Perhaps one of the career aspirations you may have is to work as a personal assistant to a celebrity or a professional athlete. Believe it or not, with the right skills this is not a reach for a new career.
As the amount of time spent on personal errands, daily routines and chores gets squeezed smaller and smaller, the need of many celebrities, stars and other people for a Personal Assistant becomes more and more obvious. The average person reports that:
* 35-44 year olds spend less than 4.2 hours per day on leisure activities
* The same groups spends 3.2 hours completing household chores, personal errands and other necessary activities
* Women spend 2.7 hours per day on household activities while men spend 2.1
* 70% of working mothers and fathers report that they don’t have enough time to spend with their children
This information is from the United States Department of Labor, and the statistics are the same no matter what country you live in. There is growing pressure on all people to do more in the same amount of time, and this leads to stress and health related issues.
Imaging how challenging all the issues of work and day to day life can be on a celebrity, executive, or professional athlete. Not only do these people have the added stress of increased work issues put they have demanding public lives to balance as well.
General duties
As a Personal Assistant to a celebrity, executive or professional athlete you have the same responsibilities as a concierge and personal assistant all rolled into one. You will find that sometimes you will work with the client, and sometimes you will be functioning as an agent of the client, making appointments, scheduling, and organizing on behalf of the client. A Personal Assistant often has an office at the clients workplace or home, but may simply go where required, depending on the tasks and the arrangement with the client.
The general duties of a celebrity Personal Assistant may include:
* Coordinating and arranging travel plans
* Preparing and organizing for meetings, parties, or other social occasions
* Household management
* Scheduling appointments for children and the client
* Traveling with the client
* Liaison with other professionals that work with the celebrity
* Maintain personal appearances schedules
* Paying bills
* Completing research
* Planning menus
* Organizing home and offices
* Pick-up dry cleaning
* Handle emergencies
* Respond to correspondence
* Other duties as required
Each client will have unique needs, and a celebrity Personal Assistant will be aware of what each client expects prior to starting the contract. Of course discretion and 110% confidentiality is just as important as organizational and management skills.
Getting started
Since there are few advertisements in the local papers for celebrity Personal Assistants careers it is important to look for an agency that can help you with connecting with prospective clients. Regent Hall offers such a services, and there are other concierge and personal assistant agencies as well. Many celebrities, executives and professional athletes will also hire based on recommendations from others, so make an effort to get your name out in the celebrity circles. Try a few options like:
* Write a personal professional letter to the celebrity giving your background and why you would be a good Personal Assistant. Follow up with a phone call.
* Talk to existing celebrity Personal Assistants and form a network, start filling in when someone is sick or on vacation.
* Offer a trial period; make it long enough to be able to show your talents but no too long as to be a financial drain.
* Prepare a professional resume to submit to an agency or an individual.
* Run an ad in a trade magazine or publication.
Remember that it will takes awhile to become known in celebrity circles, and it is important to keep in mind that marketing yourself is the key.
Walter White is the publisher of PersonalAssistantPro.com (http://www.personalassistantpro.com), a website for professional personal assistants and lifestyle managers. He is also owner of Regent Hall, LLC - an executive household management and personal assistant services company.
