When may people think about personal assistants, images of the corporate world in business settings come to mind. However, individual families can benefit tremendously from hiring a personal assistant to help out with a wide variety of tedious and time-consuming tasks.
Here is an overview of what a personal assistant can do for a family and how to hire a personal assistant that will allow you to spend more quality time together.
Benefits of Personal Assistant Service in a Family
A personal assistant is a professional who specializes in relieving daily burdens and lightening the load of day-to-day tasks. These professionals work in both business and household settings to accommodate company needs, personal needs, of a combination of both.
This is an especially helpful service in working parent families in which one or both parents work outside the home and are unable to take care of all the little details around the house. When you hire a personal assistant, you will waste less time doing tasks you despise, feel less stressed out, and be able to spend more time and energy on your favorite hobbies, activities, and loved ones.
What You Can Ask Your Personal Assistant to Do
By nature, personal assistants are versatile professionals who are accustomed to managing many different requests and juggling multiple responsibilities. For example, working parent families can ask a personal assistant to help organize the home, make travel arrangement, and prepare for an upcoming move. You can also ask a personal assistant to run errands for you, do personal shopping, manage appointments, and answer phone calls and emails for you.
Meanwhile, other personal assistant services include arranging for car maintenance, preparing meals, picking kids up from school, and keeping an inventory of household supplies. Depending upon the arrangement you have with your personal assistant, she or he may be able to assist you with both personal tasks and business tasks, thereby bringing consistency and continuity to your days.
Training for Personal Assistant Candidates
Personal assistants typically have a high school diploma and many have an associates degree in a field related to personal assistant work, such as office administration. Professionals may also pursue a voluntary certification. For example, the Certified Administrative Professional credential is awarded by the International Association of Administrative Professionals.
However, much of what a personal assistant learns comes from on-the-job training and varies greatly from one employer to the next. Household personal assistants should have well-rounded experience and possess relevant traits and qualities, such as being organized, reliable, intuitive, discrete, honest, and loyal.
Rights and Benefits of Personal Assistants
Personal assistants often have the same rights and benefits as any other professional. Employers may offer medical benefits, sick leave, and paid vacation days for full-time personal assistants. Other personal assistants may work on a part-time basis and receive annual bonuses instead of full benefits. The hourly wage or salary of a personal assistant largely depends on the tasks required, number of hours worked, and ongoing demands.
How to Hire a Personal Assistant for Your Family
At Household Staffing International, we specialize in pairing private families with talented personal assistants to help them with daily tasks. We have a stringent screening process and understand what working families need in a qualified and dedicated personal assistant.
We encourage you to learn more about the process of hiring household staff and fill out our family application to tell us more about your needs. One of our placement specialists will be happy to speak with you to let you know the next steps to hire a personal assistant based upon your job description.
Meanwhile, if you are a personal assistant professional and looking for a position to put your skills to good use, please complete our application form and upload your resume to learn more about working with Household Staffing International.