HOW TO STRIVE IN LONG TERM PA ROLE
Introduction
Being a personal assistant is a career that may prove to be either exciting or wrecking, depending on your effort and attitude towards the job. Many people around the world have succeeded in different careers, and in the field of personal assistance, there is no exception. If you are a newly employed PA or you have been in the job for a long time, it is possible to be a better PA, get promotions, and make it in your area of expertise. This article provides you with what you need to get yourself going. You will learn how you can be a great PA, skills required, how to get a promotion, how to strive as a PA, and how to become personal assistant. Read on if you need fantastic career tips for a long term PA.
What Makes A Great PA?
There is always that assistant who nails it all and seems to enjoy what they do. You can also be a great PA. A personal assistant is a person hired to help someone else with their daily business and things to do. They are also known as personal aides. The title of their job describes the job itself. An excellent PA is required to have skills and experience that will help him or her assist a specific person with their tasks efficiently. These necessary skills and qualities of a good PA are as listed below:
- a) Organizational Skills
A great PA should have organizational skills in the sense that they should know the schedule of their boss, keep time, and have required documents in order. They should also know how to prioritize urgent work and to set appointments for their boss.
- b) Should be able to multitask
The responsibilities of a PA call for the skill of handling more than one task at one time.
- c) Diplomacy skills
Diplomacy is one of the critical qualities of a good PA. A good PA should be tactful and diplomatic. Diplomacy means they can negotiate skillfully.
- d) Communication and oral skills.
Both your speech and writing should be good. The ability to communicate well ensures that you can carry a professional conversation without difficulty.
- e) Interpersonal skills
Be a trustworthy and dependable person. A great PA relates well with the people around him or her. Your character is a crucial part of your career. Be well mannered, courteous, and learn to connect well with different people.
Experience
In terms of experience, a great personal aide should have a minimum of 2 years of experience. If you have worked for 2-4 years, you have gained the required experience as an assistant. However, if you have not, do not lose hope, for there are people who would love to hire a newbie in the industry. It all depends on the company’s preferences.
How can you get a promotion as a PA?
So you have the skills, and you have worked hard for more than two years, but there are no signs of getting promoted. What can you do? There are helpful tips to become a trusted PA and earn a promotion or a raise.
- Challenge yourself first
Promotion implies more responsibilities. If you want to get promoted, first challenge yourself by doing more work than you do daily. Challenging yourself will enable you to assess if you are ready for more responsibilities and if you will be good at them.
What you can do
Ask for more work from your boss and set a time scale to finish the job by a particular time. Check your speed and efficiency. You can also challenge yourself by trying to complete the work you usually do in two hours, in an hour. More work will help you determine if you are ready for more responsibility or not.
- Do your research
You cannot approach your boss asking for a raise or a promotion when you do not have sufficient information. Go ahead and first research on salaries and see where you fall. You might be surprised that your boss is paying you well or underpaying you. From this point, you can know how to base your argument and get a promotion.
What you can do
After you get quality information based on your research, your research will get you three results about your pay; above-average pay, average pay, or below-average pay. When you know where you fall, outline your daily responsibilities side by side with your earnings. Approach your boss professionally and show him or her the logic behind salary and duties.
- Be a problem solver
Ensure you train your brain to think fast when problems arise in the company. Solving problems will display how smart and intelligent you are. Read books to expand your general knowledge so that you become not only good at your job but also other areas of expertise. You can also take short online courses to add to your skills. Remember not to overburden yourself just because you want to seem smart. Let it come naturally out of intentional efforts.
What you can do
After you have done your best to solve a problem or two, ensure you highlight the issues you were able to solve as you argue your case before your boss. Show a willingness to solve more future problems that may arise so that your boss sees that you have the best intentions for him or her or the company at heart.
- Take note of praises
Whenever any member of staff praises you or commends you as you go about your daily tasks, note what they said with their names. Do not take for granted those little but great comments you are given. Ask for feedback and also note them down. If it is possible, ask for letters of recommendation to increase your chances.
What you can do
Ensure you have the records of praises, feedbacks, and recommendations as you approach your boss. Positive feedback and comments will show your boss that people like what you do, and you deserve a raise or promotion because you are an excellent personal aide.
