroll platform will help any application.