Candid Advice For Clients Hiring a Personal Assistant
What to Know Before You Hire a Personal Assistant with The Middle
I’ve been a personal assistant for over 10 years, and have been running The Middle for over 5, so if you want to hire a personal assistant, I hope you’ll trust my experience and take my advice. This isn’t meant to offend or accuse anyone, but rather to level set and manage expectations for clients looking to hire a personal assistant with The Middle. We aim to provide transparent, seamless service, and sometimes that means course correcting what clients think they know about personal assistants and what it takes to be a successful one.
Direct experience is not necessary!
12 years ago, I posted an ad on Craigslist offering my services as a Personal Assistant. I had no experience as a personal assistant (I’d been working in restaurants up to that point), but I thought I would make a good one- I knew I was organized, liked running errands, and was always on top of my work, both professionally and personally. I was hired the next day, and continued to work as a freelance personal assistant for many years following.
Now, I approach screening candidates with the same perspective. For candidates that don’t have prior experience, I focus on soft skills like communication, proactivity, and detail-orientation, as well as personal organization habits, routines, and general personality types. In addition to looking at soft skills, we give all candidates an assignment to assess how they research, organize, and communicate information. You would be surprised how many “highly experienced” personal assistants do a poorer job than those just starting out! It’s not always about what’s on a resume. Our job is to find problem-solvers, efficiency enthusiasts, and people who think two steps ahead. We’re confident all of our candidates can handle the position, even if they haven’t done this exact job before.
It’s time to drop the college degree requirement.
One of the first candidates I onboarded to The Middle shared in her application: “I’ve only worked in a restaurant, but I think I’d make a great personal assistant. I’m organized, meticulous, create systems to manage my own day-to-day, and am proactive and efficient.” She sounded just like me when I first started. She went on to become The Middle’s top candidate to date- hired by 11 of The Middle’s clients, and ultimately offered a full-time managerial position at one of her client’s venture capital firms.
She does not have a college degree.
Not everyone is afforded the same opportunities when it comes to attending college, or maybe it’s just not the path for them. That’s why it’s so important to look at the active and natural skills that any personal assistant has- not just if they have a degree, or what they look like on paper.
Don’t write someone off as “overqualified.”
We have personal assistants with all sorts of backgrounds. Some come from years in corporate settings, some have only worked in retail or hospitality, some have been nannies and are ready to take on more, and of course, some come with prior executive assistant or personal assistant experience.
Many of our personal assistants who come from corporate backgrounds or experience in HNW (high net worth) households are looking for a change of pace. Just because they may have a lot of high level experience, circumstances change, life happens, priorities shift, and ultimately, the work our PAs want to do is their decision. Part of our screening process is to filter out candidates who seem like they may just be looking for a gig to bridge the gap between full time, career-focused positions. And for those that are looking to switch gears and work with more clients like The Middle’s (busy people who need part-time support on a regular basis), we’re happy to give them the opportunity. If we didn’t think that they’d be interested in your role, we wouldn’t have shared it with them, and they wouldn’t have expressed interest in meeting with you!
PAs cannot read your mind on Day One.
Even the most experienced, proactive personal assistant won’t be able to get the ball rolling without your help. There will always be a learning curve when two individuals start working together, and they’ll have no way to know your specific preferences without you articulating them. You will need to put a little effort in- they can provide the most detailed, perfect travel options, for example, and if you don’t respond to them for 3 weeks on your choices, the work will never get done- and that’s on you, not them.
I’ve had clients come back within the first two weeks looking to hire a new personal assistant because their current PA didn’t meet their expectations on a task. I always encourage them to speak directly with their PA to nip the issue in the bud and more often then not, the PA is able to course correct and they continue working together. You can’t expect your PA to know you want something different if you don’t express it. The key is to be clear on your needs, your preferences, and set expectations early on.
We know if you need to hire a personal assistant, chances are you’re pretty busy, but a little legwork from you upfront will result in more hands off task management from them down the line as they learn your preferences.
You don’t need to gatekeep your identity.
We respect privacy, but it is so much more helpful when PAs know who they are interviewing with. Just like any other job interview, having background on the position they are interviewing for helps them prepare accordingly.
At the very least, as the personal assistant agency facilitating the introductions, we do need to know who we are working with- if not to better match you with personal assistant candidates, but for the safety of those candidates.
We never post identities to the public, and we don’t even post positions to all candidates internally. Your position is only shared with selected candidates who we feel would be a fit for your needs.
You get what you pay for.
If you are looking to hire a personal assistant with a high level of experience who will support you daily, manage your calendar, handle both personal and executive assistant duties, think two steps ahead, be proficient in travel booking and have a background in business, you cannot expect to pay $25/hr (or less! We’ve seen this type of role offered at $15-20/hr!). While we are confident all of our candidates can handle general PA duties, personal assistants with varying levels of experience will have varying rates, and you can expect an experienced executive assistant to be asking $35+/hr.
Reviews From Our Clients
A housekeeper or nanny who does admin isn’t a Personal Assistant.
If childcare or house cleaning is the bulk of the work you need support with, you need a nanny or housekeeper. Combining that work with errands and light admin doesn’t make it a personal assistant role.
While many of our candidates have prior experience with nannying, we do not place childcare positions and importantly, do not screen for childcare positions. Additionally, our personal assistants with that experience are looking to pivot away from childcare responsibilities, and that scope of work will be a dealbreaker. Similarly, deep cleaning and laundry is a dealbreaker for most of our candidates.
If you want to hire a personal assistant, the scope of work can include home tasks like organization and tidying, or family support like researching schools, kids’ activities, or purchasing birthday gifts.
Unpaid or lengthy pre-hire assignments deter candidates.
You shouldn’t expect a candidate to complete an assignment prior to hire that takes more than an hour or is unpaid. We already give all of our candidates an assignment to assess their administrative skills so you are only shown personal assistants who exhibit a strong skillset.
Hopefully this gives you some insight into what to expect when looking to hire a personal assistant. We’re all about managing expectations and making sure respect and open communication is a two way street in these positions. We only accept qualified candidates who meet our standards so you can always expect the best personal assistant candidates from The Middle.
