Showing posts with label Employment. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Employment. Show all posts
How to Choose a Personal Assistant
Hiring a personal assistant can be a tricky process involving much trial and error. Not every employer is the same, and a personal assistant should not only fit the employer's needs but also his or her personality. This article offers a few ideas on how you can eliminate some of the stress of hiring a personal assistant (PA).
When you are first looking for an assistant, it is important to equally weigh all the facets you will look at. Although skills and employment history are important factors, employers must also consider an applicant's personality and life experiences. Chemistry, an intangible quality most often discovered during an interview, is the most important factor in determining the success of this employer-employee relationship.
Qualified applicants should be
• organized
• detail-oriented
• confidential/private
• able to prioritize
• responsible
• professional
• personable
• resourceful
• dependable
• prompt
• able to delegate
• resilient
• a self-starter
• motivated
• loyal
• a team player
• honest
• trustworthy
• able to anticipate and plan ahead
The fastest and easiest way to get the applicants you are looking for is to write a descriptive and detailed job description. To you as an employer, a job description helps you to clearly define the type of person you would like to hire. Not only will you decide what qualifications and previous work experience your PA should have, but writing a job description will also help you to develop some of the questions you will ask during screening and interviewing. From the perspective of the applicants, the job description serves as a guide in helping them to know exactly what you are looking for and to make them understand that this is a serious position. A clearly written list of needs tells applicants that you, the employer, have your head together and know what you need and that all the PA has to do is follow your directions and provide the help.
When writing your description, consider how much time you want to spend training your new hire. If you write a well-defined job description, you will make it easier on yourself in determining how much experience a person really has.
When written for a PA position, a comprehensive job descriptions has at least six standard parts: (1) Job title; (2) Nature of work; (3) Qualifications and qualities of employee; (4) Duties to be performed; (5) Work schedule and comments; and (6) Salary.
Not every PA will be ideal. But following the above suggestions will see you better on your way to finding a personal assistant who fits your needs and can give you the help you're looking for.
Author Description :
Temporary Personal Assistant (http://my-tpa.com) offers part-time personal assistants in Los Angeles who work closely with busy individuals to provide personalized service. Rachel Spohn is a freelance writer.
Career Of A Personal Assistant
There are many different jobs out there in the market as there are different types of people. Starting from cooking to cleaning, office jobs to outdoor careers, there are so many different careers that you can choose from to make sure you get the perfect one for you. If you do not have a regular job, why don't you consider becoming a personal assistant or PA? A personal assistant is responsible for planning and scheduling meeting, updating your calendar and helping to the person's schedule focused and to the point. A personal assistant is considered as a successor to the role of secretary and has a high reputation attached to it.
Looking for personal assistant jobs on the internet will offer you hundreds of pages that will tell you just how to find the perfect placement for you. It's good to note though from the off that being a PA is a demanding, hard working job and that good clerical experience as well as any previous work in administration will go a long way to preparing you for the workload given. Most PAs tend to work for traditional businesses, although in recent years celebrity personal assistants have cropped up in the media, usually to reveal intimate details about the person they were previous employed for.
While most personal assistant jobs are on the premises of the company in question, with the advent of freelancing sites like Elance and oDesk, it is possible to hire one over the internet as well as work from home rather than in an office. This is a great benefit for those who have PA experience and are wanting to get back into their career, but maybe have a family or child to care for. A quick search into sites like the ones mentioned will offer you plenty of oppertunities to get into the business. Don't expect a great deal of pay at first unless you've got a wealth of experience at hand. With many employers looking for a few years of experience if the necessary qualifications are missing, it's best to either have one or the other at hand if you want to make the tast just that little bit easier. Some employers though will take the chance on hiring new recruits and train them so they will be effective in their role.
As mentioned before, celebrity personal assistants have become famous in their own right in the last few years due to the press focusing on their troubles with former famous employers. One of the latest headlines focuses on Steve Wig who was the former PA for Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich. He is currently suing his former employer for unpaid overtime as well as bonuses which he alleges haven't been paid by the drummer. Headlines like these are reasonably common as the press looks for juicy stories on the stars to help sell their newspapers.
Career as a PA is certainly very promising, although keep in mind there are many thousands heading towards the same career. Having some experience and some great grades will do you credit in the eyes of the employers. In addition, you may just get the perfect job you were always looking for.
Looking for personal assistant jobs on the internet will offer you hundreds of pages that will tell you just how to find the perfect placement for you. It's good to note though from the off that being a PA is a demanding, hard working job and that good clerical experience as well as any previous work in administration will go a long way to preparing you for the workload given. Most PAs tend to work for traditional businesses, although in recent years celebrity personal assistants have cropped up in the media, usually to reveal intimate details about the person they were previous employed for.
