A personal assistant helps complete day-to-day personal and professional tasks for an individual client. There’s no set job description for a personal assistant, but some of the primary duties include running errands, managing schedules, shopping, planning and booking trips, and pet care.
When you’re a personal assistant for the high-net-worth individual, duties typically include attending important meetings to take notes, managing portfolios, picking up gifts, or even traveling the world. In essence, a personal assistant is a “right-hand man” supporting high-net-worth clients to help them be productive and successful.
Some personal assistants work a typical 9–5 while others work around the clock and are on call whenever needed. There’s no set schedule or duties for a personal assistant — it varies based on the client’s needs, so you will have to be flexible and ready to tackle anything thrown your way.
Being a personal assistant for the high-net-worth individual has perks, including a generous salary, first-class trips or vacations—sometimes on a private jet—eating at world-class restaurants, attending Black Tie VIP events, drinking fine wines, and many other exciting experiences.
How Much Does a Personal Assistant for a High-Net-Worth Individual Make?
The salary range for a personal assistant is wide, but on average, it’s around $60,000 a year. Assistants on the lower end could make around $45,000 a year, while others make $150,000 to $250,000 a year. It depends on who you’re assisting and how much you’re worth to them. Assistants that go above and beyond to ensure the day-to-day tasks are done perfectly are worth more than ones who do the bare minimum.
Most of the high-net-worth individuals that hire personal assistants don’t want to recruit and train new assistants often, so when they find an exceptional one, keeping them happy with excellent pay and benefits is worth it to them. Some even give year-end bonuses for a job well done, so it’s a rewarding career.
Important Skills to Have as a Personal Assistant for the High-Net-Worth Individual
Being a personal assistant and being an exceptional in-demand personal assistant is very different. An exceptional personal assistant goes above and beyond the call of duty to ensure their boss is happy with less stress and feels cared for. This could be as simple as bringing them a cup of coffee before an important morning meeting, having their favorite meal ready for them at the right time, or just being one step ahead of their wants and needs.
You will want to get to know them really well, including their likes and dislikes, goals, common daily to-do-lists, and schedules. This will help you cater to their needs more effectively and grow a great working relationship with them. The more you know, and the better you assist them, the more valuable and irreplaceable you will be.
You should also know and remind them, or pick up gifts or flowers, for important dates like family and friends birthdays, anniversaries, scheduled events, etc. The little details could mean a lot to them and help them keep the important relationships to them thriving and well despite them being super busy and not always able to keep up with things.
What Makes a Top-Notch Personal Assistant?
An excellent personal assistant has many qualities, but these are the ones that determine who is the best of the best:
1. Positive attitude: Having an upbeat, positive, can-do attitude is what high-net-worth individuals are looking for in a personal assistant. They want to give you a task and know you will happily handle it with little to no guidance. With so many tasks and running here and there all day, you get overwhelmed and stressed, but the best personal assistants don’t let their bosses feel their stress.
2. Detail-oriented and organized: Being super organized and paying close attention to every detail is essential to keep your boss’s days running smoothly and on schedule. There are many apps available to help with organizing schedules and tasks. You will need to create your own unique system that works best for your boss’s lifestyle and preferences.
3. Thick skin: When working for a busy high-level individual, you will see them sometimes under a lot of pressure with deadlines, or they just received bad news, or they are just, in general, an aggressive person. With working so closely with them daily, you will somehow get the brunt of their emotions. This is when being emotionally intelligent and having thick skin will help.
4. Problem solver: Being a personal assistant for the high-net-worth individual means you will have many challenges and obstacles presented to you daily. Sometimes you will be juggling multiple tasks simultaneously and need to be in more than one place at a time. Solving problems quickly is important to keeping the day-to-day run smoothly.
5. Integrity and discretion: Because personal assistants work so closely with intimate aspects of an individual’s personal life, including finances, you will have to practice a high level of discretion. Having high integrity is vital when it comes to handling a client’s business and information.
6. Attire: Most high-net-worth individuals that can afford a personal assistant will be conscious of their image. Because you represent your boss, you will want to dress in a clean put-together style. Your boss may want you to dress more professionally or casually based on the work environment. Either way, you will want to put together classy outfits that look neat and tailored.
7. Flexibility: Being a personal assistant for a high-net-worth individual may mean you get a call on a Tuesday afternoon from your boss wanting you to go on a week-long trip that evening. You may be asked to work late one day to handle a specific task. When you’re flexible with your schedule and are available to them when needed, you are more valuable to them.
8. Expert communicator: Communication is a massive part of your role as a personal assistant. You will be handling phone calls, emails, and face-to-face interactions with many people throughout your day. Having strong communication skills, both written and verbal, will help you land a great personal assistant position. If your communication skills could use a little improvement, now is a great time to work on it. Your boss will want to ensure you could effectively communicate with them as well as others.
9. Administrative skills: While being a personal assistant, you won’t need to handle as many administrative tasks as an administrative assistant. You will want to have a working knowledge of programs like Microsoft Office, including Office Suite (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc.). With meetings, schedules, booking trips, itineraries, you will need to know the easiest and best ways to keep these organized.
10. Patience: As a personal assistant to a high-net-worth individual, you will find your boss asking you for something when you are in the middle of another task, but they typically don’t want to wait. You will need to exercise patience and be ready to quickly switch from one job to the next to keep them happy.
The Takeaway
The role of a personal assistant for the high-net-worth individual can be an extremely challenging career yet a very rewarding one. They must work well under pressure, handle long working hours with a hectic schedule, have high endurance, and be flexible. Successful personal assistants are great listeners, have excellent interpersonal skills, and are extremely detail-oriented and organized. They are also highly reliable, have a positive “consider it done” attitude, and take a proactive approach to their jobs.
Contact Pocketbook Agency to begin your career as a personal assistant.
Sources:
https://careers.stateuniversity.com/pages/cvpi9c3i9t/Personal-Assistant.html