Freelance personal assistant. Personal assistant: who, why and why? Recruiting expert notes. How to interview in recruiting agencies

One of the most prestigious professions, and at the same time, which seems to the majority quite easy - a personal secretary or assistant. Regarding the prestige - that's right. About lightness - a deceptive impression. It's easy to be just ... a bad helper. How to become a star in the professional horizon?

Answer

The position of the personal assistant to the manager has a high status in the company. The personal assistant is at the epicenter of the office life of the organization, a lot of attention is paid to his person. Communication with top officials of companies and the responsibility that a personal assistant bears requires considerable knowledge and skills. It is difficult to overestimate what a large and important volume of administrative, representative, mediation work the assistant performs.

Regardless of the size of the organization, the scope of the resolved issues of the personal assistant is sometimes expanded to such an extent that he does not only the standard set of administrative work, but also often a lot of creative work. In his work, the assistant can successfully implement financial, managerial, journalistic, PR, translation functions, especially if there is a soul for this and there are talents, knowledge and skills. It all depends on how to show oneself in the workplace, on the scale of the activity of the direct supervisor, as well as on the understanding, or rather human and professional acceptance and respect that develops between the assistant and his immediate supervisor.

Important information about information support of the head you will find in the material here.

In addition to great responsibility, the position of a personal assistant to the manager includes great opportunities: establishing interesting contacts, communication with people of different status, often quite high, constant presence, as they say, "in sight", development of organizational and leadership skills, the ability to grow to any position in any area in which you can show your abilities and activity ... Working in the manager's office, you can “take a closer look” at various professional areas of activity within the company, determine your strengths and interests, and start a successful business start of your career. A talented and motivated employee career and the growth of financial compensation for all their efforts is ensured.

What personal qualities of an employee in this position play a key role?

To begin with, it should be noted that most often girls work as personal assistants. Natural qualities inherent in the female sex, namely: orientation to human relationships, to communication, the ability to foresee a lot of little things, take care of people, calculate the development of the situation a couple of steps ahead, insight, intuition - can be of great service to women in their professional activities.

It should also be borne in mind that as soon as a woman took up building a successful professional career, she needs to pay attention to the factors that men are traditionally focused on when they achieve success in a particular business field, namely - competence, the ability to present oneself correctly, the ability to be result-oriented.

So how do you succeed as a personal assistant and create a great foundation for your successful career?

Maximum program

Do not forget that there are no unproductive areas of activity, there are negligent employees. Just as there is no boring life, there are boring people. Nature has endowed women with many valuable abilities.

What is important today for a woman's business success?

You should not rely only on external data, although an attractive and neat appearance, the ability to present yourself, of course, will serve you excellently.

A successful person is always aware of three things:

your abilities and talents,
your ambitions and goals,
their sources of new knowledge and skills, that is, opportunities for growth.

It is also necessary to clearly understand what you mean by "success" for yourself. Whether it is a calm routine work or the need to constantly solve new problems, show ingenuity and initiative and stay in the center of events. By the way, if the latter is not to your taste, then the position of a personal assistant is not for you.

Understanding and action are the two engines of success. A successful person is active HERE and NOW. He does not need to wait for the opportunity to prove himself. He himself creates these possibilities for himself, calculates them from the surrounding reality, because the focus of his vision is wide enough, and he is open to notice many things around and use situations.

Do more than just what is expected of you at work. Such a passive approach to business is not for a person striving for any professional heights. Ask yourself the question: what do you expect from the job? The answer may be: worthy reward, satisfaction from the level of communication, social and other benefits that work provides, recognition of one's merits from the leadership, the environment. After all, personal success depends not so much on the position held, but on the person himself.

Think about how you can excel, how to improve your workflow, what atmosphere to create in the reception area, i.e. what steps you can take to effective solution work tasks. Here are the points of creation of situations and opportunities for your success.

When a person acts not just within the framework of what is required of him at work, but puts his expectations from work, his aspirations for growth and self-realization at the forefront, then he succeeds in showing what he is capable of, gaining the trust and recognition of society for to myself as a specialist, an ambitious employee.

The most important lesson in personal growth: you want to learn - study, come, ask, clarify, ask for a master class, try to do something new, more, but no one will offer you mentoring, training or professional advice first. The initiative, questions, suggestions for a “test of the pen” or assistance to an already established professional for mastering the mastery should come from the “student”, since it is the student who is looking for a teacher, and not vice versa!

Thus, the recipe for success in the profession is extremely simple - to realize that you yourself play a major role in the situations and circumstances of your existence. Your understanding of which environment best suits your aspirations and goals, understanding of your strengths, sensitivity to the surrounding reality - all of these play a vital role in creating favorable opportunities for progress along the path of success. In this case, you kind of model your life scenario, you fill it with those ideas that are of value to you. All these ideas are embodied in those things, conditions, people who begin to surround you in accordance with the course of events that you organize for yourself or have a clear idea of organizing. After all, a person chooses a way of life himself.

It is clear that you can only do well what you like. So what is next - more. By starting to get a taste of the business, to enjoy the positive results of your efforts, you will discover your personal secrets of success. After all, everything is very individual. You will be happy to discover and develop this individuality in yourself step by step.

Personal assistant: two magic wands

For an executive assistant, two skills are especially important: working with information and working with people. Both of these skills become equal in value to the magic wands of a talented assistant.

