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What does it take to be a Top PA? We asked the experts...

Written by: SecsintheCity Team
Published on: 4 Jan 2016

Top Tips PA

SecsintheCity is the only specialist job board for business support professionals and we pride ourselves on attracting top candidates looking for Personal Assistant jobs and Executive Assistant jobs. In this article, we asked previous finalists of our PA of the Year Awards for their top tips on how to succeed in a PA role

Continually develop and learn new skills

One of the top tips from our PAs is that developing and learning new personal assistant skills is very important in your career. Helen Rees, PA at Marwell Zoo and winner of Social Media PA of the Year says “No matter where you are in your career, there are always learning opportunities out there…Approach everything with an open, positive mindset – take advantage of opportunities when they arise, you never know where they might lead.”

Networking

There are many PA networking opportunities and SecsintheCity regularly share relevant events with our candidates. You can sign up to newsletters here to ensure you hear about them. As Shirley Purchese, PA at Rio Tinto says “network in your job; the more you know the more you grow.”

Be organised

Be clear on what you need to achieve. Jules Clark, PA at Eversheds and winner of Legal PA of the Year says “In times of high pressure I will often stop what I am doing and take 5 minutes to clearly set out my priorities which ensure the focus is where it needs to be.”

Sheila Lyburn, Personal Assistant at Peter Vardy and SecsintheCity’s PA of the Year believes you need to “implement organisational structures and ensure that you follow them. Use check lists to prioritise your workload and tick off each point once complete.”

Be one step ahead

Stuart Martin, PA of the Year winner: “I always ensure I am one step ahead of the people I work for. For example, booking them transport between meetings without them having to ask, noticing that perhaps they are going for a dinner with friends over the weekend and emailing them a couple of suggestions of where to go because you know they would be have been too busy to even think about it yet. Ultimately, just go that little bit further for them.”

Become knowledgeable about the company

Jules Clark, PA at Eversheds looks at minute taking as an opportunity rather than a chore. She describes it as a perfect opportunity “to keep your finger on the pulse of what is happening in the business which allows you to proactively manage the workload of yourself and your boss.”

PA Opportunities on SecsintheCity

Jules Clark, PA at Eversheds looks at minute taking as an opportunity rather than a chore. She describes it as a perfect opportunity “to keep your finger on the pulse of what is happening in the business which allows you to proactively manage the workload of yourself and your boss.”

If you’re looking for a new role, search the latest PA Jobs and EA jobs on SecsintheCity.