Personal Assistant(PA) Job Description
A Personal Assistant’s job description entails working closely with directorial staff or senior managerial to provide administrative or clerical support necessary to run the organization effectively. The key responsibility of a personal assistant is to perform and coordinate the administrative activities of the office and store, retrieve, and integrate data for dissemination to clients and staff. In the absence of a manager, a PA has to handle the work efficiently therefore, discretion and confidentiality are a PA’s essential attributes.
Duties and Responsibilities
- Screening telephone calls, and handling requests, and enquiries, when appropriate.
- Maintaining and organizing diaries and planning and scheduling proper appointments and meetings.
- Dealing with incoming calls, post, email, and faxes, and taking minutes and dictation in meetings.
- Creating spreadsheets, composing correspondence, managing databases.
- Creating presentations, documents, reports, and using digital graphics and desktop publishing software.
- Organizing meetings, attending them and ensuring that the manager is well geared up for meetings.
- Making decisions and assigning work to other staff members in the absence of manager, and deputizing for the manager.
- Conducting research and disseminating information through telephone, websites, mail services, and e-mail.
- Maintaining and devising office systems, including filing, data management etc.
- Organizing and maintaining electronic and paper files and managing projects.
- Liaising with suppliers, clients, and other staff.
- Negotiating with vendors, maintaining and examining leased equipment, purchasing supplies.
- Providing orientation and training for new staff, conducting research on internet, operating, and troubleshooting new office technologies.
Skills and Specifications
- Proficient in typewriting and good at English grammar.
- Excellent interpersonal and customer service skills.
- Must be tactful in dealing with people.
- Discretion, good judgment ability, adaptable and versatile individual.
- Organizational skills or management ability.
- Initiative and ability to operate independently.
Education and Qualifications
- High school graduate with basic office skills.
- Degree in any field from an accredited institution.
- Relevant training or certification in office administration is an added advantage.