Working with information: it is important not so much to have the maximum amount of it and to remember and keep a lot in your head, but to know where you can find it at the right time. The fact that you and I live in the Web-era makes our life much easier. After all, information or a hint about its valuable sources can be found using the resources of the World Wide Web, so search skills are in the first place today. These skills need to be mastered to perfection. Find the information you need, highlight the main thing in a large information flow - these are important skills of a modern assistant. How to achieve masterly mastery of such skills? The more practice - the better you will get. And further. Be curious!

It is important to never panic ahead of time when faced with a new problem. Find information, think, figure it out. An optimistic and cognitive approach is important here. Especially when you often have to solve new problems. But if you cannot do this and do not like it, then you have chosen the wrong job. After all, the work of a personal assistant presupposes initiative, creative and positive thinking. This is a job for those who like to think and solve various problems. This is a job for brilliant organizers, creators who know how to effectively deal with stress, smooth out difficulties, and nothing else.

Second magic wand - ability to communicate with people - this is an even more complex and interesting tool.

It is important for a personal assistant find a common language with others. For effective communication, you must have such a wonderful character trait as sociability, that is, the ability to easily establish contacts. It is difficult for a closed, uncommunicative person to work as an assistant, given the need to communicate with a large number of people of completely different statuses. The valuable personal qualities of an assistant include courtesy, politeness, benevolence, courtesy, attention to the interlocutor. They always appear not only during personal contacts, but also during telephone conversations. It is these qualities that create a favorable atmosphere in the manager's reception room, in the office and help in obtaining support, effective interaction with people and the fulfillment of a mediating mission between the manager and those around him.

It is worth noting that women are naturally good psychologists and “specialists in human relations”. Subconsciously, they usually understand what kind of person is in front of them, and depending on this, they choose a line of behavior. Whether it concerns a manager or an employee, it is best to stick to the most correct style of behavior.

Another important point - ability to take care of people, the ability to be a diplomat, to be tactful, to find the right tone, to understand the mood of the people around and the state of affairs. Why care about people? Does a supervisor need to show miracles with the patience and concern of a nanny-sitter? Partly yes. Work for you helping... This is your main function. When organizing something, you need to calculate all the nuances, as if you were doing all this for yourself. You cannot omit any questions, details and think that there, on the spot, people will figure it out on their own. You need to try to provide for everything to the maximum, everything to the smallest detail. This work is very important. After all, the ability to take care of people is not within the power of everyone. This is a very difficult task for an assistant manager.

In the nature of a woman lies such a quality as the ability and desire to improve everything. She believes that if something exists or works in one form or another, then it can be improved. As a rule, she tries to achieve this herself and is ready to encourage others to do this. This wonderful quality of a woman provides her with great opportunities for the development of her leadership qualities and career advancement.

I would like to note that for professional success in almost any business, you need to be well versed in female and male psychology. It is important, firstly, to clearly understand your own advantages and strengths, laid down by nature, and, secondly, to effectively communicate with people, taking into account the peculiarities of male and female styles of thinking and behavior. This valuable knowledge will help you find a common language, understanding and support not only at work, but also in your personal life, which is very important for every woman.

Work for creative people

The moment is very important for a woman. creativity. A rare woman, due to the qualities of her feminine nature, which nature gave her, will agree to do boring routine work. What is creation and why do we most often seek creative work? What do we mean by this concept? Sometimes it turns out that we mean freedom by this concept. Freedom to create, to reveal and realize oneself.

Indeed, often we need not only to perform some ordinary, repetitive functions from day to day, but also to create, create and, most importantly, see the end result, the “product” of our activities, get a response from the “consumer” of this “product”, the opposite communication, high appreciation of the effort invested. For some people, in addition, it is important to do something "inside and out", and not just be a cog in a big machine and put your little bit into a common cause. In the process of your professional self-determination, you must definitely find an answer to the question - what is important to you personally in your work?

So, about creativity. Fortunately, working as a manager's assistant presupposes the ability to think independently and make decisions, and there is no need to complain about the lack of a creative field of activity.

Find a way out of a situation, sometimes non-standard, propose an idea, if necessary - convince of its value and rationality, find an opportunity to implement it, plan and "orchestrate" its implementation - Here are the essential parts of a successful personal assistant plan that will be appreciated. And if you think you can make things better - this is a thankless task, then you may be surprised to learn that you (if you decide to do it anyway) have finally accomplished something that no one else has reached for a long time, and this did not go unnoticed. Wouldn't that be fun with the activity? Will it not create the preconditions for further professional growth? The answer to all questions is extremely laconic - yes! We must try and dare.

In order to create, you need to see, hear, understand people and circumstances around, notice the key problems in your work and find solutions, improve processes. In most cases, you should not argue that the initiative is punishable. As a rule, inaction and indifference are punishable, since sooner or later one may stumble upon the same obstacles that in the past, it would seem, so successfully managed to close their eyes. If the problem is systemic, then it is better to solve it, and the next time in a similar situation you will no longer have to waste time bypassing the same pit.

The work of an assistant constantly throws up tasks, and if you are an active and creative nature, then these tasks will strengthen and build up your "professional muscles", as well as discover and develop your skills and talents. These tasks are also interesting (not at all routine, as a rule) the activity of a personal assistant to the head. Solving them, we grow and develop as individuals and as employees, this brings us satisfaction and worthy reward. And we strive for this, is not it?