- Simply Ask
You can simply ask your boss to help you get a promotion. It is the most effortless of the tips to become a trusted PA. A good and understanding boss will mentor you so that you can be better, and you can get promoted.
What you can do
Tell your boss your genuine reason why you need promotion and ask them to guide you so that you get one.
Top Tips on How to Strive in a Long term PA role
Becoming a better personal aide should be a priority for every PA. Striving to better will not only help in the present time, but it is an excellent reward in the long run. These are top tips to assist you on how to strive as a PA.
- Sharpen your skills
One of the most splendid ways of becoming a better PA is getting knowledge. Learn as much as you can, starting with your boss, books, renowned people, websites, and online classes. A person who expands their mind is always successful. Learn new personal assistant’s skills through masterclass provided short courses. You should also attend educational and leadership events that are relevant to your industry to learn more. The point here is always to ensure you are updating your skills, and you are learning new ones. Sharpening your skills will make you marketable and a highly in-demand PA. In the long run, you will get a raise or a promotion because of how skilled you are
- Be aware of your boss’ schedule
A good assistant should always be aware of their boss’ calendar. Know what is he or she supposed to be doing at a certain time and with who. As a personal aide, you are your boss’ reminder. Respect his roles in the business and help him achieve them by ensuring he or she does everything on time. Your boss will notice this and realize how you have mastered the daily schedule. He or she will also see how your organisational skills are, and you keep time. Which boss would not want to retain such an employer? Eventually, your boss may consider giving you a higher role with more pay.
- Network
You have heard the saying that your network is your networth. The people you engage with greatly influence your career development. Do your best to step out of your comfort zone and meet new people in the industry, attend events, ask questions, and learn from the mistakes of people you meet. Networking will enable you to sharpen your interpersonal skills and also meet people who will help you advance in your career path. Statistics say that 80% of professionals believe that succeeding in a career can be heightened through professional networking.
- Handle discrete information with care
Being a personal aide for someone means that you will get to know a lot of things about the person and the business itself. Among this information will be top secrets concerning various things such as your boss’s personal life, business contracts, passwords, and so many other things. Be careful with the information you carry as a PA. Be discrete and do not be carried away during conversations to the extent of blubbing information that is not supposed to be shared. Being discrete builds trust so that your boss gets to know that you can be trusted, and you are a reliable person.
- Understand what your roles and responsibilities.
As a PA, some things are required and expected of you. Be aware of how you should carry yourself, your roles, and your responsibility. Through this knowledge, you are cautious not to be caught where you are not supposed to be or to do what you are not supposed to do. Your focus is streamlined to your job and improving at it. Also, be a person who takes criticism lightly and learn from your mistakes. Handle criticism well by responding appropriately. Such a character significantly allows your boss to have confidence in you and even take time to mentor you as you are not resistant to criticism, correction, or change.
- Balance your work and social life
Another fantastic way of becoming a better PA is learning how to balance work and social life. Proper balancing will significantly assist you not to mix the two or feel burdened. Sometimes a lot of work may put you down and make you lack a social life or fail to attend to things like family. You can, however, pull both of them off. Have a good routine to ensure you allocate time for both work and your personal life. Balancing both requires a healthy mental state so that your attention is balanced too. Ultimately, having a good balance will display your ability to keep things at their place. Companies love professionals who do not get caught up between their work and social life. A balance increases your professionalism as a PA.
- Have a plan for continuous development
Evaluate yourself. Take note of your growth as a PA. Look at the skills you have added or sharpened and how they have helped you in specific tasks. How organized are you? Is your boss impressed, or does he or she keep complaining about you? Do you save time? What do other people in your workplace say about your performance? Are you improving on things you were not good at? Ask yourself vital questions to assess your development and to set higher goals. If you had learnt a new skill, you could have a more top goal of getting a graduate certificate; if there is an area your boss is complaining about, aim to improve on it. These are among the few changes you can make that will go a long way to help you as you strive in your role as a PA.
Conclusion
The stated career tips for a long term PA can only be useful if you carry them out with a smart aim of succeeding. There is a difference between a PA and an impressive PA. Choose to advance in your career and become an impressive PA by purposefully seeking to be better at what you do. Do not do it to impress your boss or to compete with other personal assistants. Do it to achieve career satisfaction and gain a sought-after PA qualification. If you are not a PA but want to know how to become personal assistant, you can start today and climb the ladder of success.
