PA recruitment can be time-consuming and costly, with no guarantee you will find the right person. To help you with your search for the perfect personal assistant, it can be beneficial to work with a specialist PA recruitment agency, which will match you with PA candidates that are the right fit for your business. We’ll explore some of those benefits below.
1. Saves you time
It is easy to become inundated with CVs when advertising that you’re looking for a new personal assistant. When sifting through hundreds of CVs, it can be hard to know exactly what you are looking for and which PA candidates you should shortlist. One of the main answers to ‘Why use a recruitment agency?’ is: it saves you precious time. A specialist PA agency will be able to do this all for you and will have met all of the candidates they introduce to you. They have done the first stage of interviews, which will save you a large amount of time. A specialist PA recruitment agency will also have a database of suitable candidates who are available immediately should you need a short-term, temporary solution. While a high street agency may be able to assist your business with all levels of roles and across all departments, a PA agency has expertise in hiring for admin and support roles specifically, and so will understand just what you require.
2. Interview technique
Interviews are your chance to meet with potential personal assistants for you and your team. They should be viewed as a two-way process, whereby the candidate gets to ask questions as well as you. This is important as interviews are equally as beneficial for the PA candidate as they are for the interviewer. A specialist PA recruitment agency will be able to guide you on what questions you can and can’t ask, and how to dig deep to get the best information from the candidate to allow you to work out if they are going to be the right PA for you, both in terms of skills, experience and culture fit. This is very important for a PA role, as they will be your eyes and ears at the company. So, you need to know they are the best fit for you and your organisation.
3. Make your role as attractive as possible
To attract the highest calibre PA candidates for your business, you want your role to be presented most attractively. A specialist PA recruitment agency will be the experts in advising you what benefits package and salaries top PA candidates will expect. The agency should be able to provide you with an up to date salary survey so you can benchmark your role appropriately. See our 2024 salary survey, for instance. On top of this, there will be certain things PA candidates will want to hear about, such as working hours, bonuses, culture, history of the role etc, which the right agency will focus on for you.
4. Candidate network
A specialist PA recruitment agency will have access to the best personal assistant candidates available on the market through the most relevant job boards. They will also have access to top talent through their network; PA candidates who perhaps are not actively looking for a role, but who would be open to a discussion should there be a great opportunity for them. Therefore, you may have access to personal assistants who otherwise would not be possibilities for you.
5. Onboarding
A specialist PA recruitment agency will remain on hand for when your new employee starts their PA role. The start of any role can be an uncertain time so it is important the new PA is onboarded well and is given all of the resources a PA would need to succeed. A PA agency is experienced at helping to resolve any sensitive issues and help both parties ensure the working relationship becomes a long term one.
6. Rebate period
Most specialist PA recruitment agencies will have a period of time where they will provide a refund or replacement candidate should your first choice PA not work out. The PA or EA role is very fit focused and sometimes that personality match may not be as successful as both parties had hoped. This rebate period reassures you that, if you need to, you will be able to secure a replacement PA candidate quickly or get your money back. So, you can be sure of successful PA recruitment.
We Can Assist You With Finding The Ideal PA Candidate For You
If you feel you could benefit from using a specialist PA recruitment agency, we would love to help. Oriel Partners is a boutique PA and administrative recruitment agency in London, specialising in PA, EA and office admin recruitment. Founded in 2018 by PA recruitment experts Auria Heanley and Olivia Coughtrie, we’re dedicated to matching high profile brands with exceptional administrative and PA talent in London. Please get in touch for more information.