Now the profession of a personal assistant or assistant is popular on the Internet and, like mushrooms after the rain, courses are emerging for a personal assistant of a remote leader - an information business man (hereinafter referred to as Schools), so today I decided to leave my first review on this specialty. I did not decide to write an article on this topic by chance, it appeared in the heat of the heat, since I myself recently graduated from similar courses and even managed to get my first salary) Surely, among you who are reading this post now, there are a lot of girls who are gnawing at fears of running into on scammers, as well as a bunch of other doubts. I will tell you about my experience, in which you might recognize yourself and help you make the right choice.

Personal Assistant Courses

I have been looking closely at the profession of a personal assistant for a long time, for a year, for sure. What prevented me from taking a step much faster? The first reason is my son, who at that time was not even a year old, I was afraid not to find time for study and further work. The rest of the reasons are not so significant, but nevertheless, this is not a small price and the opportunity not to get a job, which means to waste the money spent on studying)

What is the essence of these courses and what will they teach you as a result?

As you understand, I have not been working remotely for the first year, before that I had experience working on freelance exchanges, but mostly these were orders related to copywriting or speaking in simple words- writing texts to order. How is the work of a personal assistant different from a regular freelancer? In fact, these professions overlap, both are associated with working on the Internet or remotely, but if a freelancer is a person who is not tied to a specific place of work, then a personal assistant obeys in everything to his manager or information businessman.

This has its advantages, which I will write about below, so the founders of the personal assistant courses say that retraining as an assistant will benefit even a freelancer. So that you understand what tasks fall on the assistants, I will give you a list of popular job responsibilities personal assistant. Although here it is necessary to take into account the fact that each manager - an information businessman makes a range of tasks for himself and his project.

Responsibilities of a personal assistant for an online project:

Knowledge of the basics of information business and online business... Here you need to clearly understand the internal organization of the online project process. It is not difficult to understand, especially if you know that an information businessman is a person who has created a certain product, which can be an online course on weight loss, for example, or personal growth. And the main essence of such a business is online sales.
Online product packaging. This is where you need the technical skills to work with a 3D cover art program.
Video processing skills working with audio
Banner skills
Creation of PDF materials, e-books, check sheets
Create professional presentations
Setting up training classes and organizing courses
Site administration and content management
Setting up mailing lists
Landing page creation
Social Media Basics
Basic copywriting and writing skills

As you can see, there are few tasks and there is nothing complicated about them. And to figure it out, it is not necessary to take assistant courses, perhaps you already own some of them. In addition, some online businessmen are ready to take the training of an employee into their own hands, provided that you have basic skills, which is good news!

In fact, the School provides a foundation or base from which you yourself begin to pump your skills, already after graduation. I will make a reservation right away that you will not be taught all the professional skills that an information businessman needs at the School of Assistants. Moreover, after completing the courses, you may be faced with the fact that in the requirements of vacancies, there will be skills that you do not possess at all. For example, working with programs Corel Draw or Photoshop, setting up targeted advertising for social networks. All of these highly specialized skills you will have to learn outside of the assistant courses. And not every manager will agree to train you at his own expense, so if you want to become a pro in your field and receive a salary of more than 20 thousand rubles. add more n-th amount for your further development.

Minuses

As usual, I'll start with the minuses, they are there and you need to be ready for them. As the saying goes, forewarned is forearmed.

1. We were not taught this!

Many people start to panic when applying for a job, when the leader is required to do a range of tasks in a program that you were not taught to work in at school. It all depends on you, either you give up and blame the School, or you take responsibility into your own hands and begin to quickly retrain yourself. I will say from my own experience that I chose the second option, and I advise you the same if you want to stay remote for a long time)

2. Work from a children's sandbox

Another feature that I noticed already after graduation in the circle of my fellow students is that many simply have no idea where they came from. There were moments when girls, having rainbow pictures in front of their eyes, that you can work from the phone, immediately faced reality - what you must have workplace with a laptop, and it is advisable to submit tasks on time. That is, the idea of working from a tropical beach will not work here, unless of course you are already an experienced remote worker)

3. Kidalovo from info businessmen

Yes, friends this happens and unfortunately none of the online assistants is immune from this, except for those who are officially registered according to the TC, but such a minority, if not a few. During my training, a similar incident happened. Two girls were thrown by the so-called info-businessman without paying them for 2 months hard work... The most offensive thing is that this happened to the newly minted assistants, at a time when the motivation is so shaky. Why didn't the girls sound the alarm earlier? I think it was the inexperience and trust that worked when you were fed your daily breakfast. By the way, if anyone is interested, I was also thrown by one IB, without paying for a week of work. Is it really possible to call such people information businessmen who behave dishonestly with their employees?

The main problem with remote control is getting your money. Therefore, not everyone succeeds. Delays, scam, revision of the conditions of all this is many times greater than in real life.

How to protect yourself from such a case? In fact, nothing. The whole principle of work is based on trust, and all that remains for you if you are left without payment is simply to shame the person and add him to the blacklist so that others do not make a similar mistake. Such blacklists are in groups in contact, so check out “shame infobusiness "ahead of time.

And it is best to agree on payment every week for the first month. At least all that you will lose is five days that you can put into your piggy bank of experience. But still, there are some points indicating that you are dealing with a dishonest information businessman.

