What to look for when employing a personal assistant: real life experiences from individual employers
18 Aug 2021
- Individual employers
- Recruitment
As part of our #RecruitmentReady spotlight we spoke to a number of individual employers to find out more about the recruitment process for hiring their personal assistant and the key values which were important in making their hiring decision.
Do you ever wonder how other people became individual employers, how they find the experience of working with a personal assistant (PA), or how they make sure that they’re employing the right person for them?
We spoke to several individual employers who’ve shared their experience of employing PAs with us, as well insight on how they’ve used Skills for Care resources to support them through the process.
The benefits to being an individual employer are that I can choose a workforce that is truly personalised’ – Blake, Individual Employer.
An important piece of advice to give to people considering whether they want to be an individual employer is to make sure that you get good advice about your responsibilities as an individual employer.
Phillip, Individual Employer
You can find out more by exploring the stories below, to discover what other people look for when recruiting a PA or the type of training that they’ve organised for their PA.
Abi
Abi talks about her experience of employing personal assistants and how she’s used Skills for Care’s resources to help her, she also talks about how she seeks out the right PA for her.
Skills for Care has got lots of resources which can help and support you as an individual employer. One of these is the PA toolkit; this includes examples of job descriptions and person specifications so lots of information about employing people to help you.
There’s quite a lot of things I look for when employing a personal assistant, I think it’s important that they’re trustworthy and honest.
I’ll often meet them for a coffee to see if I do get on with them because we’re going to end up spending a lot of time together and we need to be comfortable in each other’s presence.
Watch Abi’s short video to hear more.
Blake
Blake talks about how he looks for like-minded people to support him through life and how he’s used Skills for Care resources to enlist the appropriate trainers to complete bespoke training to meet his needs.
It’s about personality for me and building relationships to get a good PA. I only get one chance at this life, so I need to surround myself with like-minded people.
Watch Blake’s short video to hear more.
Nina
Nina is disabled and employs two PAs to fit around her personal and work schedule. She explains what support she’s received form Skills for Care from using the PA toolkit to recruit and develop her team to attending conferences and workshops, and how she’s used the funding to cover the cost of training the PAs to meet her needs.
When I’m looking to employ a PA I’m looking for a strong value base, excellent communication skills, and a willingness to learn, as well as someone who’s dependable and flexible.
Nina also advises individual employers:
“Think long and hard about what you want your PA to be able to do and how you want them to support you, make a full list and that will help you to understand the type of person that you need.”
Watch Nina’s short video to hear more.
View more individual employer stories.
If you're interested in becoming an individual employer visit our information hub for a range of resources to help you get started. You can also sign up to our newsletter to keep up-to-date on the latest guidance, resources and upcoming events.
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