Personal Assistants

Everything you need to know.

From why to hire a Personal Assistant and how much a PA costs to what PAs are looking for in an ideal employer.

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As a team, we have nearly fifty years' of experience recruiting Personal Assistants across the UK and overseas from our offices in Manchester and London.

Businesses and individuals alike have found that hiring a Personal Assistant can have a number of benefits. However, finding a Personal Assistant to be an extension of you, fit into your business seamlessly and start adding value from day one can be challenging.

Below we share all of our expertise when it comes to hiring a Personal Assistant.

What is a Personal Assistant?

Traditionally, the role of the Personal Assistant (PA) encompasses purely administrative, transactional support. The role of a PA is to alleviate the administrative burden from the individual(s) they support so that their principal's time can be dedicated to other areas which will further the business's success. However, the role differs hugely between organisations, and there are many Personal Assistants (PAs), particularly Senior PAs, who perform strategic duties that are more commonly associated with the Executive Assistant role; indeed, in many organisations, there is considerable cross-over between the Personal Assistant and Executive Assistant (EA) roles.

The role of the Personal Assistant (PA) has often been likened to the oil in the cogs of the working machine – making things run more smoothly and alleviating precise time pressure on executives and senior business leaders.

Personal Assistants (PAs) are often responsible for managing schedules, booking travel (often across multiple time zones), handling email and phone communication, conducting research, and performing other administrative tasks. Personal assistants can work in various settings, including offices, homes, and remotely. 

Overall, a Personal Assistant can be a valuable asset to anyone looking to streamline their life or business and increase their productivity. Whether you are an individual seeking help with your personal life or a business owner looking to manage your business more effectively, a Personal Assistant can help you to achieve your goals.

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What is the difference between a Personal Assistant (PA) and an Executive Assistant (EA)?

The role of a Personal Assistant and Executive has evolved so much in the last decade. Technology has aided this evolution, as PAs and EAs can be far more strategic with technology replacing the typically more administrative parts of their role. 

It is worth noting that job titles differ across industries and organisations, and someone who is carrying out an Executive Assistant role could have the job title of Personal Assistant. 

A Personal Assistant (PA) is someone who supports their executive(s) with duties to ensure their personal life and/or business life runs smoother. These duties range from managing diaries to coordinating meetings, booking travel and more. 

An Executive Assistant (EA) is typically someone who supports their executive in a more proactive way. An Executive Assistant should be an extension of their boss, and will often make important decisions on their behalf. 

You can read more about the role of an Executive Assistant (EA) here.

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Why Hire a Personal Assistant?

Hiring a Personal Assistant (PA) can have a multitude of benefits for you and your wider business. Personal Assistants are a fantastic way of getting the most out of your day, ensuring that you utilise your time as effectively as possible and can focus on growing your business whilst they adeptly manage the everyday demands of seamlessly running an office. 

We know that as a busy executive or overworked entrepreneur with a seemingly never-ending "to-do" list, your time is precious. In fact, we'd argue that time is your most valuable asset. We constantly hear business owners say that there aren't enough hours in the day or that they wish they had another pair of hands. Hiring a Personal Assistant is the perfect solution to this problem; the right Personal Assistant hire will be indispensable to you and your wider company, maximising your time and productivity and ensuring you prioritise the tasks that motivate you and enhance your business.

Every moment you can free up to focus on the growth and development of your business counts. A successful Personal Assistant is a true extension of you and, over time, will be able to anticipate your needs and have everything in place without you having to think about the minutiae.

"If you don't have an assistant, you are an assistant."

Jeff Hoffman, Founder of Priceline.com

 

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The benefits of hiring a Personal Assistant

Here are just some of the benefits we believe there to be when hiring a Personal Assistant:

  • To add strategic input and help to grow your business

  • To build relationships

  • To give you time back in your day

  • To keep you organised

  • To solve business problems

  • To act as a decision-maker

  • To strengthen your culture and brand

  • To boost your productivity

  • To enable you to have work/life balance

Whilst it can be difficult or challenging to quantify the value that a Personal Assistant adds to the bottom line, one way to view it is as a percentage of the time, and therefore the salary, of the executive or executive team that they support. Senior Personal Assistants can give executives up to 80% of their time back to focus on other imperatives to enhance the business – how much do those initiatives add to the bottom line, too?