How to identify a fraudulent info business?

If you are required to pay a certain fee for your work on any platform in which you have to work. This is a fairly common trap that newbie assistants can fall into through inexperience. The scheme is such that you are told to pay the rent of some service, supposedly later this money will be returned to you. If you hear such a request, close the chat with the employer. You work - you get paid, not you. In my opinion it is very clear.
If your salary is delayed in the first months, they say that there are no sales or are presented under a different sauce, but not paid. Roll up your work, and in principle put the question squarely - first the salary, without it you do not work.
Or you have to beg for your hard-earned money every time. And if they do, they are divided into several parts. In this case, to put it simply, the person in front of you is a greedy person. With this, you will never achieve a salary increase, even if you plow into a sweat. Run and don't look back until it's too late. Or rather, until his debt to you has grown even more.

4. Test task or a month without payment

Many well-promoted information security organizations arrange a competition for the position of an assistant, and at the same time offer to pass test... I agree that some specialists, for example, copywriters, cannot be recruited into your team without verification. Therefore, you may be offered to write a series of posts from one to ten on a specific topic, where information security will look at your writing abilities.

But there may be a hidden catch here. Not all information security is clean on hand, some enterprising businessmen are trying to get free content in this way. Therefore, here the novice assistant has two choices. Namely, he will agree that you will write on an abstract topic (how I spent the summer, how to salt mushrooms correctly, how to make repairs in a one-room apartment on a budget). If IB does not agree to your condition, then I advise you to show the article as a screenshot from the Word. If they want to use it, they will have to rewrite it.

Another facet when applying for a job is working for free or for the minimum wage. It all depends on your decision, if you choose a project where you want to show yourself for a certain period of time, most likely IB is considering several candidates, and just like you are in confusion. Your task is to help him decide in his direction, such qualities as initiative and focus on results will help here.

5. Small salary

I would even say tiny, especially for offline employees who are used to receiving salaries with four zeros and higher. You will be warned about this in advance, but nevertheless some people ignore this fact, naively believing that they will come across an info-businessman who is ready to pay a lot of money right away. If you are just building a career as an assistant, then mentally prepare yourself to receive 5 thousand rubles at first. It is in this figure that the work of the assistant is most likely estimated in the first months of work. And only if you get caught good leader, he himself will notice when you start paying more. Usually, from this moment, at most two months pass, no more.

But still, the second option also happens more often, when the information businessman is not ready to pay a decent salary even after a long time, and this happens quite often. Then such messages appear in the chat from fellow students who are not ready to sit for days in front of a computer for a penny.

6. Feeling lost and abandoned

When communicating in the chat of fellow students (thank God, he stayed with us, and this is significant moral support), I noticed that many girls are unhappy with how the process of communication between a leader and his assistant is being built. Namely, info-cheaters can disappear for days and not get in touch, and since you receive all tasks through messengers, it becomes not clear whether he needs you as an assistant or not? Maybe the info-businessman has merged long ago or forgot about your existence altogether.

Some assistants complained that their leaders are too absent-minded in communication, or do not at all understand what tasks can be delegated to the assistant. It got to the point of ridiculousness when an info-businesswoman asked her assistant to make her own terms of reference! I’ll say from my own experience, I also had to face this when my leader did not get in touch for two days or answered in snatches. Then it turned out that he had a move. I think that you need to warn your responsible employee about such moments so that he does not worry unnecessarily)

7. Work in a startup project

Not only can you be a newbie assistant, but your employer can also be a newbie info business. And now he is rosy with the heat of the heat, all the fuse for the idea of opening his project pours out on the newbie - the assistant. And he expects from him - product, sales, strategy and much more. Usually assistants, due to their insecurity and inexperience, as well as the fear of appearing clumsy, begin to save the flimsy world of the information businessman. As a result, there are no sales, no product, and therefore the information security says that there is nothing to pay him from. Although the assistant was out of his skin, he did not sleep at night, and all month he tried to work tirelessly to the detriment of his family and children.

Therefore, my advice to you, if you are a beginner, do not meddle in nascent projects, it is better to come to a place where the processes have already been established and built before you.

pros

As I promised, the advantages or benefits of the School of Remote Work and the profession of an assistant to the information business in general.

1. Vacancies

I think this is the most significant plus of the School, since it is difficult, and sometimes impossible, to find a job on your own as a “green” employee. Although from my own experience I can say that I found a job not from ready-made vacancies at the School, but on my own. Unfortunately, no one responded to my self-submitted proposals, although the resume was compiled correctly, and transmittal letter approved by the curator of the School. I still don’t understand why, out of more than thirty sent letters with resumes, only two information businessmen answered, and even then they refused. My current employers found me on their own, and this happened after I posted a post about job search on my page in social. networks. Like this.

I will say that from our School I got a job as a remote assistant, about a third of the total number of students. Whether this is a good statistic or not, I cannot say, but whether you will be included in this percentage of lucky ones depends largely on you. From your perseverance and ability to catch the chance that fate gives you. For example, I had a long and difficult testing in a project, which I was very eager to get into. I devoted all night to reviewing an assignment that would show me as an employee eligible for the position of a remote assistant. But as a result, I was informed that I did not pass. To say that I was upset, to say nothing, I was sure that they would hire me, but ... But then this information businessman proposed my candidacy to his colleagues, and that is how I got a job in my first project!