While most personal assistant jobs are on the premises of the company in question, with the advent of freelancing sites like Elance and oDesk, it is possible to hire one over the internet as well as work from home rather than in an office. This is a great benefit for those who have PA experience and are wanting to get back into their career, but maybe have a family or child to care for. A quick search into sites like the ones mentioned will offer you plenty of oppertunities to get into the business. Don't expect a great deal of pay at first unless you've got a wealth of experience at hand. With many employers looking for a few years of experience if the necessary qualifications are missing, it's best to either have one or the other at hand if you want to make the tast just that little bit easier. Some employers though will take the chance on hiring new recruits and train them so they will be effective in their role.
As mentioned before, celebrity personal assistants have become famous in their own right in the last few years due to the press focusing on their troubles with former famous employers. One of the latest headlines focuses on Steve Wig who was the former PA for Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich. He is currently suing his former employer for unpaid overtime as well as bonuses which he alleges haven't been paid by the drummer. Headlines like these are reasonably common as the press looks for juicy stories on the stars to help sell their newspapers.
Career as a PA is certainly very promising, although keep in mind there are many thousands heading towards the same career. Having some experience and some great grades will do you credit in the eyes of the employers. In addition, you may just get the perfect job you were always looking for.
Author Description :
Looking for assistant to help with you daily routine? Hire a Virtual Assistant and your Virtual Assistants will take care of daily work to make your life much more easy and stress free.
Hiring Virtual Assistant Services
What is a virtual assistant? A virtual assistant is a trained and skilled individual who works in the comfort of home or their own office. Virtual assistant services is to report and work in collaboration with small and big business owners and entrepreneur providing administrative support without being physically present in the office.
In the recent times, we have seen high growth of this job due to the fast phase of technology. One can now work in remote place while reporting to some other countries. Many big and small companies across the world are now hiring virtual assistant services. You can check online for the list of all the companies providing service VA, you can choose the company and country of which you would like to work with. Companies can save more when they get a services because VA's are sub contractor and they are not entitled to employee benefits nor pay any tax like those working inside the office. Though VA's do not have the same privilege like those working in the office, the good thing is that they have their own advantage like they can do their job anywhere as long as there is an internet connection.
Most of the service provider assisting you to get virtual assistant have flexible terms and you can take the service for an hour or a day or a month as per your need. While companies get benefited by paying only for the job done unlike regular employee, the candidate get help by doing the job in part-time or full-time as per the requirement.
Considering the importance of VA's, you have multiple options to hire one, however it might take a time to select one and there are high chances that you might pick the wrong candidate and they will fail to deliver your expectation. So you should always prefer to hire professional services that are in this business from long. They take care of screening the candidates, teaching them the skills and they always perform well.
Hiring a professional virtual assistant services has become more popular especially for those with small and home business. It is very efficient to keep the business working smoothly. It is also a viable option for those businesses who wants to cut their operating costs. Having done that, the company will save a lot from simple office supplies to paying off the electricity. A company, small or big has the option to hire a virtual assistant as a regular full-time employee or a part-time employee.
Author Description :
Visit us to get the best and affordable Virtual Assistant Services. You can visit us at rajpromotions.com
Efficient Working with A Virtual Personal Assistant
Since outsourcing and virtual assistance might be new to some people, many may wonder how best to interact with their virtual assistants and how they can establish good rapport with them. Well, there are a lot of different types of virtual assistants just as there are a lot of different types of bosses and employees. Working in a “virtual office” just made it a lot easier and a lot more straight-to-the-point.
The basics? When getting a virtual personal assistant of your own, be mindful of a couple of things to get work done more efficiently and smoothly.
Be specific.
You have a virtual assistant and you have specifically chosen him/her for the task you want. Now it is best to be specific what he or she ought to do in working it. Expect the questions that will be asked beforehand and get ready to answer them. When orienting your virtual assistant, you can either talk to him/ her by phone or write down your instructions. Either way, a clear definition of the purpose and the work will help your assistant tremendously.
Establish good communication.
Checking up with your assistant daily is not really that difficult. All it takes is just an email away. Some clients and their virtual assistants require a progress report, but it ultimately depends on your management style. A good thing to establish early on is rapport and good communication. Have an effort to know your virtual assistant and what times are convenient for him or her. Again, you can do this through phone call or through a chain of emails, your choice.
Define and expect a goal.
Set goals and standards that your assistant should follow. It is actually helping your assistant into creating or developing the kind of work you have in mind, the output that meets your expectations. Voice out these goals and lead your virtual assistant in your headed direction. Eventually, often soon, your assistant will be able to know what you want and present the work that you like ahead without you even telling them. This is what good rapport does for you.
Be open for suggestions.
As a good plus, your virtual personal assistant has probably had previous experience working for other clients and accounts, making him or her a seasoned and skilled person at his or her work. Keep your mind open for suggestions and techniques you may not have heard before. These ideas only serve to produce better work. Its quite alright if you do not like them anyway, you have the final say what goes.
Provide feedback.
It is quite helpful when you provide feedback every now and then. Your evaluation points out what needs to be done and how your assistant is doing. Just be constructive and all will fall into place. Praises and a pat in the back are also good in boosting up morale.
About the author:
Agents of Value Virtual Personal Assistant is a webmaster staffing company based in the Philippines that provides direct access to motivated agents for cost-effective web services.
