A day in the life of a City PA

We meet several people in PA jobs on a day-to-day basis. City PAs are particularly unique and we love to hear about the diversity of their roles from one day to the next. We asked one of our star candidates, Lucy [1], about what the life of a PA working in the City looks like!

6am: The alarm goes off and my arm sluggishly hits the snooze button as my mind starts to come to life!

6.10am: I resign myself to the fact it’s a working day and throw on my workout gear before switching on Joe Wicks. My colleague told me about him and has seen great results from his 20 minute HIIT workout on YouTube. It’s tough – harder than last time – and I kick myself for insisting on staying up to watch the rest of Strictly.

7.20am: At Grays station, I try to keep myself warm while I wait for the 7.25 to Fenchurch Street. I can usually get a seat and once I’m comfy, I plug in my earphones and rifle through my make-up bag so I’m presentable by the time I get into town.

8.20am: I arrive at the office, coffees in tow for my boss and me. He’s on the phone when I get in, so I steal into his office and leave it on his desk. He gives me a thumbs-up.

8.30am: I work for an Investment Management firm, so everyone is already running at full speed by the time I’m logged in and checking emails. I address the urgent actions that have come through overnight, and double check Tom’s diary for today. There are a couple of clashes so I quickly try to resolve the urgent ones before printing off the itineraries for today’s meetings.

12pm: By midday, I’ve managed to resolve all the clashes for the remainder of the afternoon and tomorrow morning. Tom mentioned he’d like sushi for lunch, so I head out to grab that for him and pick up a sandwich for myself en route – in the life of a PA, you have to try to make every trip out of the office as fruitful as possible.

1pm: Tom’s 2pm has emailed to let me know he’s going to be early and has asked for a meeting room, so I run down to reception to try and use my charm with them. Thankfully I’ve secured a room from 1.30pm.

1.30pm: By the time his guest arrives, I’m there to greet him and show him to the room. I had forgotten that he was such a chatterbox. I make a mental note to shift Tom’s diary back by half an hour as the meeting is bound to run over.

2pm: I’ve had to interrupt Tom’s last meeting to ensure he gets to the next one on time. I let him know I’ll text him ten minutes before he needs to be out.

3.20pm: Sure enough, the chatterbox has held him captive. I’ve successfully pushed back his 3pm to 3.30pm, and the 4pm to 4.30pm. I also remembered I hadn’t yet organised visas for Tom’s trip to China next month, so I submit the application. Hopefully it arrives on time! I add ‘Plan B visa’ to my to-do list just in case.

3.25pm: His 3.30pm is here so I text Tom to let him know he needs to wrap up.

5pm: By 5pm, all his meetings are over and I’ve put the finishing touches to a PowerPoint presentation he’s presenting tomorrow. I’m supposed to head off by 5pm but Tom needs to run through what he needs completing tomorrow. There’s no way I’ll make it out the door before 6pm.

6.10pm: It’s a lovely evening so the other PAs and I head down to Broadgate Circle for a cocktail. We don’t normally speak to each other during the day so it’s lovely to catch up with them and hear about what’s going on in the other areas of the business. One of the other PAs has started dating an investment manager and we’re all keen to hear the goss!

9.30pm: I leave the guys to it as I’m so tired and just want to crawl into bed! I’m starving so I pick up an Evian and a pasty which I wolf down on the train home. A day in the life of a PA may sound glamourous, but this is sometimes the reality!

If you’d like to explore becoming a City PA, register your details with us today.

[1] Not real name

Author Tiger Contributor Tiger Recruitment Team