2. Internship

While not yet an experienced employee, the School will offer you an internship in order to work as a personal assistant and feel this profession for yourself. I do not advise you to refuse, even if at the moment you have free time right next to it. Why? Because you can always refuse, even in the middle of your internship, and no one will punish you for that. But you will have a real chance to get a job with an information business man. Some managers see the internship as a test period, when you can look at the intern and understand whether he is suitable for his project or not. It is convenient for both parties - the internship period is not paid, and this is an opportunity to stay in the project permanently.

I will say from my own experience that my info-business, who was assigned to me during the internship, did not take me to work, and I was not particularly eager to get to her. Why? Firstly, the woman did not understand what tasks could be entrusted to me, and secondly, she did not like my work, done from the heart and for free. Although it was great content selling text, which she later used in her projects) Like this. The feedback that I needed for the portfolio, I had to beg, which in principle I do not like. Therefore, even for the best that I did not get to work for her, suddenly she gives out the salary in the same manner.

3. Free schedule

I will say for myself that this plus in the distance was and is my main marker when choosing what I want to do. I can plan my schedule, which means I can adjust my personal daily routine to work processes. Each person has their own active biological clock, when his mind is working at full capacity, and when he is sleeping. I always listen to my body, and therefore I get the best result, even this article I am writing at the moment when it has already matured in my head.

In the concept of a free schedule, everyone puts their own definitions, so you should know what it means in remote work. It is not at all that you can work whenever you want and from where you want. Far from it. You should have hours when you set aside time for work tasks, and when you do your personal business. And it is advisable to immediately inform your manager about this. So that there is no such thing that you went to kindergarten after your child, and they write to you that you urgently need to send letters. Did the job, walk boldly - this proverb accurately characterizes the work of the assistant as a whole)

4. Side job

In addition to the main profession as an assistant, the School will show you freelance exchanges where you can take one-time tasks and get paid for it. Why should I, a freelancer in the past, know about this way of making money if I was already registered there? Because I received additional knowledge that is just the same in demand on these exchanges. I know that some girls from our stream earned the first money with the skills of the data in the School. And moreover, the payment for one-time tasks on the Exchange exceeded our salary for half a month!

Why I won't work as a personal assistant anymore

1. The risk of being left without a salary is too great. Most information businessmen do not register assistants on their staff. In fact, there are zero guarantees in the case of a kidalov.

2. In most cases, no one promises to formalize the remote assistant, only a few, large projects, where they try not to take newcomers, do it. If you are ready to save yourself for social benefits out of your pocket, take the time to calculate how much your salary should be in order to stay in the black.

Also be prepared for unpaid sick leave. And regarding the deadline (clear terms), think about whom you will choose - sick children or an employer?

3. Small salary. To jump over the RUB 20,000 barrier, you will have to work on several projects at the same time. I do not like to be sprayed, so this is not my option. In addition, at an interview, when your employer hears that you are working in some other project, he begins to be alarmed by this fact. Especially if these are related or similar niches.

For example, when I tried to get a job as an assistant in a yoga project, despite the fact that I had already worked in one meditation-related project, IB said that she did not want to hire such an assistant. It's like your employee works for both Pepsi and Coca-Cola corporations, she said. But you must admit that it would be convenient for an assistant to focus on one topic, and not study simultaneously drilling rigs and educational toys for children.

4. If your child does not yet go to Kindergarten, then working with a baby as a remote assistant is too painful. Someone manages to work at night, but acting in this way quickly fizzles out mentally, and even physically. I practice getting up early, so I go to bed at the same time as my baby.

5. My personal opinion is that it is better to be an excellent specialist in a narrow subject - target, design, smm, etc. There are enough remote professions, and often entrepreneurs are ready to pay good money for spot work - launching a website, layout of a landing page, etc. At the same time, the assistant remains overboard, because he does the work that the leader himself is able to do.

The main advice from personal experience, who is going to courses a personal assistant remotely

Before giving your hard-earned and rather big money for courses, do not be lazy and go through free marathons with trainers. Fortunately, there are enough of them now. Let it be training lessons on targeting, smm, social networking and the like. You will see for yourself how much useful information you can get for free at such events. And sometimes it is several times more useful than the one that is offered to be purchased for a fee. How so? - you ask. The fact is that progress does not stand still, information becomes obsolete, some programs are replaced by others with more functional ones. Therefore, people share their old ideas, not to the detriment of their business.

Which School for Remote Assistants should you choose?

Today there are a lot of offers to study, and sometimes it is difficult to decide where to go for knowledge. I do not advertise from this post and write as it is. As you can see, I told you all the realities of the current situation on the market of this profession, I hope I did not overdo it with the minuses)

As for the choice of the School, it is worth listening to the inner voice and looking at all the options available on the market. In fact, the founders of the school are the same information businessmen, they also conduct free webinars. This is of course a lure, speaking in a professional language - a sales funnel, but at the same time it is an opportunity to feel your Teacher, get to know better, and ask questions of interest. If you are hooked on how the material is being submitted at the free webinar and you like this person, then this is your option, you will also like studying at the School, and perhaps everything will turn out great after graduation.

