How To Hire A Personal Assistant
Complete with job descriptions, skill profiles, and interview templates. Use this Personal Assistant hiring guide to help you make the right decisions, fast.
Personal Assistant Recruitment Guide
What does a Personal Assistant do?
A Personal Assistant generally provides administrative support to an executive or group of executive in a corporate environment. These include calendar management, coordinating and scheduling meetings, preparing documents, organizing business meetings, email management, and ad hoc tasks.
Day to day tasks of a Personal Assistant
- Check emails and answer phone calls.
- Schedule meetings, appointments, or events, and ensure these are updated in the calendar.
- Regularly meet or coordinate with the manager to manage expectations for the day’s outline.
- Organize travel schedules and itineraries.
- Prepare correspondences on behalf of the manager.
- Join meetings and take down notes for minutes.
- Prepare research on any subjects as requested by the manager.
Personal Assistant definition
A Personal Assistant’s primary responsibility is to provide administrative support to a senior manager or C-Suite executive. Because of this, they require excellent communication and coordination skills as they will be working closely with their manager with all their duties.
HIRING PROCESS
Personal Assistant Hiring Process
Build the ideal candidate profile
Skills needed for a Personal Assistant
A Personal Assistant must have excellent multitasking and coordination skills. Their job is to manage all appointments and errands of the manager to ensure that the day to day is seamless and avoid disruptions as much as possible. It is also important to have good communication skills as they will be working closely with the manager throughout the day.
- Organization
- Communication
- Multitasking
Pro Tip
For entry-level roles, you are expected to receive a big number of applications compared to senior roles. It is important to highlight the specific skills or qualifications you need for the role, and what is the expectation when hired so that applicants can gauge if they are fit for the position.
WRITE A JOB DESCRIPTION BASED ON SKILLS
如何编写一个Personal Assistant job description
Once you’ve determined the skills required for the role, you can write the job description to advertise for your position. Here’s what to include in your Personal Assistant job description:
Job Title:你招聘的是什么职位?
Summary:What makes your company unique? What would it be like to work for you?
Responsibilities:An overview of the role’s day-to-day activities, and how the position contributes to the organization
Requirements:Skills a candidate must have to perform the job successfully
Benefits:Details of compensation, benefits, and any perks on offer
Pro Tip
In building your candidate profile, remember you’ve already identified what skills are needed to succeed in the role. Here’s where to list your “must-have” skills and maybe a couple of “nice-to-have” skills.例如,一个私人助理必须是一个擅长ienced multitasker, but it would also be nice to have knowledge on basic accounting processes especially on budget and expense.
SELECTING THE IDEAL CANDIDATE
Sample skill tests for a Personal Assistant
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Question 1
Organization
Question Type: Text
You are making travel arrangements for the Senior Account Manager who is a guest speaker at an interstate conference next month. It’s the first time they have visited this particular city and you’re booking everything: flights, accommodation, car hire, etc.
Briefly outline how you would present the travel details to them as they are located in another state.
Question 2
Communication
Question Type: Video
Your boss has asked you to screen all calls until 3:15pm.
You receive the following call from a client:
“Hi, this is urgent that I speak with (your boss). Can you please pass the phone to him he’ll want to speak with me.”.
Please record your response.
Question 3
Multitasking
Question Type: Text
You’ve been asked to assist your colleague with a number of tasks with an urgent deadline. You also have to book your directors last minute business trip (travel, accommodation and client dinner) for this evening.
How would you manage your day so that you ensure you complete all your tasks before the end of the day?
INTERVIEW TOP PERFORMERS
How to interview a Personal Assistant
一旦你Vervoe技能评估th也浮出水面e most qualified people for your open role, you can focus on interviewing these candidates. The interview should focus on any skills that require development that were highlighted from the skills assessment.
Now you know that candidates can do the job, the interview becomes more of a relationship building exercise where you can get to know the candidate on a more personal level, understand their motivations, and how they would fit in with the team.
Making An Offer
How much does it cost to hire a Personal Assistant?
The US average for a Personal Assistant is $32,177 according to Talent.com. Meanwhile, Glassdoor.com reports it at $36,131. The salary range can start as low as $25,000 and can reach up to $113,000. This depends on the location, the years of experience, and additional skills of the applicant.
Personal Assistant Salary United States
Personal Assistants’ average salaries in the United State range from $32,177 – $36,131 (USD). The lowest reported salary is at $25,000, and the highest reported is $113,000. Depending on the employer, some offer bonuses as additional pay.
Source:Glassdoor.com,Talent.com
Personal Assistant Salary United Kingdom
Personal Assistants’ average salaries in the United Kingdom range from £27,160 – £29,617 (GBP). The lowest reported salary is at £20,000, while the highest reported is at £43,000. Salaries depend on the location, educational background, years of experience, and additional skills.
Source:Payscale.com,Glassdoor.com
Personal Assistant Salary Australia
Personal Assistants’ average salaries in Australia range from $60,576 – $72,500 (AUD). The lowest reported salary is at $45,000 (AUD), while the highest reported is at $85,000 (AUD). Salaries depend on the location, educational background, years of experience, and additional skills.
Source:Payscale.com,Talent.com
