Personal assistant (PA) jobs can be varied and interesting, and there are a variety of employment options open to qualified and experienced personal assistants. The qualifications needed for personal assistant jobs are diverse, depending upon the employer and the seniority and level of the vacancy. As an example, a personal assistant to a junior manager could well require a good standard of education, together with general secretarial and IT qualifications. On the other hand a Personal Assistant to a leading company's Vice President or CEO may well be expected to hold an undergraduate degree, have excellent secretarial qualifications – including shorthand – and people skills; sometimes top jobs require postgraduate or Human Resource qualifications as well.
Basic Qualifications for Personal Assistant Jobs
On the whole, a candidate for a personal assistant vacancy should hold a good level of general education, particularly in English and Mathematics. Training in secretarial or executive secretarial skills is also a necessity. The standard secretarial qualifications for personal assistants include typing speeds at certified levels, certified audio typing speeds and a qualification in general secretarial duties and computer skills.
Qualifications for a Career as a High Level Personal Assistant
Additional secretarial skills needed for jobs as a high level personal assistant would include shorthand and shorthand transcription speeds at a minimum of 100 words per minute, and excellent interpersonal and diplomatic skills. Successful executive assistants often hold a degree in business or human resources in addition to their secretarial qualifications.
The role of personal assistant to senior executives, VIPs or celebrities requires an experienced PA, who has normally worked in a variety of roles and has a range of skills to offer. Excellent interpersonal skills are essential for senior personal assistant and executive assistant roles, as the PA may be expected to stand in for the executive in his/her absence. Shielding the executive from telephone callers and visitors is often a necessity and the executive PA should be able to handle all calls in a diplomatic and unobtrusive fashion.
A senior personal assistant often manages a team of administrative staff and knowledge of human resource management techniques is a useful attribute.
Interpersonal Skills & Attributes Required to be a Good Personal Assistant
Maintaining confidentiality at work is an essential requirement for personal assistants, who need to become accustomed to handling top level business correspondence and perhaps private matters and correspondence for some executives. Consideration, tact and diplomacy are also essential requirements for PAs, as the position calls for a huge amount of interpersonal communication. Probably the most important skill to learn if you wish to be a successful personal assistant though is the ability to be able to juggle a number of jobs at the same time. A good personal assistant needs to be able to work quickly and efficiently on jobs with different priorities, and to be able to assess the priorities of the tasks in hand.
Dawn Denmar - Studying for a BA in Journalism and History, Dawn's innate curiosity about life has led to articles covering a range of topics and ...
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