Article Source: http://www.Free-Articles-Zone.com
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Personal Assistants - "Not Just For Celebrities"
First allow me to start by ending the false perception that one must be a celebrity or very wealthy person to have a personal assistant; this is not the case. Busy individuals, students, families; senior citizens and small businesses are utilizing personal assistant services more and more every day.
The average person’s life is filled with priorities from work, family life, groups, memberships or organizations not to mention personal life. Having a personal assistant is not just a luxury it’s a necessity for many people in today’s society.
Who Can Benefit From a Personal Assistant?
Busy individuals, college students, families, senior citizens, entrepreneurs and small businesses all can benefit from the services of a personal assistant. Having a personal assistant can bring about efficiency and eliminate stress. There is a great benefit for businesses to contract personal assistant services as they save on health, employment and payroll expenses.
What Can A Personal Assistant Do for Me?
A personal assistant can provide many different services however; many personal assistants will tailor their services to meet the needs of the individual. Listed below is a general list of services a personal assistant can provide:
Administrative Services o Make Travel Reservations o Monitor & Reply to Emails o Answer & Return Phone Calls o Plan & Coordinate Meetings o Open, Review & Sort Mail o Bill Payment Assistance o Generate Reports & Presentations o Conduct Research o Create Filing Systems o Create & Update Data Bases
Errand & Messenger Services o Grocery Shopping o Pharmacy Runs o Pick Up & Drop Off Packages o Pick Up & Drop Off Dry Cleaning o Gift Delivery o Bank Runs
Organizing The Home & Office
Homecare Services o House and Office Cleaning o Manage Home Improvements
Event Planning Assistance o Locate and Visit Venues o Coordinate Caterer, Music, Photographer, etc. o Order Invitations and manage RSVP’s o Shopping Assistance o Provide Day of Event Assistance
Can I Afford A Personal Assistant?
Personal assistants are not as expensive as people think. Many personal assistants provide services for a little as $10.00 up to $40.00 per hour depending on the service. A good personal assistant will provide a consultation to discuss your needs and advise the number of hours required to accommodate your request. Many people utilize personal assistants for a few hours a month to assist with their personal and business needs.
What to look for in a good personal assistant?
A personal assistant will have all the characteristics stated below:
Organization A personal assistant is involved in the direct management and organization of her clients’ life and more directly making sure the day to day goes smoothly. This can involve things like scheduling, organizing meetings, making travel plans, event coordination and phone and e-mail management.
"Go-To" Person A personal assistant has to be able to handle a lot of responsibilities. She must be highly organized and be able to deal with a hectic day.
Upbeat Energy A personal assistant is constantly working and often does not have a chance to have a break. Individuals seek assistants who not only have the required skills but can also keep up with the demands of a fast-paced environment and work long hours.
Advanced Computer Skills Personal assistants should have excellent computer skills for organizing spreadsheets in Excel, writing invoices and maintaining the contacts of their client. Personal assistants also have a lot of emailing and online research as part of their duties, so they will have to be able to communicate and solve problems online efficiently.
Trust & Commitment Personal assistants deal with sensitive and personal information, so individuals need assistants that they can trust and who are willing to commit the time and efforts required.
Thank you for inquiring about the services of a personal assistant. Your comments on this article are greatly welcome.
Lakisha Melvin - COO Uniquely Coordinated - Personal Assistant Boutique 400 Perimeter Center, Suite 900 Atlanta, GA 30346
P: 678-656-9409 E: lakishamelvin@uniquelycoordinated.com W: www.uniquelycoordinated.com
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Reasons for the Virtual Personal Assistant Boom
Thanks to the advancement of technology, these problems are now things of the past. All people have to do nowadays is to go online and get themselves a virtual personal assistant.
Virtual personal assistants are now taking over the work of any regular employee. Their capabilities are basically the same. The only difference is that virtual assistants are more technology-wise. They make use of modern tools to provide their clients with the best of service.
Below are some of the reasons why many people are getting their own virtual assistants:
1. Virtual personal assistants are capable of multi-tasking.
You will be surprised with the many skills virtual assistants are capable of. From sorting out emails to logging important files, you name it and it is done. Some virtual assistants can even do site maintenance and web marketing on the side.
Think how easy it would be for you to just rely on one person what would have been a task delegated to three or more persons. And imagine how reassuring it is for you to know that you do not have to train or teach your assistant everything.
2. Virtual personal assistants know what it like running a business.
Many virtual assistants have prior experience about running a business. Some are even business owners themselves. You know you are in good hands when a virtual assistant is helping you with your business.
For all you know, they might be able to share their ideas about how a business should go about. Experiences they had in the past makes them capable of giving sound advices and even strategies that can help your business become successful.
3. Virtual personal assistants are affordable.
A virtual assistant is your best option if you are on a tight budget. They do not cost as much as your regular employee.
In addition, you can agree upon certain terms of payment which will help you manage your finances better without getting a big hole in your pocket. You can hire the assistant on a per project term, months or years. It all depends on you.
