Personal Assistant

AS a personal assistant, your primary responsibility will be working with an executive or a managerial staff to provide administrative support. That is usually on a one-on-one basis. You help a manager make the best of their limited time by dealing with administrative and secretarial work.

PAs must have extensive knowledge of the organization they're working in; you've to know who key personnel they are, both internal and external. Most importantly, you've to understand the organization's objectives.

Executives/ managers rely heavily on personal assistants, and they trust them in handling sensitive matters and work effectively. Discretion is at the core of this profession.

Responsibilities

As a PA, you're your manager's first point of contact with people from both inside and outside the organization. Your tasks include;

Maintaining office systems like management of data and filing.
Arranging the executive's travel, visas, and accommodations and sometimes traveling with the executive to take notes and provide general assistance during meetings.
Screening inquiries, phone calls, and handling them appropriately.
Meeting and greeting visitors at different levels of seniority.
Sending mails, dealing with incoming ones, faxes, and corresponding on behalf of the manager.
Carry out background research and present findings.
Carrying out background research, giving reports, and making presentations.
Organizing and attending meetings while ensuring the executive is prepared adequately for the meetings.
Liaising with staff, clients, and suppliers.

Additional Responsibilities

In addition to supporting the executives, the PA has its workload and responsibilities. The additional duties may be;

Project Assistance

Researching specific projects.

Financial Assistance

Checking through budgets and accounts.

Task Management

Some personal assistants do the secretarial work themselves and delegate less demanding tasks.

Management Assistance

Working closely with management and taking on some manager's responsibilities.

Executive Advisor

Deputize the executive making decisions and delegate tasks in the absence of the manager.

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Qualifications

You qualify if you have a degree, and if you've got a degree in business, it's an added advantage. Some subjects are more relevant here, like English literature for publishing legal work. If you are an HND holder, subjects like administration, management, business, and secretarial duties can increase your chances of getting the job. You may not need a degree or HND certificate for the entry-level, but you must have experience and be good with general office skills.

Skills

In addition to administrative and secretarial knowledge, the PA needs to show evidence in;

Exceptional written and oral communication skills.
Good in word processing and IT skills with a wide range of knowledge in software packages.
The ability to work on tight schedules and under pressure.
Excellent time management and organizational skills.
The ability to get data organizes, analyze and present it.
Excellent interpersonal skills.
Reliability and honesty.
Adaptability and flexibility with the ability to juggle a range of tasks and accomplish them perfectly well.
Other skills will give you an added advantage, like shorthand and audio typing.

Work experience

Often, like most of the other jobs, the job of personal assistant requires two years of experience, typically gained in a junior administrative or secretarial role. After your studies, you can work as a temp. That will give you office experience and higher-level secretarial skills. Many PAs have worked their way up from secretarial and other junior offices.

Career prospects

After you've gained qualifications, experience, and skills, a PA and joining a relevant professional body like IAM is useful for career development, and you've continued professional development.
As a PA, you can work your way up to a very senior position. With experience, career progression can be so rapid. In a large and prestigious company, the promotion can be t a Personal Assistant.
As a PA, you learn a lot about how businesses operate and how decisions are made. Some decide to work as virtual assistants, and it is pretty lucrative.