How much money does a Personal Assistant earn?

Personal assistants’ salary and earning differ according to various factors such as years of experience, the industrial setting that they work in, the employer type that they work for the city that they work in etc.

• Years of Experience

§  Experience of less than one year the salary range is between $ 11,960 and $ 48,936 and the hourly wage rate range is between $ 8.10 and $ 19.80.

§  Experience between one to four years the salary range is between $ 19,740 and $ 51,017 and the hourly wage range is between $ 8.92 and $ 20.23.

§  Experience between five to nine years the salary range is between $ 23,162 and $ 61,010 and an hourly wage range is between $ 9.66 and $ 26.43.

§  Experience between ten to nineteen years the salary range is between $ 25,403 and $ 85,294 and an hourly wage range is between $ 10.28 and 30.27.

§  Experience of more than twenty years the salary range is between $ 27,226 and $ 92,244 and an hourly wage range is between $ 12.05 and $ 34.52.

• Industry

§  A personal assistant working in entertainment gets an annual salary range between $ 22,836 and $ 61,444.

§  A personal assistant working in entertainment – music gets an annual salary range between $ 17,879 and $ 115,771.

§  A personal assistant working in a law firm or law office gets an annual salary range between $ 24,179 and $ 87,683 and an hourly wage range is between $ 9.21 and $ 26.15.

§  A personal assistant working in financial services gets an annual salary range between $ 19,489 and $ 80,080 and an hourly wage range is between $ 8.27 and $ 20.43.

§  A personal assistant working in commercial real estate gets an annual salary range between $ 24,240 and $ 88,100.

§  A personal assistant working in non profit organization gets an annual salary range between $ 12,255 and $ 78,297.

§  A personal assistant working in insurance and financial services gets an annual salary range between $ 20,273 and $ 53,049.

§  A personal assistant working in legal services gets an hourly wage range between $ 9.62 and $ 24.78.

§  A personal assistant working in medical office gets an hourly wage range between $10.93 and $ 29.59.

§  A personal assistant working in real estate property management get an hourly wage range between $ 9.93 and $ 24.61.

§  A personal assistant working in real estate sales gets an hourly wage range between $ 9.65 and $ 25.34.

• Employer Type

§  A personal assistant working for a company gets an annual salary range between $ 23,418 and $ 67,178 and an hourly wage rate between $ 9.08 and $ 21.48.

§  A personal assistant working for a private practice or firm gets an annual salary range between $ 22,550 and $ 76,546 and an hourly wage range between $ 9.03 and $ 25.55.

§  A personal assistant who is self-employed gets an annual salary range between $ 17,479 and $ 66,335 and an hourly wage range between $ 9.76 and $ 25.02.

§  A personal assistant working for other organization gets an annual salary range between $ 17,220 and $ 62,193 and an hourly wage range between $ 9.06and $ 25.21.

§  A personal assistant working for a non profit organization gets an annual salary range between $ 12,325 and $ 60,057 and an hourly wage range between $ 8.61 and $ 19.91.

§  A personal assistant working for a contract gets an annual salary range between $ 19,727 and $ 60,820 and an hourly wage range between $ 9.66 and $ 29.93.

§  A personal assistant working for a foundation or trust gets an annual salary range between $ 21,000 and $ 107,500 and an hourly wage range between $ 5.30 and $ 48.48.

§  A personal assistant working for a government – state and local gets an annual salary range between $ 25,942 and $ 37,642 and an hourly wage range between $ 9.86 and $ 19.87.

§  A personal assistant working for a team gets an annual salary range between $ 20,400 and $ 52,500 and an hourly wage range between $ 9.75 and $ 19.00.

• City

§  A personal assistant working in New York, New York gets an annual salary range between $ 20,152 and $ 83,284 and an hourly wage range between $ 9.69 and $ 35.08.

§  A personal assistant working in Los Angeles, California gets an annual salary range between $ 19,300 and $ 66,999 and an hourly wage range between $ 10.03 and $ 30.91.

§  A personal assistant working in Houston, Texas gets an annual salary range between $ 23,422 and $ 67,340 and an hourly wage range between $ 7.80 and $ 48.48.

§  A personal assistant working in Dallas, Texas gets an annual salary range between $ 23,745 and $ 60,467 and an hourly wage range between $ 9.73 and $ 20.04.