4. Virtual personal assistants can start working for you ASAP.
Virtual personal assistants are not only equipped with the required skills, they also have with them the materials needed to start working immediately.
You do not have to worry about renting an office space or equipments. All you have to do is designate the tasks, specify your requirements and set deadlines and the virtual assistant is all set.
Lack of space, limited budget and work experience should not bother you anymore if you are just starting your business. What you should be concerned about is finding the person who can get the work done.
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How Do I Choose A Virtual Assistant
| There are an increasing number of small and start-up businesses that are turning to Virtual Assistants to provide hands on support for their businesses. The profession has been around for more than 20 years but demand for services is rising steeply as businesses discover the huge range of benefits and flexibility of using virtual support. As the profession is unregulated, anyone can set themselves up as a Virtual Assistant. That means businesses have to carry out thorough checks to ensure that they employ the services of a reputable Virtual Assistant. This guide has been designed to give small and start-up businesses a better understanding of the Virtual Assistant profession and the checks to carry out if they are considering virtual support. What exactly is a Virtual Assistant? A Virtual Assistant is someone who can provide a range of services to support businesses. They work remotely from their own office using their own equipment. A reputable Virtual Assistant will be member of one or more of the representative bodies reflecting their commitment to upholding quality standards. The experience and expertise of Virtual Assistants varies widely so research is needed to ensure that any prospective virtual support can meet your business needs effectively. Virtual Assistants can work on one-off projects or provide support on an ongoing basis including providing valuable call answering services ensuring that new business opportunities are not missed. A virtual office provides all the benefits of a physical office without the additional staffing, equipment or location costs. In general, Virtual Assistants charge between GBP18 and GBP30 per hour for their time, with some charging more. What are the benefits of using a Virtual Assistant? There are many benefits to using a Virtual Assistant: Their status - they are not an employee so you have no employer liability in terms of paying an annual salary, National Insurance, holiday or sick pay Flexibility - they can fit with the needs of your business exactly, providing support for ad hoc projects or on a long-term basis as and when required Growth - there is more scope for businesses to expand with a safety net by outsourcing tasks as and when they need to. It also means that there is more opportunity to call on support when work comes in, rather being forced to turn the work down because resources are unavailable Cost effectiveness and budget management - with Virtual Assistants you only pay for the time you use. This is important for small and start-up businesses so that they can track expenditure and change their plans accordingly Business profitability - for all businesses time is money. Often, it is cheaper for business owners to outsource tasks to a Virtual Assistant rather than do it themselves (because their own charge our rate will be more expensive than that of the Virtual Assistant). So, it makes more sense for business owners to use their time to focus on growing their business and looking after customers. Specialist skills - Virtual Assistants bring a wealth of skills and experience. Businesses can save both time and money by using the services of someone who can do a job quickly and efficiently Space - as Virtual Assistants work from their own office you do not need to think about desk space or equipment. What types of services do Virtual Assistants provide? Virtual Assistants can provide a range of services, including: typing - of business and official correspondence, legal documents and contracts, minutes, mail shots, dissertations, manuscripts, CVs, transcription (from tapes or digital files) travel arrangements - comprehensive domestic and international itineraries including car hire, flights, train travel and accommodation; provide maps and directions internet research - research and reports of findings and recommendations diary management - planning of business meetings and conference calls; providing helpful reminders for important dates business liaison - call minder service, message taking, filtering emails, contacts database management project support - act as administrative coordinator for a variety of projects, e.g. arranging courses, workshops, change of address cards personal life management - plan and organise grand celebrations, theatre bookings, restaurant reservations, receptions, invitations, Christmas card distribution, holidays, weekend breaks, collate quotes for home/car insurance renewal, research that special product or gift, organise cleaner, gardener, handyman etc. Where can I find a reputable Virtual Assistant? Personal recommendation is always a good start when you are seeking expert help or to outsource work. What information should I check before employing the services of a Virtual Assistant? Virtual Assistants vary in their expertise and experience. A reputable Virtual Assistant should, however, adhere to strict standards in terms of professionalism and quality. The following checklist will help you to make an informed decision about whether the prospective Virtual Assistant adheres to those standards and would be able to meet the needs of your business. A reputable Virtual Assistant will: be able to provide references/testimonials for previous work have personal indemnity insurance have processes and systems to ensure client confidentiality be registered with the Data Protection Act have a professional looking website and business cards etc have risk management procedures in place to protect their business and yours have separate home and work phone lines have business security processes, procedures and systems in place put in place contracts for any work to be undertaken be a member of the relevant professional bodies undertake study and training on an ongoing basis to keep their skills up-to-date be happy to provide timesheets for any work undertaken. How to get the most out of your VA There are a number of steps you can take to help ensure your working relationship gets off on the right foot and progresses smoothly. Suggestions include: agreeing in writing the nature of the work to be carried out, the specific activity, timescales, time inputs and the respective fees ensuring any contract makes clear the arrangements for billing and any other costs that may be incurred any changes to the agreement should be noted in writing to avoid any confusion later agreeing how activity will be recorded and reported agreeing specifics regarding confidentiality and security agreeing in advance availability (office hours etc). How else can I tell whether a Virtual Assistant is right for my business? Websites, business cards and email addresses are a good indicator of the level of professionalism of the Virtual Assistant. If they do not look professional then you should check carefully the processes and systems that they have in place and whether they can support your business needs. In addition, cheapest is not always best. It is better to seek the services of a Virtual Assistant who has the necessary support systems and personal indemnity insurance, but may be a bit more expensive, than someone who can provide cheap services without those reassurances. |
| Author Resource:- Lilach Bullock runs 2 full time businesses, asklilach providing virtual pa services & Virtual PA Training, helping people set up their own successful virtual assistant business. Lilach recently attended an Award Ceremony at Downing Street for best Mumpreneur. http://www.asklilach.co.uk. |
| Article From New Ezine Articles |
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Make life easier with the help of a personal assistant
These things not only refer to those that are covered in the workplace such scheduling for meetings, accepting or declining phone calls, mail matters such as daily monitoring of mails—either snail mails, emails, or other correspondence, documentation reviews, research works, booking and reservations for meetings locally and internationally and so much more.
