Hiring Your First Business Personal Assistant: Some Guidelines
for Successful Hiring
Hiring the first personal business assistant is an exciting
time for new business owners. It means that the business is
doing well enough that the business owner can no longer keep up
effectively with the demands of the new business. Sales are
exploding, and time becomes of the utmost importance. Scheduling
of business chores and personal chores can become very demanding
and complex. This is the time new business owners often find
themselves considering a personal business assistant.
A personal business assistant differs from a clerical worker or
secretary, as the duties are more diverse for a personal
assistant. A personal assistant will do whatever is needed to
make the business run smoothly and will do whatever is necessary
to make the business owner's life run smoothly also. Although a
personal assistant usually also performs clerical and
secretarial duties, a personal assistant is more a "jack of all
trades" than any other type of employee and the duties may
include personal chores done on behalf of the employer.
The choice of a personal assistant therefore should be given the
utmost of consideration. Here is a list of possible qualities to
look for when choosing a personal assistant:
1. Flexibility of Schedule: the hours a personal assistant works
can be very varied, depending upon the needs of the business
owner. These hours can include some nights and weekends when
social activities and business meetings may occur.
2. Flexibility of Personality: a good personal assistant needs a
flexible, easy going personality, as the demands of the job can
be quite stressful, as well as diverse.
3. Ability to Multi-Task: since the tasks are diverse,
multi-tasking abilities are an absolute necessity.
4. Ability to Bond and Work Well with Others: the personal
assistant will be exposed to everyone involved in many ways
within the business, as well as the business owner and clients.
An ability to establish relationships easily with others is
mandatory.
5. Ability to Learn Quickly and Effectively: a personal
assistant will need to come into a business and learn every duty
quite quickly and effectively. There may be a large learning
curve, depending upon the business and the needs of the business
owner.
6. Knowledge of Office Procedures and Other Procedures
Associated with the Business: without some prior knowledge of
office procedures and routine procedures that are unique to the
business hiring the assistant, problems usually occur.
7. A Good Work History: having a personal assistant that reports
to work sporadically or is frequently late, with many absences,
will only cause frustration overall for the business owner and
create more work, not diminish the workload.
8. The Ability to Use Judgment and Work with Little Supervision:
a good personal assistant will need to be self-motivated, making
many of their own judgment calls concerning the business.
9. Leadership Qualities: there will be duties required and
chores given the personal assistant which will require taking
charge of others at times, and accomplishing goals.
10. Organizational Skills: with the amount of chores and
diversity of chores required of a personal assistant, a good one
will have high end organizational skills, will be able to
prioritize effectively, and will not suffer from "analysis
paralysis", but will be able to make decisions quickly and
efficiently.
11. Self Confidence: a good personal assistant will need to be
aware of their own needs and the needs of others, and will have
to stand by decisions without backing down, therefore confidence
in themselves and their decisions is necessary.
12. Customer Service Skills: many of the chores that a personal
assistant performs will bring the assistant into direct contact
with clients, therefore great customer service skills are also
mandatory.
A business owner seeking to hire a personal assistant should
look for the qualities above and also use their own intuition
about an individual applying for this position. The business
owner should also seek to hire someone whose personality and
goals meshes with their own, as the personal assistant and the
business owner will spend many hours each day together, and will
need to be of the "same mind" about major issues.
It is also important when hiring a personal assistant to
determine how much the business can afford to pay a personal
assistant, and also to be realistic about the costs of a
"quality personal assistant". Many personal assistants will work
for reasonable rates, depending upon the country in which the
business owner and assistant reside. This usually doesn't
translate into "minimum wage requirements", however, as the
diversity of the job itself would require a higher pay scale in
order to attract more talented applicants for the position. A
good rule of thumb, is to pay as "high as possible" while still
staying within the budget of the business.
After all, in a situation such as the search for a qualified,
reliable, energetic personal assistant, "cheap is not always
better".