§  A personal assistant working in Atlanta, Georgia gets an annual salary range between $ 14,544 and $ 46,757 and an hourly wage range between $ 9.88 and $ 20.51.

§  A personal assistant working in San Francisco, California gets an annual salary range between $ 25,000 and $ 92,000 and an hourly wage range between $ 10.30 and $ 39.15.

§  A personal assistant working in Miami, Florida gets an annual salary range between $ 16,643 and $ 82,212.

Duties and Responsibilities of a Personal Assistant

• One of the main responsibilities is to manage the boss’s calendar, at the same time fix up appointments, interviews and meetings.
• Check emails regularly and read and answer the emails of the person who is your immediate boss.
• Answer the telephone and handle any enquiries that come up.
• Prepare any correspondence which the boss asks for.
• Assign work to the others on the staff as per the boss’s instructions.
• Manage the boss’s electronic diary and book meetings, arrange for travel as well as hotel bookings and organise the itinerary for the travel.
• Take dictation, write the minutes of a meeting and plan organize and manage events.
• Whenever asked attend the meetings or events in place of the boss as his representative.
• Write reports, executive summary and newsletters and research the internet for valuable data, update the website.
• When arranging for meetings the personal assistant also has to prepare the presentation, arrange documents and papers for the meetings.
• Devise the filing and office systems and maintaining it and whenever necessary make changes.
• Stationery and other office equipment to be reviewed and orders placed for the necessary items along with the follow up.
• Anticipate the bosses whims and fancies and keep things ready for them, may also have to take care of some personal needs of the boss such as booking a restaurant table or movie tickets etc.

About Personal Assistants

An organization to run smoothly like a well oiled machine needs able employees and one of the important cogs in that machine is a personal assistant. They perform a variety of clerical and administrative duties which help an organization to run efficiently. In the days gone by a personal assistant used to take a lot of dictations and type out those dictations for seniors, managers and executives and answer telephones for them. The age of computers has altered many of these things and seniors and managers nowadays answer their own telephones and keyboard in their own data and word processing leaving a lot of time free for personal assistants to pursue different jobs. These personal assistants now may look after a number of executives where before they used to be secretaries ton only a single boss.

To assist them in their work personal assistants use various kinds of equipment such as fax machines, photocopiers, scanners, telephone systems, cell phones and videoconferencing machines. The computer has become the most important equipment in the life of a personal assistant as they are doing many of the tasks which were done by managers and other professionals in their daily work. They prepare presentations and spreadsheets, manage database, keyboard reports, correspondence, documents making the use of desktop publishing software and digital graphics. Now many of the managers and other professionals are taking up many of the duties which were traditionally performed by a personal assistant, such as answering the telephone and keyboarding their own correspondence and other data.

Certification and Licensure of a Personal Assistant

• No license is required to become a personal assistant.
• Certification shows the commitment, expertise and knowledge of a personal assistant.
• Voluntary certification and credential can be obtained through organizations such as International Association of Administrative Professionals, International Virtual Assistants Association.
• To get these credentials candidates have to pass areas of core competencies and business ethics.

What professional skills and abilities does a personal assistant require?

• Personal assistants need to have good knowledge and be very adept with the internet.
• Must have a good speed in typing, and be able to communicate verbally as well as in written communications with good command on the spelling, punctuations and grammar.
• They have to keep up with the new innovations in office equipment and the industry practices.
• They have to be calm and collected while working under pressure and need to handle stress well.
• As they are now-a-days more likely to work with more than one senior managers and executives they need to be able to handle the extra workload and multitask.
• They should be capable of delegating work in their boss’s absence and see after the main duties.
• Must be able to maintain confidentiality as much of the sensitive documents and files go through their hand.
• Must be able to gauge the organisation’s objectives and policies and not only implement them but also see that the other staff members are adhering to it.
• They have to help their bosses to achieve their goals and objectives and see that they achieve their targets successfully.

Educational background of a Personal Assistant

• For entry level personal assistant posts, high school degree along with the requisite office skills may suffice.
• In high schools they can take up vocational education programs which teach typing, computer and other office skills.
• A one or two year’s office administration program from a vocational/technical school or community college can be helpful.
• For more refined posts such as a personal assistant to the top executives require a college degree.
• They can opt for degrees related to the industry that they desire to work for as this increases their chances of getting good placements.
• Continuing education or on the job training provided by vendors of complex office equipment may also be necessary.
• For advancement on the job a personal assistant can attend classes or take online courses.