But now, the term "personal assistant" is not only applicable to the people in the business or corporate world but in other fields such as in healthcare, communications, and the like. Surveys show that more and more personal assistants are being hired to assist older people or people that have certain medical conditions and restrictions. These personal assistants are also being called "personal aide" because they specifically assist in maintaining stable medical condition.
In the field of communications, personal assistants also take the job of the secretary for doing exactly the latter's job. In this field, personal assistants are more popularly called "PA," its abbreviation. Since they are in a more complicated industry, they have more responsibilities, duties, and tasks.
Today, the responsibilities of a personal assistant doe not only involve work in the office setting job but also include some menial tasks asked by their employers. These tasks even include ordering and delivering food, laundromat services, dealing with stylists and photographers for photo shoot and other matters that their bosses can no longer take care of.
And since the responsibilities are heavier, more and more qualifications are being required for the applicants for this position. They must be able to represent their employer in more important roles such as meetings, company and business negotiations, briefing of people who will face the boss and the like.
Why is there a need to hire a personal assistant?
Hiring a personal assistant is common to people who have high profiles in the society such as politicians, celebrities, entertainment moguls, professional athletes, and business executives. This is because these people have a handful to do and needs a helping hand in all the things that they need to do. They also need personal assistants so they can accomplish more things in a shortest possible time. Since "time is gold' for these people, they would rather pay someone to do menial jobs instead of them doing those things on their own.
They also need personal assistants so they can concentrate more on the bigger things that they need to do instead of worrying over simple things that can be done by other people with their specific instructions.
But now, with the times changing, even people who don’t belong to the sector of high profile individuals need personal assistants to make their life easier. In fact, over the years, personal assistance for the middle class has an increasing demand because more and more families need it. Personal assistants in middle class families usually serve as nannies who take care of the children or the family's personal secretary who takes care of all the documentation needed for the internal affairs.
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What are the Usual Personal Assistant Jobs and Where to Find One?
If you are looking for personal assistant jobs, you need to make sure that the job is really for you before you commit yourself to anyone who will get your services. Did you know that with the advent of the Internet, such jobs can be turned into a home based biz? With only a few hours of your time, you can already earn from being an assistant of someone from the other side of the globe.
If you are going to do this on a home based set up, these are the usual tasks that your employer may ask you to do.
• Hotel and airline reservation.
• Billing concerns and complaints
• Scheduling of meetings and other important events
• Planning of family gathering or vacations
• Reminders of important tasks and dates
• Organization of appointments
• Sending out direct mailing pieces or seasonal cards to clients
• Researching of important topics needed by the superior
• Inquiries regarding different information as required by the employer
Are you up for the challenge? The abovementioned are the usual tasks that you may be assigned as a Virtual PA or even on an office based set up. You need not worry about other tasks like the house chores of your boss. The most likely personal tasks that you may be asked to do are the following.
• Manage the office budget and household finances.
• Hiring of people that may be needed to the business and even the household staff.
• Accompanying your boss, their loved ones and relatives to important appointments like at the doctor’s office, in buying gifts and other personal errands.
• Go to the person or contact the person your boss should be meeting with if they would be late or can no longer make it to the meeting.
The Earnings
Your salary will depend on the services you choose to give and to what industry your boss work at. And when you do this on a home based set up, your salary will depend on the number of hours that you spend on the tasks. You will be paid on a hourly basis even if you have finished your tasks for two days or you did not finish the assigned tasks for the day. You just have to make sure that if the latter occurs, you will be ready to make up for it on the coming days.
Finding Jobs
On an offline set up, you would have to go through the usual process of going through an agency to find you the right company and the right job. You can also opt for referrals or finding gigs through leads.
