Jene Rose Manese – Administrative Support Specialist

Hello, I’m Jene Rose Manese, from the Philippines. You can call me ‘Jene’ for short. I graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Hotel and Restaurant Management from St. Clare College in the city of Caloocan. I also passed the Civil Service Professional Exam in 2019 before I fully decided to take a leap of faith and explore other careers online. It was at the peak of the pandemic when I resigned from my 7 years career as a manager in a restaurant in 2020. The experience I gained in a leadership role helped me to overcome my fears and step outside my comfort zone.

As someone who is more exposed to physical interaction and face-to-face communication with diverse people, my first few months working as a virtual assistant is a different kind of feeling. While it’s challenging to seek clients as a complete beginner, I pushed through it because I prioritised my family’s safety. I also want to be more productive with my time as I don’t have to do daily commutes spending more than 4 hours every day going to and from work.

I started my freelancing journey as a part-time virtual assistant doing content creation for a digital marketing agency servicing fitness trainers and business owners in the US. I used Facebook, Instagram, Canva, and Buffer as my tools. My first full-time role was as an Amazon virtual assistant, doing product research, purchasing management, and seller central account management for my client in the United Kingdom. I learned to use spreadsheets to analyse data, interpret Keepa charts to make informed decisions on researching profitable products to sell, implement pricing strategies, shipment and inventory reconciliation, as well as review and approve other virtual assistant’s product research results.

Then before 2021 ended, I applied and was hired as a full-time admin assistant in a social enterprise based in New Zealand where I honed my skills in managing diverse responsibilities such as program support, email management, file management, research, data entry, creating reports, and other ad hoc tasks. They expanded their program’s reach to Australia where I’m currently doing administrative tasks as well. My client also assigned me to do various tasks for his other businesses where I learned to create newsletters for email marketing and manage his social media accounts from account creation to scheduling content, and metrics reporting.

These experiences taught me to become proactive, persistent, adaptive, and passionate about continuous learning, especially in an agile organisation. The clients want to have reliable virtual assistants who are problem solvers and help them to make their lives easier. I also learned that clear and effective communication is key to a harmonious relationship with my client and the team I work with. My goal moving forward is to continuously improve my skills by staying updated with the latest trends and best practices in the virtual assistant industry. I want to be the go-to person who can bring value to the table and help my clients achieve their business targets.

For a copy of Jene’s resume, please click here.