HOW TO STRIVE IN LONG TERM PA ROLE
Introduction
Being a personal assistant is a career that may prove to be either exciting or wrecking, depending on your effort and attitude towards the job. Many people around the world have succeeded in different careers, and in the field of personal assistance, there is no exception. If you are a newly employed PA or you have been in the job for a long time, it is possible to be a better PA, get promotions, and make it in your area of expertise. This article provides you with what you need to get yourself going. You will learn how you can be a great PA, skills required, how to get a promotion, how to strive as a PA, and how to become personal assistant. Read on if you need fantastic career tips for a long term PA.
What Makes A Great PA?
There is always that assistant who nails it all and seems to enjoy what they do. You can also be a great PA. A personal assistant is a person hired to help someone else with their daily business and things to do. They are also known as personal aides. The title of their job describes the job itself. An excellent PA is required to have skills and experience that will help him or her assist a specific person with their tasks efficiently. These necessary skills and qualities of a good PA are as listed below:
- a) Organizational Skills
A great PA should have organizational skills in the sense that they should know the schedule of their boss, keep time, and have required documents in order. They should also know how to prioritize urgent work and to set appointments for their boss.
- b) Should be able to multitask
The responsibilities of a PA call for the skill of handling more than one task at one time.
- c) Diplomacy skills
Diplomacy is one of the critical qualities of a good PA. A good PA should be tactful and diplomatic. Diplomacy means they can negotiate skillfully.
- d) Communication and oral skills.
Both your speech and writing should be good. The ability to communicate well ensures that you can carry a professional conversation without difficulty.
- e) Interpersonal skills
Be a trustworthy and dependable person. A great PA relates well with the people around him or her. Your character is a crucial part of your career. Be well mannered, courteous, and learn to connect well with different people.
Experience
In terms of experience, a great personal aide should have a minimum of 2 years of experience. If you have worked for 2-4 years, you have gained the required experience as an assistant. However, if you have not, do not lose hope, for there are people who would love to hire a newbie in the industry. It all depends on the company’s preferences.
How can you get a promotion as a PA?
So you have the skills, and you have worked hard for more than two years, but there are no signs of getting promoted. What can you do? There are helpful tips to become a trusted PA and earn a promotion or a raise.
- Challenge yourself first
Promotion implies more responsibilities. If you want to get promoted, first challenge yourself by doing more work than you do daily. Challenging yourself will enable you to assess if you are ready for more responsibilities and if you will be good at them.
What you can do
Ask for more work from your boss and set a time scale to finish the job by a particular time. Check your speed and efficiency. You can also challenge yourself by trying to complete the work you usually do in two hours, in an hour. More work will help you determine if you are ready for more responsibility or not.
- Do your research
You cannot approach your boss asking for a raise or a promotion when you do not have sufficient information. Go ahead and first research on salaries and see where you fall. You might be surprised that your boss is paying you well or underpaying you. From this point, you can know how to base your argument and get a promotion.
What you can do
After you get quality information based on your research, your research will get you three results about your pay; above-average pay, average pay, or below-average pay. When you know where you fall, outline your daily responsibilities side by side with your earnings. Approach your boss professionally and show him or her the logic behind salary and duties.
- Be a problem solver
Ensure you train your brain to think fast when problems arise in the company. Solving problems will display how smart and intelligent you are. Read books to expand your general knowledge so that you become not only good at your job but also other areas of expertise. You can also take short online courses to add to your skills. Remember not to overburden yourself just because you want to seem smart. Let it come naturally out of intentional efforts.
What you can do
After you have done your best to solve a problem or two, ensure you highlight the issues you were able to solve as you argue your case before your boss. Show a willingness to solve more future problems that may arise so that your boss sees that you have the best intentions for him or her or the company at heart.
- Take note of praises
Whenever any member of staff praises you or commends you as you go about your daily tasks, note what they said with their names. Do not take for granted those little but great comments you are given. Ask for feedback and also note them down. If it is possible, ask for letters of recommendation to increase your chances.
What you can do
Ensure you have the records of praises, feedbacks, and recommendations as you approach your boss. Positive feedback and comments will show your boss that people like what you do, and you deserve a raise or promotion because you are an excellent personal aide.