It will be easier when you do this online. There are a lot of web sites where you can sign up to and apply for the available PA jobs. If you have become accustomed to the whole process, you can even acquire a lot of employers at a time. Just make sure that you will be able to give your best shot at every task given to you.
Finding personal assistant jobs can be easy. This is true as long as you have the will to do it and the capacity to carry out everything that will be assigned for you to do. Just be sure that before you apply to any PA gigs, you are well equipped with the skills and you can commit to the time that you’ve agreed to work for an employer.
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Hiring a Personal Assistant
Process of hiring a personal assistant
Today, the demand for efficient personal assistants continues to increase because more and more people are busy with so many things. With this at hand, the employment for personal assistant has become a lucrative employment target.
If you have an extremely busy life, a time-consuming executive career or your own business, or if you are working in a large home taking care of handling daily operations that involves business or office, then it is a must that you hire a personal assistant. Since a personal assistant will have a great responsibility in your life and business, you cannot just hire somebody for the position. To effectively hire a personal assistant, you must:
1. Write down the description of the job that the personal assistant needs to do. This list should contain specific details of what you really need the personal assistant is for.
2. Advertise your need for the personal assistant depending on your requirements. You can do this by placing a small advertisement in the local newspaper. Make sure that you include your contact details so the applicant can reach you easily.
3. Choose at least the top five among the applicants based on their resumes and credentials. To save some time, make sure that you pick those that have previous experience in being a PA in your work setting. This can be very convenient because it will take you lesser time to train the PA, all you need to do is conduct an extensive briefing and that would be it. In some cases, it will also be wise to hire qualified college fresh graduate because you can benefit from their vigor.
4. Set the schedule for the interview. Scheduling an interview should take place in one single day. By doing this, you can readily compare each applicant and there's a greater chance of hiring a new personal assistant when the interview sessions are over. If you are not in a hurry to hire one, you can conduct a two-part interview to properly screen the respective candidates. On the second interview, ask somebody—a friend or a co-worker—to come with you and conduct an observation. This can be beneficial for you because you can get a feedback from other people.
5. After you have chosen the best candidate, prepare an orientation. This is very important because he or she exactly would be briefed on how the office or the business works. During the orientation, be prepared to discuss the salary and other benefits he or she will be getting.
6. Set a trial period. This is a wise move when hiring a personal assistant because you will never really know if he or she is fit for the job unless the PA is doing the work. A three-moth period is suitable to know if the hired personal assistant is fit for the job requirements that you need or not.
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How One Becomes a Personal Assistant?
Often times, personal assistants also take care of the menial tasks such as meal orders, office interiors, laundy issues, and other fetishes of their employers. And at times, they are the errand boys and girls who takes care of appointments and represents the boss in meetings and other functions or events.
Becoming a personal assistant
If you were thinking of becoming a personal assistant, the first relief would be no specific educational background and course training matter. This is because the major requirement would be the skills of the person to remain calm during pressure and stress. If one can handle pressure and stress with ease, then, he or she can be a candidate to become a personal assistant.
Other main consideration would be being in the right place and in the right time. If you are working in a corporate world and if you have a clean track record or if you have secretarial experience, then you are the foremost candidate for the position. People who usually work near the boss or the line of work usually deals with the employer are among the options once the boss decides to hire a personal assistant.
Aside from working near the boss, people who have friends that know high-ranking executives may also get the position through recommendation. This can be very helpful especially if the future employer trusts the backer. But in this case, the candidate for personal assistant should be very careful because once he or she commits something unpleasant, the trust in him or her is not the only thing at stake but also in the person who gave the recommendation.
Although becoming a persona assistant does not really require outstanding academic background, having a clean track record and reliable credentials can help a lot. People who are interested to become personal assistants should bear in mind the major qualities and technical skills needed for the position including the:
- strong work ethic because the job requires all the patience and perseverance any person could have;
- self-discipline because the position entails a lot of responsibility;
- ability to do multi-tasking because this is needed for the busy and hectic schedule of the boss;
- people skills because forming a good rapport earns the trust of the executive or the boss;
- ability to stay calm despite pressure because it will make the person think straight;
- computer skills for handling technical matters such as electronic correspondence, research, etc.
- telephone etiquette because good manners is a must in communicating through phones;
- superb style in communication because he or she represents the boss at times;
- keen problem-solving skills to rule out everything that the boss needs;
- excellent time management skills to make sure that the boss in not lagging anything behind; and last but not the least, a personal assistant must have outstanding organizational skills to ensure that everything and in place when the boss inquires about it.
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Personal Assistant for the Disabled
Celebrities and executives are not the only ones who need a personal assistant. The disabled also need such individuals to help them do things that they can’t do on their own.
The task required of the personal assistant to do for the disabled include bathing, cleaning, cooking and dressing among other duties. If there are other things that the personal assistant will be instructed to do, this should be agreed upon and written in the contract.
The client may decide to write down what needs to be done daily as part of a routine so it will be easy for the personal assistant to follow. This allows the client to live within the community rather than being shipped off to a nursing home or assisted care facility. Unfortunately, not that many people are aware of this.
