Private PA to High Profile Private Client

We are seeking a first class Private PA for a varied and demanding role, supporting an extremely busy and high profile Principal based from her London home.  The role involves event planning, organizing and booking extensive travel, creating itineraries, carrying out varied research, overseeing family affairs, diary management, and running general errands. The ideal candidate will have an excellent telephone manner and excellent IT skills (especially Apple).  You must be confident liaising with high level executives and VIPs, extremely organised, reliable and trustworthy, and have the ability to multi-task and handle a variety of situations calmly, diplomatically and with discretion.  Previous Private PA experience is a prerequisite for this role.

Hours:                          9am – 6pm, Monday to Friday

Location:                      Fulham

Salary:                          Dependent upon experience

Start Date:                    ASAP

Interviewing:                ASAP  

Special notes:              No pet allergies, the Principal owns a dog and a cat.

Responsibilities include, but not limited to:

General Office Administration

• Diary Management (personal and business)
• Meeting arrangement (Location, Attendees etc.)
• Telephones and post
• Management of all ‘Contact’ records
• Familiarisation with all Key figures
• Organisation of the filing

Expenses / Credit Cards / Petty Cash

• Collating all credit card expenses (business).
• Submitting all business expenses to accountant.
• Collating all personal expenses and categorising.
• Entering all expenses onto designated spreadsheets, keeping a separate one for HKs (ask for receipts); and a separate one for PA account (keep receipts)
• Collating all annual expenses.
• Petty Cash management
• Filing all invoices and receipts.
• Payment of invoices.
• Bank transfers.
• Liaising with bank
• Make sure business expenses are correctly allocated – so personal expenses on business credit cards  and vice versa should be charged back etc  
• Liaise with accountant to make sure payroll, VAT returns, year end, expenses are tidy and managed in timely fashion
• Deal with contract renewals (BUPA, mobile contracts, Sky etc) and get best rates
• Oversee payment of employees
• Make sure PAYE tax is paid in timely fashion
• Make sure there’s enough money in both business and personal bank accounts.
• Keep track of employees’ holidays
• Liaise with IT person when needed; make sure emails problems are sorted as quickly as possible
• Make sure domain hosting is paid for (both work and personal domains)

Instinct

• Liaise with the production manager and stand in when necessary/absence.
• Proof read treatments and documents when requested

Travel

• Researching and booking both business and personal flights and trains.
• Ensuring best prices are secured.
• Booking airport transfers: taxis / Gatwick / Heathrow Express etc.
• Organising a full and coherent itinerary.
• Organising currency for travel.
• Arranging VISAs and other foreign requirements prior to travel.
• Updating the holiday checklist when necessary - assisting with packing.
• Booking / Reminding of holiday appointments (wax / mani / pedicure)
• Provide driver with a full and detailed itinerary of all appointments.
• Provide full addresses, print outs and maps where necessary

Restaurant Reservations / Event Reservations

• Booking of lunch / dinner reservations.
• Check area preferences and type of table required.
• Confirm all bookings are confirmed the day before with the restaurant and other guests.
• Check whether beauty treatments are required prior to dinner (blow dry, make up, mani / pedi)

Personal Reminders / Orders

• All Beauty and regular Medical Appointments due (eg. 6 monthly glaucoma test etc)
• Gifts for godchildren and friend’s birthdays

Shopping and Returns

• Ensure all items (often clothing from Net a Porter) are sent back within their time limit. Net a Porter need to have a pick-up arranged in advance). Other companies may require the items to be sent back via the Post Office. (See Net a Porter section for more info)
• File all shopping receipts and check returned items have been reimbursed.
• Order requested items and get delivered so you are able to monitor them.

Tax

• Liaise with accountants to make sure annual tax return is processed correctly and in time.

Management of Housekeepers

• Act as the main liaison for them
• Monitor hours and pay accordingly
• Advise team of holiday dates, dinner parties, special requirements.
• Monitor the house and notify the housekeepers if there are specific requests or areas that need attention.

Management of Household

• Opening and organisation of all postal correspondence.
• Payment of bills.
• Switch energy provider to get the best deal by using comparison websites
• Management of utilities and household appliances.
• Arranging for repairs and maintenance (plumbers / electricians / alarms / garden / window cleaning / ventilation / AV system etc)
• Insurance.
• Monitoring of all decorative repairs needed and subsequent works needed.

Dinner Parties / Social Events

• Liaise with external HK and Waiting staff (if necessary) – obtaining best price at all times
• Book sufficient staff - assistance in advance.
• Ensure the house is ready for guests (decorations, flowers, chairs, table settings, candles etc.), that all staff required for the night have been briefed and knows what needs to be done.
• Oversee the arrival of guests (someone to take coats, offer drinks etc.) if required

Christmas

• Source ideas for Xmas presents (beginning of October)
• Keep list of people up to date, including addresses
• Manage orders for friends’ Xmas presents (deadlines, budget, deliveries etc)
• Help the Principal with boys’ presents (Xmas, Birthdays)
• Sort Xmas decorations for the house
• Make sure there’s housekeeping cover around Xmas and staff are all covered.

Children (2 boys)

• Manage doctors / dental and other appointments when necessary.
• Help with lost phones or problems

Candidates must be / have:

• Strong Private PA background, ideally within a similar position
• Used to working within a Private home
• IT literate
• Exceptionally discrete and loyal
• Efficient and hardworking
• Quick-thinking and sharp
• Proactive to be one step ahead at all times
• Used to juggling constantly changing diaries
• Articulate and well-spoken
• Flexible and a team player

Benefits:

• Statutory holiday of 20 days + Bank Holidays (days in lieu given for Bank Holidays worked)
• Statutory sickness

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IMPORTANT

We receive a considerable amount of applications for every position and there is tough competition in the employment market.  In order to process your application as efficiently as possible, please note the following instructions when responding:

• Detail your relevant experience in a cover letter and include this on an up to date CV
• Quote your required salary
• Let us know your availability for interview and when you could start
• If you can forward references to us, these can only strengthen your application

The more information you can give us, the more we can demonstrate to the client that you are exactly what they are looking for and send your CV on quickly. 

 Please note that these instructions apply to ALL candidates and applications that do not meet these criteria may not be considered.