- Simply Ask
You can simply ask your boss to help you get a promotion. It is the most effortless of the tips to become a trusted PA. A good and understanding boss will mentor you so that you can be better, and you can get promoted.
What you can do
Tell your boss your genuine reason why you need promotion and ask them to guide you so that you get one.
Top Tips on How to Strive in a Long term PA role
Becoming a better personal aide should be a priority for every PA. Striving to better will not only help in the present time, but it is an excellent reward in the long run. These are top tips to assist you on how to strive as a PA.
- Sharpen your skills
One of the most splendid ways of becoming a better PA is getting knowledge. Learn as much as you can, starting with your boss, books, renowned people, websites, and online classes. A person who expands their mind is always successful. Learn new personal assistant’s skills through masterclass provided short courses. You should also attend educational and leadership events that are relevant to your industry to learn more. The point here is always to ensure you are updating your skills, and you are learning new ones. Sharpening your skills will make you marketable and a highly in-demand PA. In the long run, you will get a raise or a promotion because of how skilled you are
- Be aware of your boss’ schedule
A good assistant should always be aware of their boss’ calendar. Know what is he or she supposed to be doing at a certain time and with who. As a personal aide, you are your boss’ reminder. Respect his roles in the business and help him achieve them by ensuring he or she does everything on time. Your boss will notice this and realize how you have mastered the daily schedule. He or she will also see how your organisational skills are, and you keep time. Which boss would not want to retain such an employer? Eventually, your boss may consider giving you a higher role with more pay.
- Network
You have heard the saying that your network is your networth. The people you engage with greatly influence your career development. Do your best to step out of your comfort zone and meet new people in the industry, attend events, ask questions, and learn from the mistakes of people you meet. Networking will enable you to sharpen your interpersonal skills and also meet people who will help you advance in your career path. Statistics say that 80% of professionals believe that succeeding in a career can be heightened through professional networking.
- Handle discrete information with care
Being a personal aide for someone means that you will get to know a lot of things about the person and the business itself. Among this information will be top secrets concerning various things such as your boss’s personal life, business contracts, passwords, and so many other things. Be careful with the information you carry as a PA. Be discrete and do not be carried away during conversations to the extent of blubbing information that is not supposed to be shared. Being discrete builds trust so that your boss gets to know that you can be trusted, and you are a reliable person.
- Understand what your roles and responsibilities.
As a PA, some things are required and expected of you. Be aware of how you should carry yourself, your roles, and your responsibility. Through this knowledge, you are cautious not to be caught where you are not supposed to be or to do what you are not supposed to do. Your focus is streamlined to your job and improving at it. Also, be a person who takes criticism lightly and learn from your mistakes. Handle criticism well by responding appropriately. Such a character significantly allows your boss to have confidence in you and even take time to mentor you as you are not resistant to criticism, correction, or change.
- Balance your work and social life
Another fantastic way of becoming a better PA is learning how to balance work and social life. Proper balancing will significantly assist you not to mix the two or feel burdened. Sometimes a lot of work may put you down and make you lack a social life or fail to attend to things like family. You can, however, pull both of them off. Have a good routine to ensure you allocate time for both work and your personal life. Balancing both requires a healthy mental state so that your attention is balanced too. Ultimately, having a good balance will display your ability to keep things at their place. Companies love professionals who do not get caught up between their work and social life. A balance increases your professionalism as a PA.
- Have a plan for continuous development
Evaluate yourself. Take note of your growth as a PA. Look at the skills you have added or sharpened and how they have helped you in specific tasks. How organized are you? Is your boss impressed, or does he or she keep complaining about you? Do you save time? What do other people in your workplace say about your performance? Are you improving on things you were not good at? Ask yourself vital questions to assess your development and to set higher goals. If you had learnt a new skill, you could have a more top goal of getting a graduate certificate; if there is an area your boss is complaining about, aim to improve on it. These are among the few changes you can make that will go a long way to help you as you strive in your role as a PA.
Conclusion
The stated career tips for a long term PA can only be useful if you carry them out with a smart aim of succeeding. There is a difference between a PA and an impressive PA. Choose to advance in your career and become an impressive PA by purposefully seeking to be better at what you do. Do not do it to impress your boss or to compete with other personal assistants. Do it to achieve career satisfaction and gain a sought-after PA qualification. If you are not a PA but want to know how to become personal assistant, you can start today and climb the ladder of success.