Personal assistant

Personal assistants (PAs) provide administrative support to senior managers. Their main role is to help managers make better use of their time, for example, by screening telephone calls and mail, managing their diary, making appointments, and researching and summarising relevant information in preparation for meetings.

Also known as:

• Executive assistant
• PA

Work activities

The main role of a personal assistant (PA) is to help a senior manager or director, or sometimes a management team, to make better use of their time, manage their workload and make sure that their office runs smoothly. PAs often have a senior role within an organisation, organising office systems and delegating many clerical tasks to other staff. They usually help to recruit, train and supervise administrative assistants, and might manage the office in the manager’s absence. They have a thorough knowledge of their organisation and might be involved in project work and decision making.

PAs usually take the manager’s telephone calls. They deal with some calls themselves and distribute others to the correct person or department. They only pass on calls that the manager must deal with themselves. PAs often manage their manager’s diary, arranging meetings, and prioritising and making appointments on their behalf. They might represent their manager at some meetings. They might organise travel itineraries, book rail tickets and make hotel reservations.

Some PAs use their organisational skills to arrange conferences or other events, making sure that they run smoothly. This might involve some public relations work, such as drafting press releases. They might manage their own budget for some of their responsibilities. PAs make sure that their manager is well prepared for meetings. They might research information, for example, from trade journals, government departments or professional institutions. They summarise this information clearly and concisely for the manager’s benefit. They often have a range of administrative and higher-level secretarial duties, including taking minutes at meetings, sending emails, drafting reports and preparing presentations. They have to use their initiative as far as possible, for example, composing letters themselves, without the manager’s input. In some organisations, PAs travel locally, nationally or internationally, to attend meetings and conferences with their managers.

Being able to read, write and speak Welsh may be an advantage when you’re looking for work in Wales.

Personal qualities and skills

As a personal assistant, you’ll need:

• Excellent organisational skills.
• Excellent attention to detail.
• To be able to plan and prioritise your duties.
• Strong verbal communication skills, to receive visitors and liaise with clients, customers and other members of staff.
• To be flexible to deal with new tasks as they come up.
• Good written skills and a good standard of English.
• The ability to analyse information and present summaries clearly and concisely.
• IT and word-processing skills, with the ability to use email, spreadsheets and presentation software.
• Research skills, to help managers prepare for meetings.
• The ability to understand how the organisation works, for example, the function of, and liaison between, different departments or the company’s relationship with clients.
• Tact and discretion.
• To be able to keep information confidential.
• Confidence and good judgement.
• To be calm under pressure.
• The ability to delegate tasks to clerical staff and to supervise staff in the manager’s absence.

Shorthand or speed writing skills could be an advantage. Foreign language skills could be useful in some posts.

Pay and opportunities

Salaries for personal assistants (PAs) can vary. PAs start on around £18,000, rising to around £35,000 with experience. It may be possible to earn a bonus.

PAs usually work 37-40 hours, Monday to Friday, but extra hours might be required at busy times. Full-time, part-time, temporary and flexible working arrangements could be available.

Where could I work?

PAs work in businesses and organisations in every sector of industry, commerce and public service. Opportunities for personal assistants occur in towns and cities throughout the UK. There are opportunities for some senior PAs to travel with their employer to other countries.

Where are vacancies advertised?

Vacancies are advertised in local/national newspapers, on job boards and employers’ websites, and on the Government’s Find a Job and Find an Apprenticeship services.

Entry routes and training

Increasingly, employers are taking on graduates or holders of HNDs, often in any subject, although they might prefer business studies degrees. Some colleges offer intensive business/secretarial courses for graduates. Full-time and part time foundation degrees are offered in business and administration subjects. An advanced apprenticeship in the role of business administrator is a great place to start. It might also be possible to enter first at secretarial level, and then work your way up. A wide variety of courses cover business and IT user skills, leading to Institute of Administrative Management (IAM), OCR, EDI, City & Guilds or Edexcel (BTEC) qualifications.

A number of courses are particularly relevant to personal assistants, for example in professional pa and administration skills. 

Personal assistants can progress into management posts after further training and experience.

Qualifications

Some applicants have completed relevant secretarial courses and/or have a good general education, for example, at least four GCSEs at grades 9-4, including English. A relevant work-related qualification in a business subject might be accepted as an alternative to some academic GCSEs. The entry requirements for secretarial courses vary depending on the course and the college. Some might ask you to sit an entrance test. Relevant experience could be accepted as an alternative. For some roles, employers might expect you to be educated to A-level standard. Other qualifications, such as a relevant Edexcel (BTEC) level 3 National qualification, might also be accepted.

To get onto an advanced apprenticeship, you will need GCSEs in English and maths, although you may be able to complete these alongside your programme. Other employers might prefer graduates.

For entry to a degree course in any subject, the usual requirement is:

• Two to three A-levels.
• GCSEs at grades 9-4 in two to three other subjects.

Alternatives to A-levels include:

• Edexcel (BTEC) level 3 National qualifications.
• International Baccalaureate (IB) diploma.

However, course requirements vary so check prospectuses carefully.

Adult opportunities

Age limits: It is illegal for any organisation to set age limits for entry to employment, education or training, unless they can show there is a real need to have these limits.

Some entrants have secretarial and office skills. Colleges will sometimes consider applications from adults who do not meet their usual entry requirements. You should check the admissions policy of individual colleges.

If you don’t have the usual qualifications needed to enter your chosen degree or HND course, a college or university Access course could be the way in. These courses are designed for people who have not followed the usual routes into higher education. No formal qualifications are usually needed, but you should check this with individual colleges.

A number of centres offer relevant secretarial skills courses by distance learning.

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