FOR CAREER STARTERS OR STUDENTS: Part-Time VA to a Director in EU

JOB OVERVIEW:

This is a long-term job for people at the start of their working life in the Philippines, including students.
Work experience is not required.

A sharp mind, good written English, and the will to take real responsibility are required.

ABOUT THE DIRECTOR,
THE PERSON THE ASSISTANT WILL WORK FOR

Mindaugas grew up in extreme poverty in a village in Lithuania, in one room without electricity or running water, raised by a single mother. As a teenager he was placed in a children’s home. At school he was elected student president of a school of 2,000 pupils. At 15 he started his first small business, selling used phones and computers, and started using drugs around the same time. As a young man he went to prison for drug offences and for non-violent crimes he committed while on drugs. After his release he changed how he lives and started his life completely over from a Caritas homeless shelter, later living in his car. The same charity now rents cars from his company. He has been clean for more than seven years, and has repaid every debt from that time.

Today, at 29, he runs a car rental company in Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania. He has been through a lot in life, and therefore does not judge people by stigma or stereotypes, sees the value and potential in hardship, and knows that anything is possible with enough effort. He works unusually long hours, often 14–16 a day without holidays, and moves fast. These are his hours; the assistant will not be expected to work them. He is looking for a psychologically strong assistant who wants to live and work with all their heart.

Candidates may ask him about any of his experiences in the interview. He prefers to be called Mindaugas, not “sir”: he does not identify with his title.

WHY A CAREER STARTER

Mindaugas believes that a person at the start of their working life has something experience cannot replace: they learn the work the way it is done in this company, without habits from other jobs, and they still ask the questions an experienced person no longer asks. He started from nothing himself and knows how far a person can go when someone gives them a real chance and real responsibility. This is not about paying less: the salary is well above what a beginner usually earns. Over the years, the right person can become one of the people the company is built on.

THE JOB

The assistant will work directly for Mindaugas, remotely, and take over all the office work that can be done online for the company’s constantly growing fleet of about 70 cars:

1. Technical inspections, mandatory and periodic: keeping records and tracking deadlines;
2. Insurance: tracking policy types and expiry dates, and preparing renewals based on the cover needed or the lowest cost;
3. Damage: marking damage on car diagrams based on the photos received;
4. Mileage and servicing: weekly or other periodic summaries from GPS data, oil and tyre change deadlines;
5. Data entry: contracts, handover reports, fuel and damage records;
6. Invoicing: invoices to clients according to each client’s invoicing type, entering supplier invoices into the accounting software, tracking payments;
7. Traffic fines: identifying the driver and preparing replies to government institutions for the director’s signature;
8. Keeping a register of Mindaugas’s tasks and commitments, with a short daily summary.

The work will start with one task, not all of them at once. Mindaugas will teach the assistant how it is done, and new tasks will be added one by one as each is learned.

As the company grows, the work will grow too:

1. Market research for new projects and markets to enter;
2. Testing the company’s new rental management system and helping move data into it;
3. Sourcing cars for the fleet: searching listings and auctions, comparing prices, checking vehicle history by VIN;
4. Periodic fleet reports: utilisation, revenue and costs per car;
5. Comparing suppliers’ prices for tyres, parts and services;
6. English-language communication with foreign clients and suppliers;
7. Travel and trade-fair planning.

REQUIRED QUALITIES

The assistant will:

1. Find solutions that are not in the instructions and propose better ways of doing the work;
2. Try to solve problems independently and ask whenever in doubt;
3. Be able to disagree and explain why, and accept direct criticism;
4. Notice deadlines and problems in advance and come with a proposed solution;
5. Report their own mistakes and bad news immediately;
6. Aim for long-term work and growth with the company;
7. Keep all company and client information confidential;
8. Check dates, amounts, plate numbers and names before sending anything;
9. Send the daily summary every day and meet deadlines without reminders, including during busy periods such as exams.

These qualities will be checked in the test task and the interview.

Practical experience would be an advantage: helping in a family business, carrying family responsibilities or working while studying.

HOW THE WORK WILL BE ORGANISED

The assistant will d ---------- when to work: in the evening, at night or at weekends, whatever fits around other commitments or studies. There will be no need to be online all the time, and the assistant will be able to send the daily summary at any time of day that suits them. Lithuania is 5–6 hours behind the Philippines, so the assistant’s evening will be Mindaugas’s afternoon.

Most communication will be written, plus one call a week. Mindaugas’s work happens on his phone, so he is reachable at any time and with any question. Even the smallest doubt is a good reason to message him: a question takes him a few seconds to answer, while a guess can cost much more.

When a task needs extreme precision, Mindaugas will say so in advance, so the assistant will know where to be extra careful.

For Mindaugas, the assistant will be a person, not a formality. He will care how the assistant is doing, will be interested in their life, culture and goals, and would like a human working relationship, not only an exchange of tasks. The assistant will always be free to leave any personal question unanswered.

Mindaugas speaks directly and often jokes, also about himself. He will not count hours or check when the assistant is online. What will matter is that the work is done well.

Mistakes happen to everyone, Mindaugas included. A mistake reported straight away is usually easy to fix together, and that is the end of it. Only hidden mistakes become real problems.

PAY AND FUTURE

The salary will be €400–600 per month for the first two years. It will be a fixed monthly salary, not an hourly rate, and the exact amount will be agreed at hiring. Half of the first month’s salary will be paid in advance, right after hiring, so the assistant will not have to work the first month on trust. The payment method will be agreed with the assistant.

After the first two years, the salary can grow along with the company.

If the assistant wants to stay and does the work well, Mindaugas will never fire them. When problems come up, they will find a solution together.

REQUIREMENTS

1. Based in the Philippines;
2. Good written English;
3. Own computer and a stable internet connection.

HOW TO APPLY

There is no need to send a CV. Instead, the candidate should send Mindaugas a letter about their life, in their own words and up to two pages long. He will read every letter himself.

The letter should begin with the words “Hello Mindaugas” and tell where the candidate comes from and what their life has been like so far; what the most important decisions in their life have been, and why; what they are doing now, for example work or studies (with programme, year and university), and how many hours a week are available; what they want from their life in the coming years; and anything else the candidate considers relevant.

Concrete details matter more than beautiful words. The candidate may share only what they are comfortable sharing. The letter will be discussed in the interview, so it should be written by the candidate personally, not by AI.

SELECTION

Candidates selected on the basis of their letters will receive a test task: real market research that will take a few hours to complete. Mindaugas will review all the completed tasks personally and invite the best candidates to an individual video interview. Everyone invited to the interview will be paid €25 for the test task.

The interview will not be a standard one. Mindaugas is not interested in prepared answers and will interrupt if he hears a script, because he wants to talk to the real person. At the end, the candidate will be able to ask him the most uncomfortable questions they could have.

Before starting, the chosen candidate will sign a confidentiality agreement.