In that sense, you could view the Personal Assistant role not as a gatekeeper of people, but of time. The right Personal Assistant hire can give you back your time and maximise your return on investment to the business. When you consider that executives spend, on average, 58% of their time on emails, a simple email triage system implemented by even the most junior of Personal Assistants can reduce the time spent on emails to circa 12%. Instantly, an executive has 46% of their time back, to add value elsewhere.

Facilitating business growth is, of course, just one element of the role. When you add in the cost savings that a commercially-astute Personal Assistant can bring in terms of travel, events and leveraging technology to enhance and streamline processes and procedures, the financial benefit for the business grows exponentially.

"The manager and the assistant do the same job, they have the same objectives, they simply carry out different tasks to achieve those objectives."

Heather Baker, Founder of Baker Thompson Associates

Typical Personal Assistant duties do differ across industries and organisations. However, we have put together a typical Personal Assistant job description to help with hiring, which you can view here.

A Personal Assistant is an investment in yourself and your business; every successful entrepreneur needs one. Used effectively, the benefits will outweigh the cost of an extra wage tenfold - think about how much more time you will have to apply yourself to the growth, marketing and development of your business by delegating your workload. Imagine the amount you could achieve when your day isn’t being consumed by other, more admin-heavy tasks, allowing you to focus your time where it should be: on your business.

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Other benefits of hiring a Personal Assistant

Acting as a timekeeper to ensure that you're never late again (within reason)! 

It is so easy to get caught up in your inbox and lose track of time. One second, you’re arriving at the office, and the next, it's 11:50 and you're supposed to be at a meeting in ten minutes at a location that is fifteen minutes away. A Personal Assistant is a fantastic way to ensure this doesn’t happen. Personal Assistants are experts at time management, not only for themselves but for those they support. Building a strong relationship with your PA will enable them to politely usher you out of the door and make sure that you stay on schedule. Moreover, by efficiently managing your diary, a Personal Assistant will have built-in buffer time so that, should a meeting overrun, it doesn't throw off your entire day.

Personal Assistants are great at subtly popping their heads into your line of vision to give you a ten or five-minute warning that the allotted time for the meeting you're in is almost up! If the unforeseen happens, and a meeting does overrun, or you get stuck in traffic or caught on the phone with a client, your PA will liaise with key stakeholders on your behalf to apologise, reshuffle timings or make alternate arrangements, if need be.

Giving you the time to do what you’re good at

When running a business, it’s inevitable that you are going to come across hurdles. But, when these obstacles become insurmountable and restrict you from focusing your attention on achieving your objectives, it can be really damaging for your business. Having a Personal Assistant gives you the ability to delegate these tasks to somebody that you trust, safe in the knowledge that they will solve the problem. This allows you to focus on the business and making your visions a reality.

Being able to get up and go

Senior leaders are invariably travelling here, there and everywhere to attend meetings and events - whether this is elsewhere in the country or internationally.  It’s no secret that organising attendees, scheduling achievable timings, and securing travel plans and accommodation takes time or that it can, in many circumstances, become a bit of a headache. Part of a Personal Assistant's role is to handle the logistics of travel and meeting preparation so that you are set up to succeed and ready to go. From ensuring that you are fully briefed in advance of key meetings to checking you in for your flight and ensuring that a taxi is waiting for you when you touch down on the other side, a Personal Assistant will handle all of the logistics and ensure that you have everything at your fingertips so that you do not have to worry about a thing.