Just about anyone can become a personal assistant to the disabled as long as they are 18 years of age, have a social security number, passes through the screening process which includes the background and health check. The personal assistant can even be a member of the client’s family as long as he or she is not the spouse or a parent of a minor child.
You don’t have to be internet savvy to get this job. Just be able to do some simple chores and tasks as required by the client.
When the personal assistant is off into the field, the client becomes the acting employer so he or she must do what is necessary to enhance the client’s ability to live independently as well as respect the individual and their property.
The pay rate of a personal assistant for the disabled varies depending on the state where one is employed. This may increase after a year while other benefits are at the discretion of the employer. One example if giving the personal assistant an incentive for bringing another client to the business like perhaps a neighbor of the person you are caring for right now.
In order for you to work well as a personal assistant, both you and the client must have a good relationship. This means you are able to communicate openly with each other. This is why certain house rules are set. There are regulations set by the employer but you also have to know what are the rules which the clients wants you to follow.
Just like working for a celebrity or an executive, the personal assistant should not reveal any information about the client to anyone. You have to know which matters should be kept so their privacy is not violated.
Being a personal assistant to the disabled is not that popular yet unlike other occupations. This means that the pay is also not that high but if you are willing to put yourself in the service of others that is all the matters.
The personal assistant service these days is not only for the disabled. This is now being used to benefit seniors, doctors, clergymen and financial planners with the fees being economically priced to meet a range of budgets as the number of people who will be over the age of 65 will jump to 21% by the year 2040.
Truly, the government should have done something better in terms of healthcare way back in the 1960’s but there is nothing we can do about that now except promote the use of personal assistants.
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Considerations when Hiring an Assistant
When you interview people for your open assistant position then you need to ask people right off the bat if they have any interest in investing. You want someone who says they have no interest at all. The person who gets excited and their eyes light up when you ask them and they say yes are the people you need to worry about. These are the ones who will steal your knowledge and become your competitor.
Some recommend you be sure to use a non-compete clause for your business. You should not trust anyone because when you least expect it they will take your clients and your prospects. A non-compete clause will ensure you that an assistant cannot take your business elsewhere. You can rest assured that if they want to go out on their own then they will have to start from scratch.
Others might recommend that you should be sure to complain on occasion about your job and the work you do. An assistant will make life very good. An assistant will also give you more free time and make the job look very enticing when you are making a lot of money. Be sure to complain about the things you deal with and be vocal. This is how you deter your assistant from wanting to be successful in the same field as you. Your success is for you and no one else.
When you purchase the systems to hire a personal assistant, you will learn all of the things you need to think about when hiring and working with an assistant. You will learn how to protect your business, your clients, and your success.
Find books, articles, or magazines to find out the best concepts that are involved in hiring a personal assistant. This is a concept by ones whom say this worked for them. There is no guarantee these systems will work for your or anyone else. You cannot hold the company liable for the system not working and it is at your own risk when you purchase the program. Not all people will be given a refund and given 30 days to test the program.
Article Source: http://www.articlesnatch.com
About the Author:
For more articles and a 10 part e-course on how to create your own Ultimate Buying and Selling Machine! plus over 50 training audios, simply go to www.LarryGoinsFreeOffer.com where you will gain instant access
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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:
- 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.
- 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.
- Ability to Multi-Task: since the tasks are diverse, multi-tasking abilities are an absolute necessity.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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".
Article Source:http://www.articles321.com
Vishal P. Rao is the owner of http://www.home-based-business-opportunities.com - One of Internet's leading website dedicated to starting, managing and marketing a home based business.
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How Much a Personal Assistant Could Cost You
For some people, having a personal assistant can be considered a perk. Why? This is because they can be spared from all the tasks they need to do on a day-to-day basis. But having a personal assistant could cost you much. This is the reason why many people think that they could not afford hiring one. Although it could cost you money, it can help you save more effort and time to do other things.
If you really need one, you can hire a personal assistant that doesn’t have a high salary and lots of benefits. But of course, that would also depend on the type of work that he or she will be doing for you. Before decide on hiring a personal assistant, it is best to conduct a research first so you would know the acceptable rates for their services. Then, list down the tasks he or she will be taking care of, that way you can find an efficient personal assistant fit for your needs.
Most of the personal assistants for the high ranking people and public figures such as politicians, lawyers, celebrities and businessmen earn from $40,000 to $120,000 in a year. And this sum of money even goes with added benefits and perks like free use of vehicle, mobile phone with line, gifts, and free vacations. But, there are also those that don’t need this salary, benefits, and perks. They are called "indispensable assistants" who can provide you with the services depending on your requirement.
The average rate of indispensable assistant who can provide personal assistance ranks up to $350 per month. This type of personal assistant is ideal for employers who don’t need to change tasks monthly. This is very practical because you will have to pay for the same set of tasks that the personal assistant needs to do.
