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Choosing a personal assistant requires careful consideration of job responsibilities, company values, and technical skills. A job description should be created, and candidates should be assessed for their strengths and weaknesses. Communication skills, including writing, are important. Trust your instincts when making the final decision.
Adding any employee to a team can be anxiety-provoking, but when it comes to choosing a personal assistant, you have to be even more careful. A personal assistant represents an employer. Typically, an assistant takes calls, schedules appointments, and often acts as a liaison between employer and client. As a first point of contact, an assistant should project a friendly and professional demeanor and have a good sense of the values and mission the company wants to project.
To choose a personal assistant, you must first develop a job description with specific tasks. List everything the personal assistant will be responsible for, and make a note of the software and programs needed to perform the tasks. Rank duties in order of importance. If the assistant spends 60% of the day updating web content, you should select an assistant with a high degree of Internet familiarity. All employees can be trained, but it’s best if a personal assistant’s strengths are directly aligned with most tasks. Occasional duties can be learned on the job without much time being stolen for training.
The next list should identify the company’s work ethic. What is more important? Be on time? Contributing creative ideas to the team? Finishing work in a timely manner? Choose a personal assistant who already exhibits the qualities and attitudes the company appreciates. Prepare probing questions in advance to explore the candidate’s work methods and preferences.
Many employers are tempted to choose a personal assistant of similar background and skill because they are comfortable with the familiarity. This is an error. The idea of a personal assistant is to have someone around who shows up on the slack and contributes to the team. Rather than hiring someone with the same skill set, ask about other areas of expertise. List current weaknesses at the bottom of interview questions and make a point of investigating the background in these areas.
To choose a personal assistant who can handle the necessary technical tasks, one should take advantage of free online assessments. One person’s “expert” level of a software program may be someone else’s “newbie” idea. Do not forget about the areas of communication. Will the personal assistant be communicating with customers via email or other written correspondence methods? Get a writing sample. Software, office machines and standard office procedures can be trained, but writing skills can be difficult to improve for someone who is not naturally comfortable with written communication. Spelling errors, typos and bad grammar are a huge problem for a customer.
So assess the needs and spend some time creating the job description. Determine the criteria they must meet, narrow down the candidates and request the test. Trust your instincts. If the candidate list has been properly narrowed down, the top picks are likely to have all of the most important qualities. At that point, the choice should be made by selecting the candidate with whom you have the best rapport.
Asset Smart.
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