Knowing you better than you know yourself

From knowing how you have your coffee in the morning to your favourite restaurants for business meetings, your lunch order to where you prefer to sit on a flight, a Personal Assistant will take the time to understand exactly how you like things done and ensure that this happens without you having to give it a second thought. A PA will be able to act as an extension of you, whether that's replying to emails on your behalf or representing you within the organisation. 

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We asked Amanda Merrick, Principal of family law firm, Merrick, how having a Personal Assistant has benefited her business and what her advice is to other business owners thinking about hiring a Personal Assistant.

 

We also interviewed international PA trainer and author of The Exceptional PA, Heather Baker, about how the PA role has changed. In this video, she shares her advice to anyone looking to hire a PA for their business. 

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How to hire a Personal Assistant

What Do Personal Assistants Want?

Once you've come to the decision that you are going to hire a Personal Assistant, it is important that you do research in order to find out what most support professionals are looking for in regard to a role. Having a better insight into what Personal Assistants want will set you apart from other companies within the market and help you to ensure that the role and the package you are offering are both competitive and attractive to the top talent out there. 

Money Matters

Two-thirds of the Personal Assistants (PAs) we surveyed in our Salary & Market Insights Survey would seriously consider leaving their current role if they were to be offered a 5% pay rise elsewhere. 54.3% of Personal Assistants (PAs) stated that an annual discretionary bonus would make them stay in a role for longer, with 32.4% saying it may influence their decision. Competitive benefits continue to remain a hot topic when it comes to attracting high-calibre candidates, with professionals continuing to receive more perks in the last 12 months and the majority of respondents preferring to receive benefits over a cash equivalent. To attract the best talent, it's imperative that the salary you are offering is competitive and not below market rate; consider offering an annual discretionary bonus, as well as an annual or bi-annual salary review, where possible. 

Flexible and Remote Working Opportunities 

Personal Assistants (PAs) are increasingly looking to work for companies that offer flexible and/or remote working opportunities. Offering flexible and remote working opportunities results in healthier and more productive working habits, as well as reducing staff turnover within the workforce, so this is something to bear in mind when looking to hire a Personal Assistant (PA).

Culture 

The key to attracting and retaining talent is to foster an open and dynamic culture. Company culture is another important factor that Personal Assistants consider when weighing up a potential job offer, with 58% of the employees we surveyed stating that they have left a job or would consider leaving a job if they felt the culture and social environment were permeated by negative office politics. A positive culture can result in clearer thinking, higher productivity, a bigger-picture mindset, innovation and empathy, which can, in turn, all contribute to pushing the company forward. What's more, an inclusive culture is more likely to make its employees feel heard, supported and empowered to do their best work, share ideas, and fulfil their potential. It is important to highlight your company culture in job specifications, on your company website and across your social media platforms in order to attract the right Personal Assistant for you and your business.

Training and Development 

Over half of the support professionals we surveyed felt that their employer needed to offer more training or the ability to upskill within their role. This is a key point to consider when hiring new employees as, if your company does not offer Personal Assistants the chance to upskill, you are more likely to lose out on top talent to competitors within the market. Make sure that any potential opportunities for extra training and upskilling are detailed within the job description or outlined to the agency that you are working with, as this will be extremely appealing to a lot of candidates within the market and may set you apart from other companies who are hiring.

Beginning the Search

Once you have decided to hire a Personal Assistant and have taken into consideration what PAs within the market are looking for, you can start to begin the search for your perfect Personal Assistant. The next steps to consider are how to sell the position available and what salary the role you are offering will warrant. An informative and well-written job description is key when trying to entice the top talent; however, ensuring the salary you are offering is in line with market rates is also an important factor to consider when looking to attract the right calibre of candidates. 

Once you have considered the above, it's important to write an effective Personal Assistant job description which is appealing and informative. You can read more about this in our free download on how to hire your perfect PA. Click here to download your free copy. 

We have also written a Personal Assistant Job Description template for clients which you can assess here.

