Considering how tasking and stressful everyday business and personal activities can be, it is important to discuss how to hire a personal assistant.
The day-to-day running of a successful business or organization involves a series of activities.
These activities could involve supervising operations/tasks, relating with employees/customers, placing orders, documentation/paperwork, accounting/record, keeping and marketing, etc.
These are important as they ensure that your business or organization runs smoothly.
They also determine the successful outcome at the end of the day, month, or year.
As your business expands or you are promoted to a higher position in your organization, these responsibilities and activities increase.
These responsibilities and activities can be quite overwhelming and daunting.
Therefore, making it difficult for you to carry out your duties effectively.
Hence, the need to hire a personal assistant.
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Who is a Personal Assistant?
A personal assistant is also known as a personal aide or an administrative assistant in some cases.
This is an individual who helps a specific person with their daily activities and needs.
Depending on the individual, brand, company, or organization they work for, personal assistants can be assigned different titles.
Some of these are; administrative assistant, executive assistant, celebrity personal assistant, personal shopping assistant, office assistant, Real Estate personal assistant, House managing personal assistant, etc.
Personal assistance can also be rendered physically or virtually.
What can a Personal Assistant do For You?
Personal assistants are great multi-taskers who work daily to enable you to achieve your goals and objectives.
Hence, there is a wide range of activities and roles to perform for you or your business.
Some of these roles include;
Personal assistants represent you by playing the role of your first contact person.
This could be between you and your clients/customers or between you and your colleagues.
Your assistant also plays your contact person’s role by receiving your calls.
They also respond to your emails and letters and screen them before sending them across to you.
In the case of a household personal assistant, they serve as an intermediary between you and your household staff.
They also manage, plan and organize your day-to-day or weekly activities.
They create your work calendar, schedule your meetings, book your appointments and create reminders for you.
Additionally, they book your flights and arrange for your accommodation when needed.
Administrative duties such as documenting, typing, noting taking, writing reports, and presentations are also part of a personal assistant’s roles for you or your business and brand.
Personal assistants are creative and can serve as project managers.
Meaning, they can organize meetings, conferences, events, and presentations when the need arises.
Other Responsibilities of Personal Assistants
Occasionally, personal assistants supervise tasks and projects assigned by their superiors to other staff members and clients by working with them or collaborating with them.
In the absence of their superiors, they can delegate and assign duties based on their superior’s instructions.
Personal assistants shoulder the responsibility of making sure the office systems and methods are constantly being improved upon.
They also ensure that the office stationery is stocked and the office properties are in good shape.
Research is a great skill that personal assistants possess.
So when you hire a personal assistant’s services, be rest assured that they will help you carry out research and findings when the need arises.
Above all, personal assistants handle the various requests that their superiors require of them appropriately and diligently.
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Benefits of Hiring a Personal Assistant
Personal/Administrative Support
Personal assistants provide their employers with all-around support.
This support could be administrative or personal in project management, responding to emails and calls, planning events, setting up meetings and presentations.
It can also involve managing budgets, recruiting, booking flights, reserving accommodations, shopping for them, booking appointments, etc.
Focus
Hiring a personal assistant allows you to focus your attention on other tasks and activities without worrying about pending projects.
This is because your assistant would shoulder the responsibility of ensuring everyone is on the right track.
As such, you have so much free time for yourself.
Management
An advantage of hiring a personal assistant is that they possess great management skills.
These management skills include managing administrative and executive duties and tasks and solving problems and crises.
Their management skills allow them to relate with other members of staff and coworkers for the smooth running of the daily activities in an organization.
Planning/Execution
The planning projects and events are an added advantage when you hire the services of a personal assistant.
They offer ideas, create a budget, negotiate with people, and deliver on the projects and events assigned to them.
Orderliness
Personal assistants bring orderliness to your life and business.
They strategize, plan and organize documents, data, emails, and your day-to-day activities to not overworked or have your schedules clashing.
They manage your calendars and your work schedules, and your activities every day of the week.
Availability/Flexibility
One of the benefits of hiring a personal assistant is availability.
When you hire their services, you do not have to worry about days and occasions where you are unavailable and how your business will run.
Personal Assistants are there to ensure that your businesses or daily activities do not experience any issues or lapses in your absence.
They fill in the gap by assigning duties and tasks, supervising work assigned, respond to calls and emails, attend meetings based on your instructions.
Accountability
Personal assistants are accountable.
By accountability, we mean that, unlike other staff members, they work round the clock to ensure that tasks are being completed and projects are being run smoothly.
They provide feedback and take responsibility when necessary.
Reduced Stress and Pressure
When you hire a personal assistant’s services, you reduce the stress and pressure you face as an individual, business, or organization.
Their sole responsibility is to ensure that your daily activities are more manageable by lending a helping hand.
