What does a personal assistant do?
Personal assistants are employees working for individuals who need help in managing their personal affairs. Personal assistants manage the daily activities of their employers. They are in charge of managing their employer's schedules and appointments, often coordinating their meetings and orienting them on their schedule at the start of the day. They also arrange travel needs, from looking for travel tickets to booking accommodations. When they have built enough trust with their employer, they are entrusted to also manage personal financial accounts and are often given access to other confidential information related to the employer.
Personal assistant responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real personal assistant resumes:
- Manage all errands including dry cleaning, pharmacy, and personal shopping for groceries, clothing, and gifts.
- Manage daily operations of the gallery including budgeting, small payroll and reconciling business accounts, eliminating off-site accounting fees.
- Maintain company books including A/R, A/P, bank statements and other reports.
- Handle payroll, phones, A/R, A/P, and general accounting procedures.
- Book appointments, confirm travel accommodations, complete payroll using QuickBooks, maintain business licenses and insurance
- Wash windows, walls, and woodwork.
- Assist with organization, cleaning, moving, and pet care.
- Assist with the home office, errands, pet care, and other estate needs.
- Locate demolition sites around NYC area, and decide if they are up to company standard to reclaim.
- Train in CPR, first aid, blood borne pathogens, resident's right laws, and med distribution.
- Work as a personal care provider for autistic adult, providing all IADL's and all ADL's but feeding.
- Assist Mrs. Martinez, with lite housecleaning, provide transportation to doctors, shopping, bank, groceries, errand.
- Compile trial notebooks using automate software for legal reports in class action law suits, assist hr dept as needed.
- Experience working with the elderly, Alzheimer's or dementia patients, physically disable clients, mentally disable clients and children.
- Participate with schedule ADL activities.
Personal assistant skills and personality traits
We calculated that 29% of Personal Assistants are proficient in RUN Errands, Companionship, and Scheduling Appointments. They’re also known for soft skills such as Decisionmaking skills, Organizational skills, and Writing skills.
We break down the percentage of Personal Assistants that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- RUN Errands, 29%
Set appointments/Drive to destinations/Run errands.
- Companionship, 8%
Provided companionship Assisted Alzheimer client with activities related to daily living Engaged client in activities to promote physical and cognitive stimulation
- Scheduling Appointments, 6%
Provided continuous, high-quality support to company executive, coordinating, scheduling appointments and travel arrangements, and managing expense accounts.
- Meal Prep, 5%
Provided personal care to elderly client as a live in caregiver, including medication administration and meal preparation.
- Household Chores, 5%
Worked with Mentally Impaired/medication administration/household chores
- Travel Arrangements, 5%
Performed executive administrative duties such as handling emails, scheduling appointment setting, organizing files, scheduling travel arrangements etc.
Most personal assistants use their skills in "run errands," "companionship," and "scheduling appointments" to do their jobs. You can find more detail on essential personal assistant responsibilities here:
Organizational skills. Another essential skill to perform personal assistant duties is organizational skills. Personal assistants responsibilities require that "secretaries and administrative assistants keep files, folders, and schedules in order so that an office runs efficiently." Personal assistants also use organizational skills in their role according to a real resume snippet: "communicated with clients by scheduling appointments gained organizational skills by planning work weeks and filing paperwork marketed employers homes through creating brochures"
Writing skills. Another skill that relates to the job responsibilities of personal assistants is writing skills. This skill is critical to many everyday personal assistant duties, as "secretaries and administrative assistants write memos and emails when communicating with managers, employees, and customers." This example from a resume shows how this skill is used: "job duties: writing letters, creating programs, song writing scheduling appointments copying, printing, e-mail operating office equipment"
Interpersonal skills. A big part of what personal assistants do relies on "interpersonal skills." You can see how essential it is to personal assistant responsibilities because "secretaries and administrative assistants interact with clients, customers, or staff." Here's an example of how this skill is used from a resume that represents typical personal assistant tasks: "advanced experience and skill in microsoft suite and quickbooks excellent customer service, communication, organizational, and interpersonal skills. "
The three companies that hire the most personal assistants are:
- CARE73 personal assistants jobs
- Youth Consultation Service (ycs)25 personal assistants jobs
- ComForCare19 personal assistants jobs
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Compare different personal assistants
Personal assistant vs. Activities concierge
While similarities exist, there are also some differences between personal assistants and activities concierge. For instance, personal assistant responsibilities require skills such as "run errands," "companionship," "scheduling appointments," and "meal prep." Whereas a activities concierge is skilled in "reservations," "adventure," "data entry," and "hotel guests." This is part of what separates the two careers.
The education levels that activities concierges earn slightly differ from personal assistants. In particular, activities concierges are 3.5% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree than a personal assistant. Additionally, they're 0.3% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Personal assistant vs. Hotel concierge
In addition to the difference in salary, there are some other key differences worth noting. For example, personal assistant responsibilities are more likely to require skills like "run errands," "companionship," "scheduling appointments," and "meal prep." Meanwhile, a hotel concierge has duties that require skills in areas such as "reservations," "guest service," "hotel guests," and "dinner reservations." These differences highlight just how different the day-to-day in each role looks.
Average education levels between the two professions vary. Hotel concierges tend to reach similar levels of education than personal assistants. In fact, they're 2.9% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.3% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Personal assistant vs. Chief concierge
There are many key differences between these two careers, including some of the skills required to perform responsibilities within each role. For example, a personal assistant is likely to be skilled in "run errands," "companionship," "scheduling appointments," and "meal prep," while a typical chief concierge is skilled in "reservations," "guest satisfaction," "guest service," and "front desk operations."
When it comes to education, chief concierges tend to earn similar degree levels compared to personal assistants. In fact, they're 2.1% more likely to earn a Master's Degree, and 0.3% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Personal assistant vs. Lobby concierge
Types of personal assistant
Updated January 8, 2025