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How to Use Your Personal Assistant Effectively

When it comes to ensuring that you're utilising your Personal Assistant effectively to maximise productivity and return on investment, Lucy Brazier, CEO of Marcham Publishing, has some fantastic advice. After all, why wouldn't you want to gain up to 80% of your working day back? 

The recruitment process

Having put together a Personal Assistant job description and package that takes into consideration what support professionals are looking for, you are now nearly ready to begin the interview process. However, before you start looking at CVs and shortlisting candidates to interview, take a moment to think about the recruitment process. 

It is important to think 'outside the box'. Whilst it is easy to see why specific industry experience could be appealing in a more remote-based environment, it is worth remembering that cultural fit and work ethic remain top of hiring managers’ priorities when it comes to recruiting Personal Assistants and other business support and secretarial staff. We would always strongly advise our clients to be open to considering experience from a range of industries, as well as varying levels of education, to promote a diverse workforce and ensure the best talent for their business.

In recent years, we've witnessed more and more companies thinking 'outside the box' and making hiring decisions based on personality and transferable skills rather than industry-specific experience. A good Personal Assistant will be able to adapt to a new industry quickly and pick up the terminology as they go along. It is easier to train a PA on industry-specific information than it is to train an individual to behave and operate in a certain way. As Simon Sinek says: 

“You don’t hire for skills, you hire for attitude. You can always teach skills”. 

The Interview Process

The only thing standing in your way of hiring your perfect Personal Assistant now is a successful interview process. Ideally, after conducting interviews, you should come away feeling confident that you have gained an honest insight into the candidates, their personalities, their skill sets and whether they are the right fit for your company culture. In order to make sure that you finish the interview process with the right candidate for the job, we recommend that you take the below approach to interviews.

Implement a CV-based discussion

When you initially read through the candidate’s CV, were there specific questions you wanted to ask? If so, make a list or annotate the CV to prompt you when interviewing. These questions can be anything, as such:

  • Who were you supporting in this role?
  • How big was the company/team?
  • What was your biggest achievement within this role?
  • Why did you leave that role?
  • What transferable skills do you feel you gained during your most recent role?

Asking questions surrounding a candidate’s current and previous roles will allow you to dig a little deeper whilst also enabling the candidate to clarify any queries you may have surrounding their CV and/or experience. Furthermore, starting the interview with a CV-based discussion will hopefully ease the candidate into the interview, as they will have prepared and feel confident discussing their current and previous positions. It will also hopefully allow any interview nerves to drop off so that you see the candidate’s personality shine through.


Ask questions relating to cultural fit and personality

Cultural and personality fit are some of, if not the most important aspects to consider when bringing a new member of staff into your team and company. It is key to ask candidates questions which will highlight their personality and their preferred ways of working to ensure that you are bringing the right person on board.

For example, you wouldn’t want to bring someone into your company who thrives in a tight-knit team if they are going to be the only person in the office or if they like a vibrant and buzzy office, but you are a small and quiet workplace. In order to gain more of an insight into the candidate's personality and how they like to work, think of asking questions such as:

  • How would you describe your ideal way of working?
  • How would your manager describe you?
  • Can you talk me through your favourite role to date and why?
  • What has been your least favourite role to date and why?
  • What are the most satisfying and most frustrating aspects of your present job?
  • What do you like to do in your spare time?

Questions like these will shed more light on the interviewee’s personality and what they have enjoyed, or not enjoyed, in their current and previous roles, which will enable you to decide whether or not they are going to be the right fit for you and your wider business. You can read more about the PA recruitment process in our free guide on how to recruit the perfect PA which you can view here.


Testing

If you have undertaken an interview and have a couple of potential PA candidates to choose between, it may help to undertake some testing with the remaining candidates in order to help you reach a final decision. Testing potential recruits at the interview stage can help you to gain a better understanding of the candidates and add an element of objectivity.

The three main tests that tend to be administered during interviews for PAs are psychometric testing, software testing and prioritisation testing. All three of these tests can be administered remotely if you are conducting interviews virtually or in a face-to-face setting.