And most importantly, read the real reviews of the students, if you see that a person praises the School and does not talk about the minuses, then this is an occasion to think about the veracity of this content. So that later there would be no disappointments, as it was with us, when some of the students were thrown with payment.

Conclusion

So, I came to the School with my baggage of knowledge, which at that time was more about working with sites and text. Did the School give me something new in terms of knowledge? I think yes. Since I didn’t know many aspects related to design, but again I didn’t get any deep knowledge in the School. But I didn't count on it, the system is enough for me, and then you can move on your own, being sure that you are going in the right direction.

Why do I need a new profession if I have my own project and need to develop it? My own project has not gone anywhere, I also teach cutting and sewing and do not stand still. The main reason why I decided to become a personal assistant was the desire to change my own work format. Namely, transfer your offline courses online. I have been asked about this for a long time and I think that having worked in other people's projects, I will gain experience, study the info business from the inside and launch my own online project! Until then, wish me luck and never be afraid to take the first step. I wish everyone to find their own info-businessman and receive a salary with five zeros or more)

2017 | 11 | 09 4850

What should a personal assistant manager be able to do?

A personal assistant is a profession with fairly broad responsibilities. Many people are interested in the question: is such an employee really a necessity for every busy person, or is it still an employee, without whom one can also efficiently cope with tasks? Let's figure it out, understanding what exactly is the responsibility of such an assistant and what is usually expected of him.

Personal assistant functions

Responsibilities can be quite varied: they can consist of, or they can consist of helping a supervisor at work.

Responsibilities, as a rule, include the full range of organizational and informational support to the employer.

scheduling meetings
buying tickets
hotel booking
search for places or people
correspondence and calls at the request of the manager, etc.
search systematization of all necessary information and operational report.

The personal assistant should serve as a diary and calendar for the manager, reminding of any upcoming events or any changes. Also, such a specialist performs various personal orders of the employer. Such an employee can manage everyday moments and even manage the manager's domestic staff.

The assistant usually accompanies the leader at events and meetings, while he must be available for communication 24/7. Therefore, such a person should be ready for irregular working hours, work in an intensive mode, and, in addition, for frequent business trips.

Personal Assistant: Requirements for the Candidate

The requirements for such a worker are usually quite high. This is experience, knowledge, and certain personal qualities. In particular, in this position they usually want to see a person with higher education, with work experience of at least 2 years, with an active life position, good communication and organizational skills, as well as with a high level of stress resistance. They also expect a high level of composure and the ability to smooth out conflicts from such a specialist.

In addition, the candidate must have competent oral and written speech, knowledge of English at a high level, knowledge of business etiquette, as well as knowledge computer programs and the ability to make effective presentations. Also, a well-groomed appearance is often expected from such an employee.

The average salary of such a specialist is 800 euros, but this is an approximate figure that depends on experience, knowledge, and the number and complexity of tasks that a person will perform in this position.

In general, today the format of the profession has changed a little thanks to technology, so such workers can work remotely, only sometimes coming to the employer. There are also freelance assistants who work for multiple employers at the same time.

Some of the pitfalls of the personal assistant profession

A personal assistant is a person who, in fact, lives for a stranger, satisfying his needs. According to the personal assistant of a wealthy Londoner, his job is to constantly take care of the employer's life, helping him, not himself. That's why ego in such a profession can be a hindrance.

In general, in such an assistant-employer relationship, the main thing is trust, since such an employee owns a lot of confidential information, in particular about the personal life and work aspects of the employer. That is why he cannot talk about his work with friends and even with his family.

Another point to be aware of is that a personal assistant is often expected to be free of young children and other factors that can take a lot of the employee's time.

Best Personal Assistant Resume Example

work experience

Personal assistant to the family leader

Responsibilities:

Organization of family and leader trips: booking tickets, booking hotels, searching for excursions;
Purchase of tickets for various events: cinema, theater, concerts, etc .;
Selection of tutors for the employer's children;
Recruiting domestic staff and conducting an initial interview;
Payment of bills;
Collection of documents;
Purchase of groceries and household goods, as well as purchase of clothes and various items in online stores;
Search for specialists to conduct renovation works in the house, for the repair of air conditioning systems, etc.;
Transportation of the employer's children to the kindergarten / school;
Appointments to doctors.

About myself:

Competent speech, knowledge of English language at the upper-intermediate level;
Driving license of category B, B1 and driving experience more than 7 years;
Ability to work in multitasking mode, diligence, discipline.

Thus, a personal assistant can really become an indispensable person in the life of an employer, performing many functions. Leaders who had such employees can no longer imagine their lives without such an employee. There are a lot of offers for this profession, but you need to describe your experience and skills in your resume as detailed as possible in order to get a suitable place for you.

Below you will find a hint for filling out the registration form.

Shot from the movie "The Devil Wears Prada"

Futurists and technology developers love to predict the future. According to them, technical progress is marching across the planet at such a speed that soon many professions will simply die out. They like to cite the notorious specialty of a typist as an example - they say, their ability to type quickly with the advent of computers has simply lost demand. Meanwhile, the typists themselves didn’t sit around for a long time, didn’t fold their hands, and simply re-learned how to type quickly on modern keyboards, having reserved a place for themselves in recruiting agencies for decades to come.

