A day in the life of a PA

24 May

A personal assistant (PA) from Emma Handson never knows what her (or his, but unfortunately there are not many men in this profession) day will bring. Nevertheless, we will try to paint a picture of what this dynamic profession entails.

Start of the day

We always start the day with a meeting with our colleagues. This allows us to get a good overview of everyone’s appointments for the day and ensures that there is always someone available to answer the phone. During this meeting, we can discuss if help is needed for certain activities, but we also do this many times throughout the day. By 8:30 we are ready to go, because that’s when the telephone lines open.

Telephone service

Many of our clients are ‘telephone clients’ as we like to call them. These are entrepreneurs, from directors to freelancers, who do not need an all day receptionist or secretary, but do want the telephone answered professionally for them. This is what we do! One moment you answer the phone with, “Good morning, this is Emma from X, how can I help you?” and the next moment you answer with, “Welcome to Y, this is Emma.” Every client has their own wishes on how they would like the phone to be answered. Sounds tricky? Not at all! It’s amazing how quickly you learn. Plus, we have a handy cheat sheet and you can simply use your own name. In addition, OneNote is our bible. In it, we can see exactly what we need to do for each client, who is available or on holiday and how we can help the caller.

Other activities

In addition to the telephone service, we also perform other activities for clients. Think of calendar management or invoicing. This means that we never have to worry about having nothing to do. We work with various systems, such as Superoffice, BaseNet and Outlook. Do you know those screens in the dentist’s waiting room? This is also a system that we work with for a client. This is how we work on all of our planned activities. Until, of course, we receive a telephone call or email that requires our immediate attention.

Large projects

Sometimes, we receive large projects; currently, for example, for a sole trader. This entrepreneur already has a website and uses software, but wants to professionalise. The entrepreneur asked us, amongst other things, to arrange a new website and a new invoicing software. The client has one PA from Emma Handson, but behind the scenes she can consult with fellow PAs on, for example, marketing for the website. By hiring one PA, the entrepreneur actually brings in an entire team and a wealth of knowledge. How nice! In this way, a task that would take at least three days of research on your own, is quickly accomplished with short lines of communication.

Collaboration

The cooperation between colleagues is really great. We have the best team in the world! We are professional and business oriented, but also really positive and helpful. This positive vibe radiates through the entire office. We are, at best, a little too enthusiastic. We also learn a lot from each other, because we hear everyone picking up the telephone and know what everyone is up to. If you do not know how to solve something right away, there is always someone around to help. Chances are, your colleague has already experienced something similar with another client.

Sharing our successes

We also share our successes with one another. Literally, by ringing a success bell. For example, we rang the bell for a colleague who successfully took over the PA work for a client during the holidays. This client has very high standards and has had a permanent PA with Emma Handson for some time. She received a compliment from the client that everything had gone smoothly. That’s great! Sometimes, someone brings in a client for a client. That’s when things really start to pay off.

End of the day

At 17:10 the telephone lines close, but no one immediately turns off their computer and goes home. We make sure that all of our work for the day is finished, because something can always come up in the planning for the next day. For example, some clients want to receive a list of everything that we have done for them throughout the day so that they are fully informed.

The other day, someone had a problem at 16:55. When that happens, everyone is prepared to stay an extra half hour to help solve it. Within a few minutes, we all agreed on who was to do what and how we could resolve the problem.

Lunch and coffee

And, we almost forgot to mention that we also take time for a cup of coffee or tea, lunch or sometimes even a walk. If someone seems too busy for this, we check to see if we can help. In this way, we are also PAs to one another!

And, of course, if you are in need of a PA, look no further. Contact us by calling (073) 747 00 54 , emailing info@emmahandson.nl or by clicking here . We look forward to working with you!

Interested in what we can do for you?