A Personal Assistant Career

Is A Personal Assistant the Right Career For You?

A personal assistant may not sound like the kind of job that can lead to bigger and better things, but it is one of those careers that will lend itself to advancement and a lot of opportunities for growth and change. You can start out as just another personal assistant in a large company, and end up with a new position of seniority that you might not have received if you had taken a different route. There are a number of different reasons why this is so.

First of all, PAs need to develop a number of different and very useful skills in order to do their job well. There are many duties that tend to encompass personal assistant positions, and good PAs will develop strong abilities in a lot of areas. Scheduling, time management, communication skills, project management, interviewing techniques, and a host of other skills will be honed over the time spent being someone's "right hand."

Being a personal assistant means having to deal with a lot of different scenarios and continually producing error-free results. Because of this, most PAs learn the industry they are working in, inside and out. They know who the people are that make a difference, they know how to approach certain tasks that will produce immediate results, and they can solve a wide range of different problems. Therefore, when applying for jobs within a specific industry, an experienced PA will be able to show that they are an expert and are more qualified than a lot of other people.

Personal assistants also work with a lot of different people. In order to complete your job duties, you will be constantly emailing and phoning people regarding different matters, and calling in favors in order to get results. This means that a good PA will develop a strong network of contacts, which could be used for career advancement. Once you have done your time and proven yourself to be the kind of personal assistant who gets things done, you could start looking for the next phase of your career by using one of the many contacts you have to get a new job.

So as you can see, being a personal assistant is not a very limiting position. You have a lot of opportunities to move forward in your career. Personal assistant salaries are not always that high, unless you happen to be a celebrity personal assistant or you work for a very senior member in your organization. For that reason, it is a good idea to maximize the opportunities that come along and keep your eye on the future.

Related topics about a personal assistant
The Duties of Personal Assistant Job
One of the main duties of a PA is to handle communications with colleagues, associates, clients etc., on behalf of the employer. This means time spent composing emails, making phone calls, and meeting with various individuals that the employer interacts with as part of his or her business.

Personal Assistant Services Evolving
There are a number of different reasons why a company would seek out personal assistant services. Especially recently, as the recession has resulted in companies streamlining duties and merging positions, using a personal assistant is a cheap way to maximize the productivity levels of employees. This is especially important for senior members of an organization, who are unable to be as effective at their job when they must spend so much time buried in paperwork and other duties that need to be done, yet take up so much time.

Personal Assistant Jobs Still in Demand
If you have personal assistant jobs that you're looking to fill, and you are considering hiring virtual personal assistants to save money and just contract out work rather than hiring on new employees, then you may want to choose from individuals living in the area. It may be cheaper to outsource to a location like India, which provides a high number of people looking for this kind of work, but you should consider the future. There may be a time when you need someone to do something in person, and if your expert PA lives in another country, it can be more difficult to arrange certain things effectively.