Professionalism
Personal assistants are professionals and experts in their fields.
So when you hire one, you do not have to go through teaching them how and when to do their jobs.
They already possess the skills and experience that enable them to carry out their duties effectively and seamlessly.
Representation and Trusted Hand
Personal assistants are most times referred to as a representative of their employers.
This is because all they do is centered on their employer’s lives, activities, goals, and objectives.
Hiring one would be getting a person whose goals align with yours, which strives to ensure that you are well represented even in your absence.
Personal assistants are loyal to their employers.
This means that their employers trust them with their confidentiality.
They offered their employers new ideas and innovations.
Also, they supervise, monitor, and proofread their employer’s documents and projects to avoid errors and discrepancies.
Now that you know what a personal assistant can do for you, let’s examine how to identify the best one to hire.
Qualities of a Good Personal Assistant
Personal assistants are the right-hand men to their employers like we also stated earlier.
They are representatives of their employers.
Hence, they must possess certain vital traits to qualify or fit into the position perfectly.
Some of these qualities are as follow:
Good Verbal and Written Communication Skills
The first in the list of vital traits and characteristics are good verbal and written communication skills.
The daily life and duties of a personal assistant involve;
- receiving calls
- having one-on-one conversations with guests and colleges
- documenting data
- setting up meetings
- booking appointments
- receiving letters
- responding to emails, etc.
Hence, it is essential that they can communicate adequately without misunderstandings and errors.
Proficiency and Literacy in Using Computers
Another integral characteristic of a good and qualified personnel assistant is proficiency in computers.
This involves knowing how to operate a computer, sending an email, creating spreadsheets, scheduling, and creating a calendar using certain software,
Customer Service/Social Skills
A good personal assistant should possess great social skills and customer service abilities.
They serve as the middle man between their employers and coworkers and a wide range of clients.
So they need to have a diplomatic and great personality to relate properly with people, achieve great results, and get the job done.
Enthusiasm/Passion
Most importantly, a personal assistant should be enthusiastic and passionate about his or her job.
They should love the idea of helping their employers daily in achieving their goals and running their business successfully.
A passionate personal assistant is dedicated and committed to making sure the lives of their employer are improved, better, and stress-free.
Proactive
A good personal assistant is expected to be proactive and intuitive.
This means that he or she should not wait to be instructed or directed at all times before ensuring that certain things are in place or carrying out their tasks.
They should also be able to go about their task swiftly and adequately.
Organization and Management Skills
A good personal assistant should be well organized and have great management skills.
Their duties and jobs require a lot of planning, documenting, organizing, etc.
It also involves communications and managing relationships and the affairs of the office. Hence these skills are important.
Problem Solving Ability
Additionally, a personal assistant should have problem-solving skills and abilities.
This involves using attentive communication, analysis, research, creativity to identify problems and solve them.
Attention to Detail
A good personal assistant pays attention to details by listening and making observations.
This way, they can have a high level of precision in carrying out their task.
They also increase productivity and effectiveness while preventing errors, mistakes, and misconceptions.
Experience
If you consider hiring a personal assistant’s services, you should hire one who has gathered some level of experience and skills in their jobs.
A personal assistant who has some level of practice in a working environment would help you reduce the burden of coaching them or teaching them their responsibilities and roles.
Understanding/Knowledge
Depending on the type of job or organization, your assistant should know and understand the field you are hiring them for.
It is integral because it allows them to support you and your team in achieving your goals effectively.
It also enables them to monitor the day-to-day activities of your business successfully.
Additional Creativity
A personal assistant who understands your business’s visions will serve as a means of additional creativity to you.
They do this by using their skills and wide range of knowledge from their experiences to support you in carrying out your tasks and reducing the need to seek counsel elsewhere.
Savings
You get to save and reduce expenses when you hire the services of a personal assistant.
They offer you a wide range of services that you would have outsourced and pay for.
Also, they save you the stress of recruiting new staff to carry out certain functions.
Where to Find a Personal Assistant
Personal assistants are professionals that can be found via websites, business, and social media platforms.
Here are some recommended sites and platforms to find the right personal assistant for you:
Recommendations/Referrals
Recommendations and referrals are great ways to find your desired personal assistant.
Through referrals, previous employers of these personal assistants refer them to you or you to them.
Referrals are good because you get to have first knowledge of their experiences and skills.
It also helps you to weigh your options and determine if they are the right fit for you and your business or not.
Websites
Several websites recommend the best personal assistants around you to you.
Websites such as Upwork, total jobs, freelancer remote.co, guru, elance, etc., will come in handy in helping you find the right personal assistant.
LinkedIn is a business platform that connects you to your desired personal assistant in your preferred location.
