A personal assistant acts as the right hand of their employer, whether it's picking up their dry cleaning or taking notes during a critical business meeting. Anyone entering this profession is expected to have a certain skill set that will help them make their boss's life easier, and optimize their time. By learning a few essential aspects of what it means to be a PA, you will be able to slip into an optimized routine faster and endear yourself to your boss with ease.
These three tips will help any new PA enhance their ability to perform under pressure and impress their employer quickly:
Learn what they love – Every employer has personal preferences, and quickly learning and remembering them will make you much more favorable in their eye. Try to remember exactly how they take their coffee, memorize their schedule for day care pickups or dry cleaning needs, and optimize your workday around their needs. This extends beyond trivial tasks as well, such as learning what types of meetings they prefer and those they tend to avoid, allowing you to schedule their time better when creating calendars and knowing when you don't need to consult them about taking a meeting or not. By learning these preferences you will be able to quickly endear yourself and earn the trust of your boss.
Learn what they hate – On the flip side of learning their preferences, you also want to learn what your employer's pet peeves are. They might dislike it when people chew gum, or dislike a particular color of shirt. Learn these negative preferences as well to know what to avoid and how to optimize their trust and reliance on you to simplify their life and optimize their enjoyment as well. Breaking one of these pet peeves can undo weeks of trust building early on, though your boss should also understand that everyone makes mistakes once in a while, and there is a learning curve to becoming a PA.
Learn what they want left alone – Of course, most bosses will have tasks and activities they simply prefer to do themselves. Even if it's relatively simple and could be easily delegated to you, your employer might have a few things they prefer to do on their own, be it grocery shopping or getting their morning coffee. Make sure to learn what these tasks are early on and only perform them when he or she is truly swamped for time, allowing them the freedom to relax into their preferred schedule with ease.
For those looking to launch a career as a personal assistant, Colonial Domestic Agency offers quality job placement services to ensure that you find the boss that needs your unique skill sets as a PA.