  • Psychometric testing can be extremely useful in providing you with a deeper understanding of a candidate’s personality and where their strengths and weaknesses lie as a result of their personality type. This can assist in demonstrating how well they would work alongside you and the wider team. At Lily Shippen, we always use psychometric testing when hiring new members of staff and find it extremely useful and insightful.

  • Another test worth considering is a software test. For example, you could ask candidates to put together a PowerPoint presentation on a given topic. This will allow you to see how strong their PowerPoint skills are and how efficient and accurate they are when compiling a PowerPoint presentation in a set amount of time. The same process applies to other software such as Outlook, Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel.

  • Finally, a very simple test that you can implement is a prioritising exercise. This can be as easy as compiling a list of example tasks that you would need to complete by the successful candidate on a daily or weekly basis and asking the candidates to prioritise them in order of priority.

Hopefully, including a test in the interview process will help you to decide your choice and make sure that you hire the perfect PA for you and your business!

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How to hire your perfect PA

Everything you need to hire your perfect Personal Assistant.

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Personal Assistant Salaries

How Much Does It Cost To Hire a Personal Assistant (PA)?

Personal Assistant salaries can range depending on location, responsibilities and the level of experience that you are looking for. In London, Personal Assistant salaries range from 35,000 GBP per annum to 45,000 GBP per annum, on average, for permanent roles, with contract rates of 17-22 per hour. Whereas, in Manchester, permanent PA roles typically attract salaries of 28,000 GBP - 32,000 GBP per annum, with contract rates coming in at 14-16 per hour. This is a similar story across the UK, with permanent PA jobs in the regions averaging 27,000 GBP - 32,000 GBP, or 14-16 per hour for temporary contracts. It's important to note that a Personal Assistant's salary is typically lower than an Executive Assistant's salary, but the roles vary across organisations and industries. 

Our previous annual salary survey explored Personal Assistant salaries and benchmarking in more detail, as well as investigating the impact that COVID-19 has had on the sector and what the future of the profession holds. Key takeaways from the report are outlined below.

Interestingly, PA salaries did vary considerably throughout the survey, suggesting that job holders are taking on more responsibility and performing duties more aligned to the Executive Assistant role, without the corresponding title, albeit this, of course, differs across industries.

54.3% of those surveyed said that an annual discretionary bonus would make them stay in their current role for longer, with 32.4% saying it may well influence their decision.

Outside of the capital, technology and private equity businesses continued to lead the way with attractive salaries for junior positions. Conversely, as in previous years, we witnessed many larger companies, most notably law firms, struggling to attract top talent across the regions due to budgetary constraints. Once again, companies had to pay more for top talent due to a lack of talent in local regions, particularly in areas which do not benefit from good public transport links, resulting in more competitive salaries in areas like Leeds compared with Manchester. Looking forward, companies in those regions which have adapted to the current climate by embracing technology and a more agile way of working now have the opportunity to attract better talent from areas outside of the usual commuter belts.

Demand for more hybrid support roles continued to increase across all areas of the country, such as PA/Office Manager positions and as well as opportunities for more senior, strategic PAs. Traditional one-to-one roles are continuing to become even rarer, with most of our respondents supporting two or three people. Within industries such as financial services, assistants can expect to support a number of principals, ranging in terms of seniority.

In recent years, more and more PA roles are coming through from legal firms, compared with the more traditional Legal Secretary roles, suggesting that the trend for more forward-thinking business support staff in this sector is likely to continue. Major firms are now pooling their administrative resource and utilising technological advancements, like BigHand, presenting an opportunity for PAs to add value across the business rather than strictly within the administrative function.

Regular pay reviews are also imperative in retaining top talent. When you consider that 38.7% have not received a salary increase in the last two years, it is unsurprisingly that an increase in salary and/or benefits is a key motive for professionals looking to leave their current companies.

Benefits

Whilst salary undoubtedly remains a priority for PAs, more than a base salary in isolation is needed to attract and retain top talent. Instead, offering a fuller, more-rounded benefits package is essential for companies to maintain a competitive edge.

