Last Updated on September 20, 2024
What’s a Personal Assistant?
The purpose of a personal assistant is to do repetitive and time-consuming tasks, as assigned, to help the employer towards their goals.
By providing more time to the individual they are helping them excel at what they do best and preventing them from getting caught up in the little things.
A personal assistant takes care of their employers’ calendars by creating, managing, and organizing events. This could include but is not limited to, their employers’ work, personal, and family life. The biggest difference between a personal assistant and an executive assistant is in the name.
An assistant may find themselves helping more with the personal life of their employer. This could be by arranging travel, running personal errands, and performing online research. Personal assistants will also be helping within their employer’s homes by cleaning, taking children to appointments, meal prepping, planning, and helping with house projects.
What’s an Executive Assistant?
An executive assistant can help with the employer’s personal life but is more involved in the work-life of the individual. On top of the duties of a personal assistant, one difference between an executive assistant and a personal assistant is that an executive assistant helps improve the productivity of the whole organization.
They’re not only responsible for making the employer’s work and personal life flow smoothly, but the organization as well. They can do this by providing insights on the improvement of processes, organization, and sometimes take on the additional responsibility of other employees within the company.
They will also attend meetings, take notes, create presentations, and help with making decisions for the company. Due to these extra responsibilities, executive assistants are typically paid more than personal assistants.
What’s the Real Difference?
Overall, the roles are very similar, and there is not a drastic difference between a personal assistant and an executive assistant. Responsibilities for each assistant can vary depending on the needs of the individual hiring.
All good assistants will stay up to date and organized on what is going on and be a resource to the employer as well as a good point of contact for all those who want to get in touch with the individual they are working for.
By Hannah Gibeault
Emily Rushton, Founder and CEO of Hire Integrated, has over a decade of experience in recruitment, helping companies solve high-volume hiring challenges. Her unique, storytelling approach has made her a trusted leader in the industry, helping both businesses and candidates succeed.
