How to Hire a Personal Assistant for Your Small Business
The personal assistant position encompasses a variety of roles designed to support your daily operations and streamline business activities. As business growth needs grow increasingly complex, many small business owners are turning to personal assistant services to help manage their workloads and enhance time management skills.
Personal assistants are economical, efficient, and can be an invaluable asset to a small business, providing administrative tasks handling and executive assistant support. But before you can reap the benefits of having a PA, you need to know how to find and hire the right personal assistant, understanding the hiring process and crafting a detailed job posting.
In this article, we'll discuss the benefits of hiring a personal assistant for your small business, as well as provide tips on how to find and hire a part-time personal assistant that fits your needs through effective community management and social media marketing. Let's get started!
The Benefits of Hiring a Personal Assistant
Before we delve into how to hire a personal assistant for your small business, let's talk about their benefits.
There are, of course, numerous benefits to hiring a personal assistant for your small business, enhancing both personal and professional tasks management.
We'll outline a few below, but note that this range is not exhaustive; a PA can provide a wide range of benefits including administrative support and data entry efficiency to your company.
1. A personal assistant can help you manage your time and workload.
A personal assistant can be an invaluable asset when it comes to managing your time and workload. Consider also the overlapping roles of an administrative assistant, particularly in handling complex scheduling and document management.
They can take care of tasks that would otherwise take up your valuable time, such as scheduling appointments, responding to emails, and managing your calendar. Ensure that your personal assistant can communicate in a professional manner, representing your company well in every interaction.
2. Personal assistants can help you stay organized.
An experienced personal assistant can also help you stay organized, which is crucial for any small business owner, enhancing Microsoft office suite utilization and inbox management.
Look for a highly organized personal assistant who can effectively manage both your schedule and their own responsibilities. Your personal assistant should be adept at using various tools to schedule meetings efficiently, aligning with everyone’s availability.
Similar to executive assistants, personal assistants provide not only administrative support but also critical strategic input. They can keep track of your to-do list and ensure that all important tasks are completed on time.
The ideal personal assistant is capable of wearing multiple hats, easily transitioning between administrative, technical, and creative tasks. By efficiently managing personal tasks, a personal assistant ensures that business owners can focus on strategic decision-making.
3. They can help you boost your productivity.
Hiring a personal assistant can boost your productivity by facilitating screening phone calls and managing social media channels, which are key professional tasks.
A personal assistant’s proficiency in fielding phone calls can significantly reduce interruptions, allowing you to maintain focus on your most important work.
Effective social media management can extend your reach and help you find more talented candidates. By taking care of tasks that would otherwise take up your time, they can allow you to focus on more important work-related tasks.
4. A personal assistant can be highly affordable, and do work that you would have otherwise done for less money.
Hiring a virtual personal assistant can be highly affordable, offering calendar management and travel arrangements at a competitive hourly rate, and can actually save you money by taking on specific tasks.
PAs often work for less than minimum wage, and they can do tasks that you would have otherwise done for less money, allowing you to broaden your business capabilities and do it at an affordable rate.
What are the types of PAs?
Personal assistants play a crucial role in the smooth operation of businesses and offices, helping to manage tasks and communications for individuals or teams. Their responsibilities vary significantly depending on the work environment and the level of management they assist. Here's a detailed look at the different types of personal assistants and the key roles they fulfill.
1. Office assistants
Office assistants are fundamental to the everyday functioning of a workplace. They do not typically serve a single individual; instead, their duties span across the entire office.
One of their primary responsibilities is handling and organizing paperwork, which can include filing documents appropriately to ensure they are accessible when needed.
Additionally, they manage incoming and outgoing communications, answering phone calls, and redirecting them to the appropriate departments or personnel.
Another crucial aspect of their job is scheduling meetings, coordinating between different parties to find suitable times, and ensuring that all necessary materials and equipment are prepared. Their role is pivotal in maintaining the organizational flow within the office environment.
2. Administrative assistants
While administrative assistants share many responsibilities with office assistants, they often have a more defined role in direct support of one or more individuals within an organization.
Besides handling general office tasks, they are the first point of contact for visitors, responsible for greeting them and directing them to the correct office or meeting room. This position requires excellent communication skills and a good understanding of the organization's structure to efficiently guide guests and manage internal communications.
Administrative assistants also handle more specialized tasks such as preparing reports, managing expense reports, and sometimes handling confidential information, depending on their level of responsibility.
3. Executive assistant
An executive assistant typically supports mid-level managers or executives. While they perform many of the same duties as an administrative assistant, their role is intensified by the level of authority and decision-making their superior holds within the company.