Flexible benefits solutions are also becoming increasingly popular, allowing employees to choose which perks to take advantage of or receive the cash equivalent. 

When it comes to holiday allowances, the majority of those surveyed are granted 25 days’ annual leave; more than a quarter of employers offer 26 days or more, with 36 days being the highest holiday allowance on offer. More than half of employees have the option to buy and sell holidays as part of their benefits package – an attractive perk for many job-seekers, particularly those for whom work-life balance is a priority.

Future predictions for the Personal Assistant industry 

Recruitment trends suggest that Personal Assistants and EAs within the financial services industry will continue to support multiple principals, attracting higher salaries than their counterparts in other industries. However, our research has revealed that EAs supporting one principle in a more comprehensive, 360-degree strategic support role are awarded a higher salary. This correlation would suggest that demand for the Executive Business Partner role will continue to grow as the role of the more experienced EA continues to evolve. You can read more about the role of an Executive Assistant here.

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Personal Assistant Jobs

If you're interested in becoming a Personal Assistant (PA), there are several steps you can take to increase your chances of landing a PA job. Here are some tips for getting an Personal Assistant job:

  1. Build your skills: Personal assistants need to be highly organised, have excellent communication skills, and be able to think strategically. You can gain experience by working your way up the career ladder in a team assistant, team secretary, administrative assistant and other business support and secretarial roles. You'll often find that a PA will have begun their career supporting multiple executives, and as they progress, they support fewer people in a broader capacity.

  2. Create a strong CV: Your CV and cover letter are often the first point of contact with potential employers and recruitment agencies, so it's important to make a good impression. Highlight your relevant skills and experience, and be sure to customise your documents for each job you apply for.

  3. Network: Connecting with others in the industry can help you learn about job opportunities and get your foot in the door. Consider joining professional organisations or reaching out to industry contacts to build your network. Asking another Personal Assistant or Executive Assistant to be your mentor can also be invaluable.

  4. Use online job boards and employment agencies: Many Personal Assistant jobs are advertised online or through employment agencies.

  5. Be patient: Landing a Personal Assistant job may take time, especially if you're starting out in your career. Be persistent and keep applying for jobs that align with your skills and goals, and don't be afraid to gain experience in other related roles while you search for your dream job.

It is also important to consider what kind of Personal Assistant job you are looking for. Here are some questions to ask yourself:

  • Are you looking for a temporary or permanent Personal Assistant job?
  • What industries are you looking to work in?
  • Are you looking to be a Private PA, business PA or Celebrity Personal Assistant?
  • Are you open to temporary to permanent Personal Assistant opportunities?
  • Where are you looking to be based? Do you want to work in an office or work from home?

Once you’ve got a good idea of what type of Personal Assistant job you are looking for, it’s time to start your search. Get in touch with a Personal Assistant recruitment agency. You can often find these by searching on Google or asking friends or colleagues for recommendations.

If you’re looking for a Personal Assistant (PA) job, you’ve come to the right place. Collectively, we have over thirty years of experience helping people look for a PA job and take the next step in their Personal Assistant career. As experts in our field, we will be able to offer you advice on accurate salary expectations, as well as ensuring that your CV stands out from the crowd and showcases your skills in the best possible light.

To find out more about the service that we offer at Lily Shippen and to browse our vacancies, just click below. 

You can also find more Personal Assistant jobs here.

You can also click below for more information on:

PA Jobs London

PA Jobs Manchester

Personal Assistant Training and Development

Our annual salary surveys repeatedly indicate that, for the majority of Personal Assistants on the market, the ability to progress or upskill is the most important thing that they look for in a role and company. Concurrently, this is the main reason candidates cite when they are looking to leave a role: there is no room for progression. Another key differentiator for businesses looking to attract top talent is investing in personal development, with 82.7% of secretarial and support staff have looked into this for themselves.