For people who have busy schedule due to one or more businesses and travels most of the time, the executive personal assistant is ideal. Salary ranges $800 to $1000 monthly or $20 to $30 hourly, which covers the basic support for you and your family. You can ask this type of assistant to do even menial jobs at the house such as watering the plants, buying groceries, take care of your pet, takes care of the things that you need before and after your trip. They can even send thank you notes and gifts to your family members or friends on special occasions that you cannot attend to.
If you prefer hourly or daily services, you can ask for personal assistants that can provide errands services. For just $25 to $30 an hour, you can ask somebody to buy the materials for your child's project, bring a set of documents to office, and other menial jobs you don’t have time to attend to.
If you need somebody to assist you in managing your schedule, prepare travel documents, make specific arrangements, do data entries, sort out files and things that you need for the office or business, you can pay an administrative assistant, $22-$30 per hour. This type of assistant is only for business tasks, you cannot ask them run some errands for you nor do your calendar.
For people who need somebody to help out in office or managing your business, hire an executive assistant which would cost you $25 to $35 an hour. This personal assistant can help you in answering and returning phone calls, managing your calendar, travel schedule and prepare things that you need for your travel, do presentation as well as preparing budget and expenses records.
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What is A Virtual Personal Assistant
The personal assistant is there everyday doing the tasks that you tell them to do. Examples of these are answering the phone, checking the mail, filing your paper and so forth. A virtual personal assistant can do the same thing using various methods of communication such as the web, telephone and fax. The only thing it can’t do is make your morning coffee.
Another difference with the virtual personal assistant is the he or she is not a temporary or full time employee. This person is hired on a contractor basis so you only call upon them when they are needed. This enables you to save money when you can do certain things on your own.
These individuals are paid on an hourly fee which could be from $15 to $40 depending on their geographic location.
Just to give you an idea, someone who is based in Los Angeles, California will charge a much higher hourly fee compared to someone who works in Austin, Texas. One way you can save money is to agree to pay a certain amount of hours per week.
Should you always get a virtual personal assistant from out of town? The answer is no because sometimes you need them to be familiar with the places where you are residing.
The best place to find a personal virtual assistant is online because these people do their business using the web. You can of course put an ad in the newspaper or bulletin board and specify there what are the duties and responsibilities that they will be doing.
In the next few days, you should screen the applicants just like how you will do it when you are hiring someone for a job.
But what should be the criteria when you hire a virtual personal assistant? Naturally, this should be based on their work experience. But you should look deeper into the personality of the person so you know how their work attitude. The best one to get should not always be the most experienced but the one who takes interest in your line of business and will do their best to help it grow.
To see how well they will perform, give them a small project to do and see how well they perform. If they do a good job, then this person is worth hiring. If not, check out the other applicants.
You have to maintain a good relationship with your virtual personal assistant by keeping the lines of communication open so you will know a little bit about them.
You should also provide them some feedback so they can improve if there are a few mistakes. But don’t forget to give praise when they did a superb job.
The internet has made the world a smaller place because you can talk to anyone regardless of where they are in the world. The personal virtual assistant could be from somewhere in the United States, Europe or in Asia. The most important thing is that the person is able to perform his or her task just like regular personal assistant.
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How Do You Become a Personal Assistant
First of all, you don’t have to take a course in college to become a personal assistant because there aren’t any. You may have an advantage over others who apply if you have a business or accounting degree since some employers need someone who can do some budgeting.
In fact, anyone can become a personal assistant as long as they are willing to work long hours, be able to do multi-tasking, handle the pressure that goes with the job, internet savvy and very comfortable using modern technology.
You should also have people skills since you will relate to people both internally and externally in the organization. Some employers want their personal assistants to learn a second language so if they have to travel, he or she can act as a translator.
Given that you are working in the inner circle, certain information that is classified as confidential should remain that way. You should be able to keep this under lock and key. If people ask, don’t make the mistake of revealing what you know since this will cost you your job.
The first step in becoming a personal assistant is to apply for the position and hope you get it. This will give you the opportunity to learn how things work in a company because even if there are differences in various working environments, there are a few activities there that are very common.
During the interview, remain calm and highlight your assets. It will be a great if you can tell the interviewer your previous work experience if you had the chance of working as a personal assistant in the past.
However, if you just graduated, highlight other things like you are conversant in foreign language, you can type X number of words per minute, you are internet savvy and very familiar with the latest high tech gadgets in the market.
If you are not able to get a job yet because the employer wants someone who is experienced, try to become a personal assistant through an apprentice program or offer your services for free.
There are also some agencies that help applicants look for a job so you can also consider sending your resume to them.
It is also possible to get the job by working first for a non-profit organization and building your network so when there is an opening, your name will be on top of the list.
Some people don’t sign up to become a personal assistant first. They enter the organization working in one position and then when there is an opening, they decide to apply for it since most employers are likely to hire within the company before putting an ad in the newspaper.
There are many ways to become a personal assistant. You can apply for the job directly or making your way to that position. Whatever happens, expect to work longer hours because your job does not end at 5PM. There will be times you will have to travel and stay up late longer than usual so don’t expect to have a social life.
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