Are you looking to become a personal assistant? Or perhaps you’ve previously worked as a personal assistant and you’re searching for a new post.
Job hunting can be a long and arduous process sometimes, so here are some ideas and tips to help you secure your next personal assistant job more easily…
- Check your resume is up to date
- Mention your job search to anyone and everyone
- Add to your skillset
- Make sure your current skills are up to date
- Join as many online job sites as possible
- Consider going freelance
- Acquire new qualifications
- Look for voluntary positions to gain experience
- Apply to each position with care and consideration
- Have a positive attitude
Check your resume is up to date
Now is the time to ensure your resume includes all your most recent experience and relevant personal assistant certifications.
It’s also an opportunity to double-check the spelling and grammar to make sure it is error-free.
Being a personal assistant is all about attention to detail, so a poor resume with mistakes in it is not going to look good to a potential employer.
It’s also a wise idea to get someone else to take a look at any documentation you’re sending out.
A fresh pair of eyes can often spot an error you’ve overlooked, and be sure to read our tips & tricks on writing the perfect cover letter for personal assistant roles.
Mention your job search to anyone and everyone
You never quite know where the next job might come from.
You can certainly improve your chances by asking friends and family if they know of anyone who may be looking for a personal assistant.
Many people find work through word of mouth, so you should definitely be asking around as much as possible.
If you are lucky, it may even mean you get to bypass the application and interview stages entirely!
Don’t forget to keep your LinkedIn profile up to date and flagged as actively looking for work.
You may also want to mention your job search on your other social media platforms but keep it professional, positive and to the point.
Remember, potential employers may be checking you out too!
Add to your skillset
There’s no such thing as an over-skilled personal assistant.
You’ll be even more invaluable with some extra arrows to your bow, so why not learn something new that will make your resume stand out from the crowd?
Look through your resume and see where there might be some gaps that could be filled.
Could you learn some new software that you may use or improve your accountancy skills?
Make sure your current skills are up to date
It’s also worth taking a look at your skill set and ensuring everything you proclaim to know is current and relevant.
There’s no point stating on your resume that you’re highly proficient in Version 2 of a certain piece of software when everyone’s now using Version 9.
But it’s an easy fix to find out what has changed between versions and familiarize yourself with it.
In addition, you could test your typing abilities and make sure you’re capable of typing fast and accurately. This is a great skill to boost while you’re job hunting as there are plenty of free online tutorials for improving your typing abilities and you can easily practice in your free time.
It is this attention to detail that will fine-tune your resume and make it outstanding.
Join as many online job sites as possible
Don’t limit yourself to just one or two job boards. Search for as many as possible.
While some businesses may advertise across several sites, many will simply pick one.
You’ll have the greatest chance of finding the perfect position for you if you keep your options open by signing up for multiple job boards.
While it might be time-consuming setting up profiles for each one, you’ll only have to do this once and it really could speed up your job-hunting journey.
Here is a small list to get you started:
Consider going freelance
If you’ve been struggling to find a permanent full-time personal assistant job, why not take a look at freelance opportunities?
There are many smaller businesses and individuals out there that do not require a full-time personal assistant, but instead, would like one on an ad-hoc basis, for a set few hours each day or each week.
If you’re flexible, you can pick up several such jobs and work on them simultaneously.
While this might make life a little more complex, dealing with so many different people, it will make the work varied and interesting.
Acquire new qualifications
Adding new, relevant qualifications to your resume will always put you in good stead in the job application process.
There are many skills of a good personal assistant that you can enhance through a related qualification.
Communication and interpersonal skills, computer literacy and software skills, customer service skills, you’ll find qualifications that encompass all these and more.
Look for voluntary positions to gain experience
If you feel your job hunt is not being successful because you lack experience, then the key is to gain that experience, any way you can!
So, to land that dream salaried job, it may well be worth investing your time for free by working as a personal assistant as a volunteer for a charity.
You’ll learn some valuable skills while getting the experience you need to make your resume look more impressive.
Apply to each position with care and consideration
When you search a job board, it’s likely you’ll find several personal assistant jobs listed.
It can be tempting to blast through them all and apply quickly. But rein in that sense of urgency. When you apply in a hurry, you may make mistakes.
Read up about the company, do a little background research, and bear this in mind when you’re filling in the application form.
You may even want to tailor your resume to each business, to highlight experience that may be more relevant to one business than another.
For example, if a doctor is looking for a personal assistant, then your experience as a medical researcher will be more important than if you’re applying for a personal assistant job in the financial sector. For that one, you’d place the emphasis on your math qualifications, etc.
Have a positive attitude
It’s a competitive industry, and so securing your dream personal assistant position may take time.
Rejection emails can come in one after the other, or even worse, you simply never hear back after an interview that you thought went well.
This happens to the best of us, and you should not be disheartened.
Practice your interview skills, boost your skillset in any way you can, and keep trying.
Have someone proofread your resume and don’t give up. Eventually, you’ll find a great job, and you’ll gain even more experience that will make you even more attractive to potential employers in any future job hunting.
