Earlier quoted context omitted.
Go be a working exec for a few years in a medium sized business and then advise other execs on HR, how to hire, and on business ethics.
Go tell someone else what to do before forming an opinion. Or better, don’t do that either.
Ask HN: I’d like to hire a personal/executive assistant – any tips or advice?
221–230 of 244 posts
Re: Ask HN: I’d like to hire a personal/executive assistant – any tips or advice?
#222Earlier quoted context omitted.
I would love to hear a story of your film composing career. Yes, HN is about hackers and tech and stuff like that, but I think that being generally curious about other things, such as film composing, is only adding to the experience here. Anyway... Just wanted to let you know that you made me really curious :)
Sure. It's actually a little sad, heh, but more on that in a second. I followed the route that many composers take: working for other composers. First as kind of a general assistant, then doing the boring tasks required to make the process happen, then managing the rigs, then doing production work but not writing, then orchestrating and/or "filling in the gaps" in some cues, then finally writing. I've kind of done it…
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.rollingstone.com/music/musi...
Re: Ask HN: I’d like to hire a personal/executive assistant – any tips or advice?
#223Earlier quoted context omitted.
You've made two posts negging this idea without providing any actual rationale whatsoever.
Oh, I thought it was obvious I consider it unethical… administrative/HR roles in particular shouldn’t be [potentially] biased by split responsibilities to a specific individual.
Re: Ask HN: I’d like to hire a personal/executive assistant – any tips or advice?
#224Re: Ask HN: I’d like to hire a personal/executive assistant – any tips or advice?
#225Throughout my 20s (in my 30s now) I worked as a film composer in Hollywood, land of personal assistants. One thing I took to heart was that the best personal assistants weren't looking to use the opportunity get elsewhere. What you want is someone who wants to stay in that role, because as a lot of other comments here point out, it takes a lot of time for the person to learn enough about you to become truly useful ra…
Re: Ask HN: I’d like to hire a personal/executive assistant – any tips or advice?
#226Re: Ask HN: I’d like to hire a personal/executive assistant – any tips or advice?
#227I’ve had an EA for three years dedicated to me (before that in my career it was always shared). They are definitely a super power, but only if you trust them. They really have to have a lot of context to do things you’d normally be doing. Without that trust you aren’t going to be getting the full potential out of the role. I’ll give one example. My EA is aware that I have a desire to take some time off through the re…
That's interesting. Are you saying that instead of telling her "I want to take next Friday off," she tells you "I cleared your schedule for next Friday so you can take off?"
I realize this seems bass-ackwards to how you normally do things. The normal way of doing things results in my not taking days off.
Re: Ask HN: I’d like to hire a personal/executive assistant – any tips or advice?
#228I’ve had an EA for three years dedicated to me (before that in my career it was always shared). They are definitely a super power, but only if you trust them. They really have to have a lot of context to do things you’d normally be doing. Without that trust you aren’t going to be getting the full potential out of the role. I’ll give one example. My EA is aware that I have a desire to take some time off through the re…
If it takes great effort to bestow this institutional knowledge on the EA, is it buying you that much of your time back? You already know the algorithm for when free time can be most easily made. Just a matter of flipping through the calendar for a brief, few moments, versus the hours spent with the EA getting them up to speed on these nuances.
Re: Ask HN: I’d like to hire a personal/executive assistant – any tips or advice?
#229Earlier quoted context omitted.
If it takes great effort to bestow this institutional knowledge on the EA, is it buying you that much of your time back? You already know the algorithm for when free time can be most easily made. Just a matter of flipping through the calendar for a brief, few moments, versus the hours spent with the EA getting them up to speed on these nuances.
The calendar flips don't scale as well as the EA does. The holidays are just an example, there are a million similar things that the EA can do with the same training.
Re: Ask HN: I’d like to hire a personal/executive assistant – any tips or advice?
#230Earlier quoted context omitted.
I would love to hear a story of your film composing career. Yes, HN is about hackers and tech and stuff like that, but I think that being generally curious about other things, such as film composing, is only adding to the experience here. Anyway... Just wanted to let you know that you made me really curious :)
Sure. It's actually a little sad, heh, but more on that in a second. I followed the route that many composers take: working for other composers. First as kind of a general assistant, then doing the boring tasks required to make the process happen, then managing the rigs, then doing production work but not writing, then orchestrating and/or "filling in the gaps" in some cues, then finally writing. I've kind of done it…