As a company, if you can offer your Personal Assistant the option to take on more responsibility, attend training, or present opportunities for upskilling, this will go a long way towards retaining top talent within your business. Moreover, promoting clear career progression pathways will foster loyalty, resulting in lower attrition rates and higher levels of engagement. Progression makes employees feel as though they are growing with the company and provides them with a sense of purpose whilst helping them feel supported in the workplace, which in turn increases engagement and productivity; research has proven that employees are happy to invest in companies that invest in them in return.

Encouraging progression within a Personal Assistant role allows PAs to become more confident in taking ownership of tasks and projects and getting involved in other areas of the business. Whilst investing in Personal Assistants and challenging them to take on projects outside of their day-to-day duties enables them to become more strategic, which drives the business forward.

Ask the expert 

We asked Lindsay Taylor, Co-Founder and Director of Your Excellency Limited Virtual Academy, for her expert opinion on the importance of training and development within the PA profession:

"With more professionals chasing the same roles, an applicant’s ability to showcase their skills and experience becomes vital, whilst company culture and the opportunity for professional development and career progression are imperative for companies hoping to secure the best talent."

"By investing in employees’ development from day one, companies will undoubtedly be more attractive to potential hires - particularly in the current climate where job security is more important than ever - whilst cultivating loyalty and retaining that top talent in the long-term."

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The Power of the PA Podcast

What does it take to be one of the best Personal Assistants? How do you get there, and what happens along the way? Lily Shippen interviews some of the top PAs, EAs and VAs across the world in this brand new series.

Personal Assistant Recruitment Agencies 

When an employee hands in their notice, has to take time off for a holiday, maternity leave, illness, or retires, it can be a stressful and challenging time for a business or individual. Finding suitable temporary or permanent staff can be a daunting and time-consuming task and, unfortunately, due to some hiring managers or companies being ‘burnt’ by turning to recruiters in the past, there can be a reluctance to use recruitment agencies full stop.

However, partnering with the right recruitment agency that truly understands your company, needs and culture will save you valuable time, effort and money whilst ensuring that you find the candidate to suit your requirements. 

As a team, Lily Shippen has partnered with a range of clients, spanning many different industries, across the UK and internationally, who will always turn to us should they have any secretarial recruitment needs - be it for the odd day or week's holiday cover, or to recruit permanent members of staff to join their team.

We know that searching for the best Personal Assistant or secretarial recruitment agency can be overwhelming and confusing, which is why we've collated our key things to look for when searching for the best PA recruitment Agency to partner with to fulfil your employment needs. 

Specialist 

When recruiting for a specific type of role, it is always worth researching whether there are agencies that specialise in that particular field. Working with a secretarial recruitment agency that specialises in recruiting Personal Assistants, instead of a general agency, has a number of advantages, such as the fact that they will have a better understanding of the role and the type of skill set required for the position that you are recruiting for. It's no secret that the Personal Assistant role differs greatly between companies and is very much tailored to the company and individual(s) that the Personal Assistant (PA) will be supporting. By working with a secretarial recruitment agency that is an authority on the Personal Assistant market, you are ensuring that your requirements are fully met and that you secure the best talent for your business.

Specialist secretarial recruitment agencies are also more likely to have a wide database of suitable, high-calibre candidates already at their fingertips and typically secure higher quality CVs than those you may receive through direct job applications or general agencies. This is due to the fact that specialist agencies have a thorough vetting system in place to properly screen their candidates and take the time to learn about their skills and their previous and current roles, as well as their motivations for seeking a new role and expectations from a new position and company. Working with a specialist Personal Assistant recruitment agency will take the leg work out of your recruitment search and considerably speed up the hiring process.

Reviews and Previous Partnerships

When researching a suitable Personal Assistant recruitment agency to work with, we recommend that employers pay particular attention to their reviews, both from Personal Assistants and clients, and testimonials or case studies from other businesses that they have previously partnered with. This helps to shed light on the company's reputation and credibility, the type of services that are available and the calibre of clients that they are used to working alongside. If a recruitment agency has glowing reviews from candidates and clients alike, this is usually a sign that you are on to a winner!

