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So, I don’t have time to pick a personal assistant

So, I recently posted that I am looking for a personal assistant.

I still need it, badly, and I got a few CVs after I posting that … only I didn’t even have time to review these CVs 🙁
Yes, I am that busy – I wasn’t lying when I said I need an assistant to save me my precious time!

So, after some thought, here is what I decided to do: I will ask everyone who applies to this position, as a first task / entry exam, to find me the best personal assistant for my needs out of “everything that is out there”. There can be several results to this request:

  1. The applicant can be insulted by the unorthodox request and just refuse to proceed with me.
  2. Even if they’re not insulted, they can just give up, possibly because they do not think the exercise is worth their time.
  3. They might decide to do some digging here, and really find me a top quality assistant (or perhaps just a a better assistant … I can apply this recursively if needed)
  4. Or, they might do the research and convince me that they are my top choice for assistance.

If somebody passes all this, reaches item #4, finds me a few alternatives but manages to convince me that they are better than their alternatives … then by golly, they deserve the job. If somebody gives up and decides to either get insulted, or that the job isn’t worth doing 1-2 hours research … then they prove to be the wrong candidate.

I hope I don’t come off as too cruel here – I really do not have time to review a lot of CVs and do the homework, and I think it’s an interesting test of abilities for this position. If this sort of exercise seems as cruel or mean to you, then odds are you and I won’t get along  anyway, and so this filter has served its purpose.

P.S.

If you do manage to find me a quality Personal Assistant, I’ll make it worth your while, time and effort.

5 Comments

  1. Anna:

    I’m surprised that people even answered with your attitude :-p
    Probably the job market really sucks for personal assistants these days (or you’re willing to pay a lot of $$$).

  2. ripper234:

    🙂

    I know I have “a unique attitude” AKA “an attitude problem”.
    I want someone to be able to handle my attitude and unique (twisted?) sense of humor.

  3. Amnon:

    Excellent way to detract people from applying. Unless your almost no CV/screening candidate will also handle your actual tasks (for which you seek the PA to begin with), this is pure HR/recruiting issue. The set of skills, experience and abilities are not necessarily the same. Either you call for a temporary recruiter position or you source it to an HR agency.

  4. ripper234:

    I am happy to announce I have hired a temporary personal assistant (a more fitting term is Executive Assistant actually) for this role.

    I would love to upgrade her to a permanent position … but she hasn’t committed to it yet, she needs some time to test drive this … quite understandable.

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