If you require last-minute, short-term cover, a temporary assistant is a great solution to ensure you have the support in place within your business. A temporary candidate is employed through a recruitment agency, on their payroll and paid hourly for the work they provide. No notice period is required to end the assignment and candidates can be sourced very quickly. So, there is a huge amount of flexibility for both parties. Usually, a temporary assistant is sought to cover a period of absence, sickness or leave and can be used to assist in a wide variety and level of roles.
If you’re asking yourself, ‘How do I delegate to an administrate assistant most effectively?’, you’re in the right place. In this article, we explore how to use a temporary assistant effectively and the tasks you can delegate.
If you are looking to create a job spec for a new, temporary member of your team, we have a number of job description examples that may help you.
How to Use an Assistant Effectively – 10 Tasks to Delegate
The core of any assistant role is to do the administration and organisational tasks of running someone’s life, allowing them more time to focus on the needs of the business. However, the assistant role often entails a huge amount more than this, depending on the size of the business and the requirements of each individual boss.
There are a number of tasks which you can delegate to a temporary assistant to allow you to manage your time more effectively.
1. Diary Management
Having a temporary assistant who can schedule all of your meetings, send out confirmations, directions, or links to Zoom calls if you are doing it via video, can be hugely helpful and allow you to maximise the time available to you. If the meeting is face to face, the assistant will allow for enough travel time in between, or if the meetings are online, they should also give you breathing space during the day.
2. Booking travel
Travel booking can be a very time-consuming role, especially if you are doing a multi stop trip and want to compare different pricing options. An ideal temp PA should be comfortable working across time zones and be able to prepare detailed itineraries which you can follow with ease.
3. Inbox management
Depending on the volume of emails you receive, having a temp assistant who is able to manage your inbox effectively can be extremely valuable. The appropriate temporary candidate should be able to draft correspondence on your behalf in the suitable tone and filter through your inbox, taking away tasks which are not a priority.
4. Office Management
Depending on the size of your office, if there is no dedicated office manager already in place, a temporary assistant can manage these duties to ensure the smooth, day to day running. This can include ordering office supplies, liaising with suppliers, managing contractors, assisting with facilities and managing the front of house operation.
5. Answering telephone calls
A temporary assistant can easily pick up the phone, take messages and transfer calls, giving a professional and well-spoken greeting to people phoning in to your business. As we all know, first impressions are so important, and you never want to miss a call in case it could be an important one!
6. Cover reception
A temporary assistant is often hired to sit on the front desk and ensure guests coming in to the office are greeted in an appropriate manner. They can also serve refreshments, set up and clear away meeting rooms, manage a meeting room booking system and be the first point of contact.
7. Arranging events
This tends to be a good project to give to a temporary candidate who may be staying with you for a dedicated period of time. Be it the work Christmas party or a client event, a temp will be able to research potential options for you and then assist with the organisation; sending out invitations, monitoring RSVPs, liaising with catering, arranging a speaker and being on site at the event to ensure it runs smoothly.
8. Running personal errands
Perhaps you need to buy a gift or simply need some lunch, a temporary assistant should be more than happy to pop out and assist you with any requirements you may have, allowing you to stay focused on other things.
9. Taking minutes in meetings
If you require a temp assistant to attend meetings with you and take minutes, you can easily request a candidate who has the relevant skills to be able to do this quickly and efficiently. A candidate with a fast-typing speed would be helpful to ensure all meetings are typed up accurately and quickly and the minutes then be distributed as required.
10. Put together reports and presentations
A temporary assistant should have strong IT skills and be able to collate information and put it into an appropriate format for your business. Sometimes a template can be helpful to ensure content is created in the same style, but depending on your business need, this can be a great task to delegate to save you time.
Looking to Hire a Temporary Assistant? Oriel Partners Can Help!
If you are looking to hire a temporary assistant, we would love to help. Oriel Partners is a specialist PA recruitment agency working across all industry sectors. We have an extensive network of candidates and treat each brief on an individual basis, taking time to listen to your specific needs. Please get in touch with one of the team today.