Now, the same predictions seem to be attacking a profession that seemingly involves such a personal approach that no computer can replace it. But here, too, the daredevils who initiate the confrontation between people and machines from year to year are still found. Their automated personal assistants (PA - personal assistants) bear humanized, almost childish names (Siri, Charlie). One of them - Amy Ingram - is so "alive" that some do not even realize that they are not texting with an ordinary person, but with artificial intelligence. Amy, like any girl, knows how to flirt, knows the basics of modern digital language and charms her interlocutors on the other side of the screen so much that they even send her flowers and gifts.

And we could again start singing praises to the capabilities of Big Data, if not for one "but": PA bots have been around for many years, but during this time the profession of living personal assistants has evolved so much that it has left its artificial rivals far behind. It turned out that being able to simply sync the calendar and schedule appointments was no longer enough. Now, in order to stay afloat and at the same time earn decent money, the personal assistant must become the second self of his boss. Marina Egorova, General Director of PA Smart & Talented, comments on what this means in practice.

Between care and anticipation

Promo photo for the series "Force Majeure"

“Sometimes we laugh with our assistants, calling our work“ the second mom of our boss, ”jokes Marina Egorova. It is not so much the ability to quickly execute orders that is important here, but the ability to be discerning to such an extent that the boss does not even need to voice the order. In other words, in the profession of a personal assistant, reactivity must be replaced by proactivity.

“For example, if the boss flies to a new city for him,” the expert continues, “you need to look at the airport map in advance and plan where he will leave at the airport to be met. In the same city, see the weather and put an umbrella in his briefcase in case of rainy weather. Or prepare the necessary files for his meeting, which he did not ask for, but you know that he will definitely need them. "

"You don't need to wait for instructions from your boss to do this, you need to guess yourself."

The success of a personal assistant directly depends on how much his boss or boss is freed from monotonous work that does not require business acumen. Visa processing, meeting arrangement, translation, route planning, real estate control - all this should take place autonomously, unnoticed by the boss and, of course, competently.

There are also more personal functions: sending flowers to his wife on March 8, buying gifts for children for the successful end of the school year (remember the main character of "The Devil Wears Prada", who rushed through publishers in search of an unpublished book about Harry Potter) or the selection of service personnel for at home. “Sometimes you even need to buy a bridge for a dog from the coast to the yacht,” laughs Marina Egorova. As a result, the personal assistant begins to understand the character and preferences of the chief deeper than the members of his family, however, it is very important here not to cross the line. Some PAs even have a rule according to which they do not allow themselves to stay for dinner with the chef's family, and as soon as the working day comes to an end, they run home.

On the other hand, and this rule is not one hundred percent, after all, when hiring a personal assistant, you have to be ready to work 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

There will be no banal 8-hour presence in the office, but work “at the desk” will still be of great importance, if only because a competent PA is not only one who knows how to feel the mood and needs of a person, but also one who knows how to keep a record or handle document flow. Aerobatics - if you have an understanding of the intricacies of the business that your boss is doing. In this case, your responsibilities will include preparing presentations, holding meetings on behalf of your boss, distributing assignments to employees in positions below - accordingly, the salary and loyalty of your bosses to you will only increase. In the UK, for example, a separate survey was even conducted a couple of years ago, in which about 16% of respondents admitted that their bosses regularly listen to their advice when making strategic business decisions.

Difficulties in selection

The position of personal assistant today has inherited a minimal percentage of responsibilities from its secretary ancestor. She now combines the skills of a manager, a psychologist, an organizer, a hiring specialist, a businessman, and even a financier. The last point implies the ability to effectively manage assets. In this case, a personal assistant (as a rule, a separate person is hired to perform these functions, although there are exceptions when one assistant is involved in everything) works in the so-called Family Office. “The concept of FO came to us from the States. Wealthy families organized such offices in order to preserve their capital, - explains Marina Yegorova, - earlier there were financiers in it, now they began to hire assistants there too ”.

Of course, when taking up such a position, the degree of confidentiality begins to increase, because sooner or later, family secrets, bank accounts, corporate information, medical data, PIN codes from cards begin to open to the personal assistant - in a word, everything that under the wrong circumstances can be used against a client.

“In large companies for top managers, they first try to find an assistant among their employees,” says the expert, “but, as a rule, a good employee is good at one and bad at another. There are situations when several months of search pass and the result is zero, then HRD likes to contact us, in a highly specialized agency. "

Profile

As a rule, the general public associates personal assistants with young, inexperienced girls. And this is a very big misconception, because, in fact, the PA position is mainly received by people over 30 years old. Most often - women, but there are exceptions - for example, in the same Family Office there is a place for men.

For example, Marina Egorova's company, for example, is mostly approached by those who are looking for an assistant from 32 to 35 years old. “This is due to the fact that managers want a stable assistant for several years, and it is at this age that candidates, as a rule, come with an already arranged family life,” explains the CEO.

Moreover, family people have well-developed multitasking and stress resistance. As the expert testifies, big bosses are very impatient people, so you always need to be able to keep your own emotions and fatigue under control. In this regard, it will be important for any employer or recruiter to see that a person knows how to work for a long time in one place, is disciplined, restrained and aware of the intricacies of a particular entrepreneurial project.

Perspectives

Returning to the same British survey, that time only a third of respondents admitted that they always wanted to become a personal assistant, and about the same number said that they did not want to change their specialty, but plan to develop further and grow, for example, to an executive assistant.