Company Values

Another key aspect to research when looking to partner with a secretarial or PA recruitment agency is whether their company values are listed on their website. This can really help you to understand the agency’s mission statement, their commitment, their ethics, how they operate and what their key objectives are when working with candidates and clients alike. If a company does display its values on its website, read through them and see how they align with your own personal and company values.

Social Media Channels

Actively keeping in touch with their network by posting regular updates across their social media channels is a sign that an agency goes the extra mile. This can be by offering advice and support to the Personal Assistant community, or generally celebrating and being passionate about the Personal Assistant profession. Look for a secretarial recruitment agency that goes above and beyond for their clients and candidates, such as offering workshops for their candidates or extra features or guarantees for their clients, like psychometric testing or a free replacement should a candidate they place leave within six months. If a secretarial recruitment agency is adding value to the PA community and its virtual connections through engaging content, it's a great indication that they will go above and beyond to secure the perfect Personal Assistant for you and your business. 

Ask Your Peers

When looking for a suitable secretarial recruitment agency to partner with, it can be as simple as asking around your network of peers. There is a high possibility that hiring managers within your network have heard about the agency you are looking into partnering with, or they may have even worked with them previously on a Personal Assistant (PA) hire and, as such, they can give you an honest insight into what they have heard or experienced. Recruiters and agencies often have a strong social presence, be it on LinkedIn or other social platforms, so asking around can give you a huge amount of information about the agency’s reputation and whether or not other companies would recommend them or use their services again in the future.

At Lily Shippen, we are fortunate to have received a great deal of work through referrals from companies or individuals that have worked with us previously. In fact, 83% of our business comes from client referrals, which goes to show that reputation is key when looking to partner with an agency to recruit a new Personal Assistant for your business.

Schedule an Introductory Meeting

Finally, why not ask the secretarial recruitment agency to pitch their services to you either by inviting them into the office or scheduling a virtual meeting? This will allow the agency to showcase what value they can bring, as well as providing more information about what they can offer you in terms of knowledge, the calibre of candidates available, the current market, or any extra measures that could be of interest. A strong performance shows that they have done their homework and that they are committed to providing you with the most suitable and talented Personal Assistant candidates for the job at hand!

We firmly believe that meeting our clients face-to-face, wherever possible, is imperative for us to understand their requirements and their expectations of the Personal Assistant that joins their team, as well as providing an invaluable insight into their culture, which then informs our search for a Personal Assistant that will fit seamlessly into the organisation from day one. 

CONTACT US

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Why partner with Lily Shippen?

Since launching in 2016, we have carved out a reputation as the go-to specialist for connecting start-ups, high net worth individuals and blue-chip companies with exceptional human resources and business support professionals – both in the UK and internationally. We are proud to offer a range of tailored recruitment solutions from our offices in Manchester and London to suit your company’s needs and offer training and qualifications to upskill the talent that you employ.

Founded with the vision of building meaningful, long-term relationships with clients and candidates alike, we take a proactive, personal approach to connecting exceptional professionals with exceptional employers.

We're experts at recruiting top business support talent. Across our team, we have nearly thirty years of experience recruiting Personal Assistants, Executive Assistants, Virtual Assistants, Chiefs of Staff, Receptionists, Executive Business Partners, Office Managers, Celebrity Personal Assistants, private and household staff and everything in between. We offer bespoke recruitment solutions from one-day temporary covers to maternity covers and permanent contracts. 

Our service is driven by knowledge. As a boutique human resources and business support agency, our team have an unrivalled understanding of what excellence looks like across all levels of the profession – from front-of-house temporary covers to permanent Chiefs of Staff. 

Thoroughly vetting and getting to know every candidate that we represent helps us to tailor our recruitment service and set everyone up to succeed, ensuring that you secure the best talent for your business.

LEARN MORE GET TO KNOW US

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