You could decide to post a job vacancy seeking a personal assistant’s services or make use of the search option to locate personal assistants in your preferred field and organization.
Fiverr
Fiverr is similar to Linkedin.
It connects you to your preferred freelance personal assistant, who is available and ready to work.
Social Media
Another way to find your desires, the personal assistant, is through the use of social media.
Social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram highly recommend.
Personal assistants on this platform can be found when you put up a job vacancy post and also when you make use of generic hashtags like #inhousepersonalassistant, #celebritypersonalassistant, #administrativeassistant #personalassistant, etc.
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Steps on How to Hire a Personal Assistant
Hiring the right personal assistant involves some steps and procedures, which includes;
Decide the Type of Personal Assistant (physical or virtual) to Hire
The first step you need to take is to conclude the preferred type of personal assistant you are looking to hire; physical or virtual.
This needs to be stated in your job vacant post.
It helps you streamline the number of applicants that you get.
Deciding on the type of person you want can also be in terms of their fields, for example, executive assistant, in-house personal assistant, or celebrity personal assistant.
Outlying your Goals and Objectives
An integral of your hiring process involves outlying your goals and objectives.
Write down what you desire from your protective personal assistant before you proceed to hire.
This gives you and your assistant clarity and focus.
It also gives your assistant an insight into your expectations.
Guidelines
Additionally, your personal, company, business, or brand guidelines need to be stated even as you outline your goals and objectives.
This includes your policies, rules, principles, and routines.
This helps direct your assistant on the dos and don’ts of your brand or organization.
Your Budget/Payment Plan
You shouldn’t overlook this step in your hiring process.
Through budgeting, you can determine the type of assistant you can afford and the duration of time you can afford them.
A budget allows making plans for the personal assistant you want to hire.
It is also a way of knowing how much you can pay for the services of a personal assistant.
Job Vacancy
After going through your list of recommendations and options, you can decide to expand your options by posting a job vacancy seeking a personal assistant’s services.
Your vacancy should not only entail the job position.
Instead, it should also entail the type of personal assistant, the qualification, and specifications.
It is also essential that you state your payment on the job vacancy post to avoid misconceptions and the stress of going through several assistants you cannot afford.
Create a Shortlist of Potential Personal Assistants to Hire
The waiting list is a shortlist of the potential personal assistants you are looking to hire.
You can do this by reviewing their profiles and writing down the name of suitable candidates.
Your requirements and specification is also a factor that makes up your waiting list.
Schedule an Interview
Interviews are the most integral part of your hiring process.
This is where you find out everything you need to know about your prospective personal assistant.
Their experiences, specifications, personalities, and the alignment of their goal and objectives with yours.
Here are some questions you might consider asking your prospective personal assistant during an interview:
- Can you tell me something about yourself that is not on your resume? Or How would you describe yourself?
- What is your experience(s) in the role of a personal assistant?
- Why did you choose to become a personal assistant?
- What are your strengths and weaknesses?
- What skills do you possess?
- Why do you want to work with my company or me?
- What was your relationship with your last employer?
- Do you possess any additional skills?
- What are your goals?
- What would you say has been your greatest achievement as a personal assistant?
- Describe a time when you resolve a crisis during your day-to-day life as a personal assistant?
- How do you manage time and dealing with pending tasks and projects?
Method of Communication
Your method of communication is another factor that you should decide on while hiring your assistant.
This method depends on the type of personal assistant you decide to hire.
If you are looking to hire a physical/in-house personal assistant, a face-to-face or one-on-one conversation and communication would be the most effective communication method.
On the other hand, when you have a virtual personal assistant, voice calls, video calls, and emails would serve as communication methods.
Extend the Job Offer
You can extend the job offer by reaching out and informing your chosen personal assistant that you’ve offered him/her the job based on their qualifications and performance during the interview process.
Depending on the communication method, you can place a phone call, video call, or send an email informing them of this offer.
Get your Personal Assistant Onboard
The last but not the last step is to get your assistant onboard.
This step involves helping them transition into their new positions by providing their working tools and offices.
It also involves orienting them on your company or brand’s policies, visions, and guidelines.
It also involves introducing them to other members of your team or staff and assigning them their first project or task.
Conclusion on How to Hire a Personal Assistant
Personal Assistants are meant to work with you in making your life easier and support you.
This involves assisting you by handling and executing your tasks to achieve your goals to the best of your abilities.
Hiring the wrong personal assistant will be counterproductive to achieving the purpose stated above.
This is why you should strive to get it right during your first hiring process.
This saves you the stress of rehiring and wasting precious time.
We hope that you find your desired personal assistant while taking note of our listed qualities and traits, as well as our recommendations.
Just in case you need an assistant to assist you with specific aspects of your business, here’s how to hire a virtual assistant for internet marketing.
