Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Hiring a Personal Assistant

May 8

If you’re bogged down in tasks you don’t need to be the one doing, it’s time to hire a personal assistant. Having a professional you can delegate things to improves the quality of your time and gives you the flexibility to design your life exactly how you want.

But, we get it, the thought of finding a personal assistant can be overwhelming. How do you know if they’ll be any good? What if you don’t get along with them? What’s the best place to find someone?

We have answers to these questions and more. As a boutique personal assistant staffing agency in NYC and Los Angeles, we’re experts in connecting people with their ideal support, and we’re sharing everything you need to know about the process.

What do personal assistants do?

Personal assistant tasks can vary a bit depending on the individual assistant’s defined roles and skill sets. A lot of top-tier professionals have additional specialized skills. For example, we have assistants with backgrounds in styling, art curation, home organization, writing and even yoga.

That said, in general, assistants commonly:

Manage your calendar
Screen and answer phone calls, emails and actual mail
Run errands (e.g., grocery shopping, picking up prescriptions and dry cleaning)
Home organization
Help with meal planning
Pay bills and organize finances
Health-related tasks like booking and finding exercise providers, booking doctor’s appointments, reviewing or disputing health insurance claims
Act as a point of contact for vendors, contractors and other staff
Find and hire household staff, babysitters and trades
Plan parties, travel and events
Do research
Complete special projects

What are the benefits of having a personal assistant?

There are so many benefits of having a personal assistant, but it really all boils down to the fact that you get extra hours in your day. You’re able to eliminate the time and stress of routine tasks and focus on what matters most to you.

Can I hire a part-time personal assistant?

Absolutely. If you don’t need someone full-time, there are plenty of assistants who will work on a part-time basis. Lambent maintains a pool of personal assistants who are available for customized amounts of time, starting at as little as 10 hours per week.

Where can I find a personal assistant?

The best way to find a reliable personal assistant is through a reputable staffing agency like Lambent Services. All of our personal assistants are fully vetted and have the skills, experience and attention to detail needed to deliver optimal support.

At Lambent, we make it easy to find the right person. A member of our leadership team will be your point of contact and gain an understanding of your requirements and needs.

We then profile assistants by skill set and personality and build complete dossiers for the three candidates that are best matched to you. The dossiers, which we email you in PDF format, are comprehensive profiles that help you decide which assistant you would like to work with most.

You can choose someone to start right away, interview your favorites or book an assistant for a trial session to ensure it’s the perfect match.

What questions should I ask when interviewing assistants?

If you decide to interview candidates, you may want to focus on questions related to interpersonal fit and specific qualifications. For example, you can ask questions about:

How the candidate would respond to certain scenarios or challenges
Why they want the position
Their preferred style of communication
Their skills and strengths

What if it’s not a good fit?

That’s the beauty of relying on a personal assistant staffing agency. If you don’t like any of the candidates presented, we’ll show you different ones based on your feedback.

While most clients find success with the first match, if you determine that it’s not a good fit after working together for a while, you can switch assistants any time. We’ll be happy to take what we’ve learned from the experience and use them to match you with the right person.

How much does a personal assistant cost?

The cost to hire a personal assistant depends on the number of hours they’ll be working, their experience and skills and where you live. We offer dedicated, part-time personal assistants on an hourly basis for $75 per hour.

Need full-time help? We also offer direct placement. In that case, a member of our leadership team will facilitate salary negotiation during the hiring process. Ultimately, however, it will be an agreement between you and the personal assistant.

The bottom line

The client-assistant relationship is a close one. While experience and skills are important, it’s also critical that you feel comfortable with the person you hire and that the communication is fluid.

To ensure you find the right fit on both a professional and personal level, consider using a personal assistant staffing agency like Lambent. We have an extremely high success rate due to our curated search process.