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Ask HN: I’d like to hire a personal/executive assistant – any tips or advice?

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Re: Ask HN: I’d like to hire a personal/executive assistant – any tips or advice?

#171

Post by wodenokoto »

piaste wrote: post #164
Closi wrote: post #160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I.e. you want someone who just wants "a job" and doesn't necessarily want to move on from it. > Meaning: you must pay them quite well, and not work them too terribly hard. Remember that this is someone who works to live. Give them firm boundaries and time off. This is counterintuitive but such good advice.

Why do you find it counterintuitive? "Pay them well to encourage them to stick around" seems intuitive to me.

Most people’s gut reaction is probably to hire someone under intern like conditions.

Ie a young candidate whose main motivation is getting something on their resume and therefore will suck up to you and go the extra mile. OP recommends the opposite: someone who doesn’t go the extra mile, but will be stable and reliable for a very long time.

Re: Ask HN: I’d like to hire a personal/executive assistant – any tips or advice?

#172

Post by Nevermark »

mcculley wrote: post #95
walrus01 wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It’s not that different from what I imagine having a stay-at-home wife was like in the 1950s, except she leaves every evening. good for you, but yikes, man, that made me cringe. you might want to re-think if you'd be comfortable giving the same tasks to a male personal assistant, or if you've somehow unconsciously engineered a large financial/power imbalance, in the disparity between your gross yearly income and wh…

Aren't most who employ the labor of others for things they could do themselves (e.g., getting coffee at Starbucks) leveraging a "financial/power imbalance"?

Or they are arbitraging a time availability and value imbalance to the voluntary benefit of both.

You are a CEO and have five minutes to prepare for a first remote meeting with a potential client that could result in years of business down the road.

What is the time worth to you, to have someone else get the coffee you like?

The important thing ... is treating the person doing services for you as important too, in pay and respect. Because the five minutes they save you by being reliable are worth a lot.

Re: Ask HN: I’d like to hire a personal/executive assistant – any tips or advice?

#173

Post by Closi »

piaste wrote: post #164
Closi wrote: post #160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I.e. you want someone who just wants "a job" and doesn't necessarily want to move on from it. > Meaning: you must pay them quite well, and not work them too terribly hard. Remember that this is someone who works to live. Give them firm boundaries and time off. This is counterintuitive but such good advice.

Why do you find it counterintuitive? "Pay them well to encourage them to stick around" seems intuitive to me.

The paying to encourage them to stick around is intuitive, but lots of people take the approach of "I want to hire someone ambitious who wants to progress, and who is willing to work extra hours where required to get the job done because they have a personal drive/desire to succeed"

The advice here is effectively "find someone who doesn't have strong career aspirations and ensure they aren't working outside of working hours".

Re: Ask HN: I’d like to hire a personal/executive assistant – any tips or advice?

#174

Post by hansel_der »

Yiin wrote: post #168
yc-kraln wrote: post #166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I find calendly depersonalizing and extremely insulting. I.e. the shift of power when someone says "Hey, let's find a time to chat" and the answer is "Here is my calendly link, good luck". I usually break off the conversation there.

I am slightly confused, why is saving time for both parties considered insulting?

my take from parents post is that he finds "the shift in power" insulting.

while i agree that saving time is a worthwhile goal, i can sympathise with the unhappiness over beeing deferred to an (online) form for stuff that could be tackeld here and now.

Re: Ask HN: I’d like to hire a personal/executive assistant – any tips or advice?

#175

Post by Closi »

GianFabien wrote: post #130
Closi wrote: post #10

Hire someone with experience and professionalism over someone who is more inexperienced but enthusiastic/ambitious. You need someone who you can absolutely trust to do something and get it done, and someone that won’t complain that something is ‘beneath them’ when you are genuinely in a pinch and need some help (ie you want someone that is skilled enough at communications to talk to clients, good enough at numbers th…

For the most part I would agree with you. But at one startup, we hired an EA when she was 18. She won us over with her can-do attitude. A exceptional fast learner and would charm difficult clients and resolve problems without even having to be asked. To use sports metaphors: you want a PA who runs interference; skates to where the puck will be; dives to block shots at the goal.

Agreed - with every tip there is an exception to the rule!

I personally find it hard during interviews to seperate people earlier in their career into the "will be amazing" and "will be a trainwreck" buckets - it seems to be a dice roll when they actually start work.

This might just be my interview skills though - and having my fingers burnt on a poor hiring decision on my behalf that fit into this bucket.

Re: Ask HN: I’d like to hire a personal/executive assistant – any tips or advice?

#176

Post by Nevermark »

Advice? I have an unusually fulfilling jigsaw life developing.

1. I am remodeling a huge home for community events and music education, mansion style (not an actual mansion, but that kind of fun feel).

2. Upstairs I have a study and library for my startup where I am CEO and am working with two collegues and local educators.

3. My girlfriend and I realized it made no sense to live in a separate home when there was room for us upstairs too.

So community center, startup and home all coming together in a beautiful building and surrounding gardens, with aesthetic and structural boundaries making divisions between these shared and separate spaces practical.

Assistance I have:

  I have a fantastic community/event manager in place.

  I have a fantastic contractor who repurposes, upgrades, and expands rooms for better uses or greater adaptability as multi-use spaces.
But I don't have (and have never had) a home assistant or an executive assistant and definitely need both ASAP.

Any advice? Get two people to keep the personal and business separate? Or one person who's work is organized around whatever I need?

Whoever it is, whether one or two people, they are going to be constantly crossing boundaries of community, home and business since they all physically, socially and temporally connected.

If any thoughts strike anyone, now would be a good time for me to be considering them!

Re: Ask HN: I’d like to hire a personal/executive assistant – any tips or advice?

#177

Post by neoncontrails »

yc-kraln wrote: post #166
ivan_gammel wrote: post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Calendly is a much cheaper option. Managing my calendar would be the last thing I delegate to PA.

I find calendly depersonalizing and extremely insulting. I.e. the shift of power when someone says "Hey, let's find a time to chat" and the answer is "Here is my calendly link, good luck". I usually break off the conversation there.

You're the second person I've heard say this lately. To me, using Calendly feels like demurring to the reality that you have times that work for you, these are the times that work for me, my respect for you is so strong: pick any one of them, and I'll be there. If anything, the posturing seems submissive.

Re: Ask HN: I’d like to hire a personal/executive assistant – any tips or advice?

#178

Post by neoncontrails »

hansel_der wrote: post #174
Yiin wrote: post #168

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am slightly confused, why is saving time for both parties considered insulting?

my take from parents post is that he finds "the shift in power" insulting. while i agree that saving time is a worthwhile goal, i can sympathise with the unhappiness over beeing deferred to an (online) form for stuff that could be tackeld here and now.

This unhappiness seems to me why it's so important Calendly exists: if it's not important enough to merit a visit to an online form, it's sure as heck not important enough to merit interrupting my flow.

Re: Ask HN: I’d like to hire a personal/executive assistant – any tips or advice?

#180

Post by PaywallBuster »

Not associated, but I follow the owner on twitter

https://exec-va.com/

They'll match you with a few options. All their candidates from from eastern europe but don't expect a "good deal", they'll still run you for at least 1000-2000 per month.

There's other options or agencies like this, you can search and contact them to show you their options/services

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