“Believe me, you can work as an assistant at least your whole life,” the expert convinces, “for example, Berezovsky's assistant. She worked with him for more than a dozen years until his death. "

On the other hand, it is possible to make a qualitatively new leap from this position as well. Marina herself, for example, has gone from assistant to owner own business... As a rule, the position of a project manager can become an intermediate step. The perspective stretches right up to the post general director... Management is the most common area of growth, as this is where the personal assistant gains experience the most.

5 reasons to hire your own assistant:

The schedule is under control. Where Siri fails, PA comes to the rescue, and it certainly won't send you to the same meeting twice.

Delegation of authority. Instead of running around visa centers or signing unnecessary papers, concentrate on big ideas.

Give yourself time for privacy. Hire a mate to spend evenings with loved ones, not reporting.

Invest in yourself. An assistant's salary is not a waste. You can spend the free time on self-development.

Your second self. You don't have to explain what you need every time. A competent assistant will organize everything the way you would.

By the way: The Business Aviation Club is holding a competition for the title of the best personal assistant of Super PA. Follow the link to read what you need to take part and receive the main prize - a luxury trip for two.

Marina Egorova, founder of Smart & Talented. Personal assistants, which specializes in recruiting, training and coaching assistants, secretaries and personal assistants. Company website - www.smart-and-talented.ru

Photo: GettyImages, press service archives

A personal remote assistant is a very difficult and demanding job, but at the same time it guarantees career growth and other privileges. Recently, it became possible to work as a personal assistant remotely. We will tell you how this can be done further.

Duties of Remote Assistance

We recommend the course on making money on the Internet: Find out more than 50 ways to make money online, including ways to make money from freelancing

Main and the main task a personal remote assistant is to relieve the boss of some minor responsibilities. These tasks include:

Planning and maintaining the schedule of the day;
Business correspondence;
Preparing the necessary materials for meetings or meetings;
Work with documents;
Creation of "telephone" and Internet - image;
Organization of meetings and trips;
Personal assignments.

The nuance is that personal assistant takes over the duties of 3 employees at once: secretary, assistant and administrator... Therefore, this work requires attention, round-the-clock Internet access and communications, a lot of effort and responsibility. You must have skills in many areas: organization, planning, creation, forecasting, management, etc. Organizational qualities and multitasking must be possessed by both a real assistant and a virtual one.

What skills and abilities should an online assistant have?

A remote assistant has the same responsibilities as a full-time assistant. But all this is done over the Internet. Because the leaders of the Internet business also need to keep track of their schedule: when and with whom to contact, what to send and to whom, etc. All these small, but very important, actions should be monitored by a remote assistant. In the field of online business, the assistant acts more as a confidant of the manager. This is a great responsibility and must be approached consciously.

The range of duties and skills depends directly on the size of the company and the leader himself, the specifics of his day and habits, management policy.

High pay should correspond to certain skills and abilities that a personal assistant must have:

Read between the lines and predict tasks and tasks;
Be able to adapt to new or extreme conditions;
Be able to handle information;
Keep confidential facts secret;
Confidently work with computers and electronic gadgets;
Work with programs for keeping accounts, creating presentations and documents of a different format;
Coordinate and distribute work in other areas.

And this is not the whole list of what you need to be able to do. Again, it all depends on the direction of the company and the relationship with the manager.

Benefits of work

First, you will gain unique experience in managing and running your business. You can follow the work of your boss and memorize some of the nuances for yourself. You will be able to learn from the mistakes of your leader and subsequently not do them in your business. Moreover, with an assistant, you can move up the career ladder. Where exactly depends on your work and the generosity of the boss, but maybe you will rise to the post of deputy.

Once you have gained experience, you can start your own business, and you will already know how best to act and how to organize everything. And you can hire the same professional as your assistants as your assistants.

In addition to all of the above, there is one more fact that you will be very happy about. The personal assistant manager is a person who appears at all important meetings and events.... That is, you will be part of the circle of influential people and will be able to establish individual contacts with them for the development of your business in the future.

Watch the video - How to make money on the Internet? How to become a personal assistant of a famous businessman?

Features in the work of remote assistance

Minus or peculiarity - you decide, but the workload will be full and even irregular. You need to be in touch 24 hours a day, because anything can happen. And you will need to take responsibility for failures below the assigned people, for shortcomings and force majeure. And also to correct mistakes.

For a complete and effective work you need to organize a full-fledged office at home with a computer, Internet, printer and all the necessary things for productive work. If you are missing something, then the boss will not be interested. Especially if you have already earned the status of a responsible employee and receive a high salary.

In this specialty, as in all others, everything depends on your work experience and the ability to organize everything correctly. If you are a beginner, then it is better to immediately warn the chief about this, maybe he will give you probation or you will do an internship.

Your salary will depend on the workload, the number of tasks performed, as well as experience and skills... The more responsible and better you show yourself and recommend yourself, the higher the payment will be. A subsequent increase in pay with a parallel promotion is also possible. But do not immediately hope for this, just carry out your direct duties.

To find a similar job, place your resume on freelance job search sites... There are a lot of vacancies of this kind. The main thing is to draw up a correct and correct application and show yourself from advantageous sides. After that, start your duties, and do not forget that all your actions will be useful to you in your business in the future. And your profit in this case depends on them. This is invaluable experience on the way to your goal and the development of a successful business.