Executive assistants manage a wide array of tasks that include extensive calendar management, coordinating complex travel arrangements, and handling sensitive communications.
They act as an extension of the executive, often handling preliminary discussions and communications on their behalf to streamline their workload. The role demands a high degree of professionalism, discretion, and the ability to anticipate the needs of the executive they support.
4. Senior executive assistant
The role of a senior executive assistant is often seen as a step above the executive assistant, providing support not just to a single executive but sometimes to multiple high-level executives. Their responsibilities are broad and can have a significant impact on the strategic operations of the company.
Senior executive assistants manage more critical business functions, such as overseeing major projects, negotiating with vendors, and sometimes even participating in executive-level decision-making processes.
They need to possess a robust set of skills, including advanced organizational capabilities, superior problem-solving skills, and the ability to manage confidential information securely. The effectiveness of a senior executive assistant is crucial in enabling top executives to focus on critical business strategies by efficiently handling operational details.
How to hire a personal assistant
Hiring a personal assistant requires time, dedication, and exceptional attention to detail, qualities every harnessed potential personal assistant should possess to meet the personal assistant job description.
Seek a detail-oriented candidate who can manage complex schedules and ensure no task is overlooked. When posting a personal assistant position, be clear about the job responsibilities to attract suitable candidates
1. Decide whether you want a local or overseas assistant.
There are pros and cons to both local and overseas personal assistants. The main benefit of hiring a local executive assistant is that they can be easily reached, have a deep understanding of your company culture, and know the scheduling meetings and phone calls dynamics in your area. They may also have contacts you can draw on for assistance.
The main benefit of hiring an overseas PA, commonly referred to as a virtual assistant, is that they offer more affordable personal assistance, a boon for small business owners managing a tight budget. They may also have specific skills or knowledge that would be beneficial to your business.
It's also typically easier to manage their compensation, as all they need to do is make an invoice with their local address, allowing you to handle administrative tasks such as schedule appointments and claim it as a business expense, aiding in business growth without worry about bureaucratic red tape.
However, there can be some drawbacks to hiring an overseas assistant. For example, communication can be difficult and cultural differences may cause misunderstandings. If your business is reliant on mutual cultural understanding, this may not be the best option.
Consider this step carefully, as your decision here will lay a solid foundation for the personal support and project management expected of potential personal assistants, dictating much of the regular feedback and learning curve associated with their professional development. Building a strong foundation with clear expectations and regular communication will enhance the relationship with your personal assistant.
2. Peruse popular PA job boards
The 'personal assistant' is a job title like any other. Naturally, this means there are a number of online job boards catering to this profession.
If you're searching for a local executive assistant, begin by looking for 'personal assistant' + your location (e.g. 'personal assistant London'), ensuring you find the right person with necessary skills for scheduling meetings.
If you're happy to consider overseas candidates, try searching with keywords like 'online personal assistant'. Some popular platforms for finding virtual assistants include onlinejobs.ph, Facebook Marketplace, and Craigslist, ideal for locating talented candidates with the best skills and the right skills for your personal life management.
3. Once you've found a candidate, screen them thoroughly
Before you hire a personal assistant, it's important to screen them thoroughly. This will help ensure that they are a good fit for your business and have the skills necessary to do the job.
Some aspects you might want to consider screening for include excellent organizational skills, the ability to field phone calls, and proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite as these are other skills crucial for an effective full-time employee:
• The ability to handle multiple tasks simultaneously
• Strong written and verbal communication skills
• A good knowledge of Google Docs, Microsoft Office and other common software programs
• The ability to work independently
If you're not sure what to look for, consider asking the candidate to complete a task or take a test to assess their skills. Prepare a set of interview questions that will help you understand the candidate’s ability to handle job pressures and multitasking.
4. Enforce daily check-ins to ensure they're meeting your expectations
One of the benefits of hiring a personal assistant is that they can take care of tasks you don't have time for. However, this doesn't mean you should simply hand over a list of to-dos and forget about them. A well-informed hiring decision will ensure that your personal assistant is not only skilled but also a good cultural fit for your company.
It's crucial to enforce daily check-ins to ensure your assistant is meeting your hiring manager's expectations, fulfilling the job description, and managing administrative tasks in the right assistant manner. The hiring manager will play a crucial role in assessing the fit of potential personal assistants during the interview process.
This approach helps prevent misunderstandings and ensures that both you and your personal assistant are aligned, facilitating the ideal candidate to become a driving force within your team and enhancing the coordination with other employees.