No matter who you are or what you do for a living, there are many benefits to having a reliable and trustworthy assistant by your side. However, there is some confusion about what distinguishes a personal assistant from an executive assistant and the roles that each of these professionals play in making a client’s life easier and more efficient.
Here are the differences between a personal assistant vs. executive secretary and how to choose the right type of assistant for the work you need done.
The Job of a Personal Assistant
A personal assistant is a versatile staff member who can serve your needs at home and in your personal life. Personal assistants often focus their attention on the needs of a household to help coordinate home maintenance, handle travel planning, and assist with household budgeting. Other common responsibilities of a personal assistant are arranging care for pets and children, doing dietary research, making hotel and dinner reservations, and running errands. Personal assistants often report to the head of the household or another family member who manages household affairs.
The Job of an Executive Assistant
While a personal assistant helps you get your personal life in order, an executive assistant can help you with your professional life. High profile business executives, CEOs, busy freelancers, and professionals in a wide variety of industries hire executive assistants to keep track of clients’ needs, deadlines, filing, and meetings. Executive assistants provide corporate hospitality services, such as keeping their employer organized, managing time well, and maximizing productivity. In a business environment, executive assistants may handle bookkeeping, calendar management, meeting organizing, event planning, report preparation, and maintaining a filing system.
Overlap Between Executive Assistant vs. Personal Assistant
Since many people’s personal and professional lives overlap, you may find yourself requesting the same types of services from a personal assistant or an executive assistant. For example, you may ask your assistant to schedule an evening meeting for your work, but this late meeting affects your children’s schedule to be picked up from an extracurricular activity. Personal assistants are very versatile employees who can handle many different tasks; however, they may not have business experience or training in your specific industry of work. Meanwhile, an executive assistant may be very focused on helping you advance in your career and not expect to handle matters of your personal or family life.
The General Benefits of Having Your Own Assistant
Regardless of whether you hire a personal assistant vs. executive secretary, there are benefits to having any type of assistant by your side. Assistants can help you manage your time more effectively so that you are more productive during the day and more relaxed in the evening. When you trust an assistant with tedious and time-consuming tasks, you will have more time to spend with your family, focusing on your career, or pursuing your hobbies. The jobs that assistants handle can be catered to suit your specific needs and adjust in the future if your needs change over time.
Why Work with Household Staffing International to Find Your Assistant
It can be challenging to find a personal assistant or executive assistant that meshes with your personality and helps you meet your goals. This is why so many people trust Household Staffing International to screen candidates and introduce them with promising assistants to interview and choose from.
If you’re looking for personal assistant or executive assistant services, consider filling out our application. We also welcome you to call us at 212-683-7722 to tell us in detail about your needs and what you could use help with the most in your personal or professional life.