Five PA recruitment tips

For business owner’s, executive assistant recruitment offers numerous benefits. A skilled EA can handle administrative tasks, manage schedules, and support personal errands, freeing up your time to focus on more strategic activities.

Finding the right EA can come with its challenges. The process requires identifying a candidate who not only has the necessary skills but also fits well with your personality and work environment. It’s about striking the right balance between professional competencies and personal dynamics, which can be a time-consuming and difficult task.

We’ve put together our top five tips on how to hire an EA, plus how a professional recruiter can help.

How To Ensure EA Recruitment Success

Recruitment of any kind presents a fantastic opportunity to refresh a team, job function or business culture. That being said, it’s not uncommon to feel some trepidation at the start of your recruitment journey. The process can take time and in a candidate-short market, you may need to shortlist multiple times before securing a suitable candidate. This is where working with an experienced recruiter can help.

Executive assistant recruitment, in particular, is unique as the values alignment plays such a significant role in ensuring a candidate’s success. An executive assistant works so closely with their managers and team that it’s crucial to get the personality mix right. This is crucially relevant to permanent recruitment while hiring a temp EA can generally be recruited quickly to fulfill the short-term functional requirements of the role.

If you’re considering hiring using AI-based software for certain steps, such as resume screening, we would ask you to consider a different approach. While there is a place for this type of technology, especially when it comes to advanced candidate testing such as gamification, the ultimate decision for a candidate’s fit for a business should remain with human recruiters.

With this in mind, we’ve put together our top five tips on how a recruiter can help to ensure you hire an executive assistant who lasts the distance.

1. Personality fit

Personality fit is crucial when hiring an executive assistant. An EA will work closely with you, often during stressful times or in personal spaces. A candidate whose personality complements yours can make the working relationship more enjoyable and productive.

You can ensure the right personality fit during the interview process by asking the right questions. These questions should encourage the candidate to share their values, work ethics, and how they handle stress and conflict. Observing how they interact with you and others during the interview can also provide insights into their personality and how well they might integrate into your personal and professional life.

A professional recruiter can help you source candidates with the right personality fit. They can pre-screen candidates, saving you time and ensuring that you meet only those who have already passed a preliminary fit assessment. For example, if a candidate communicates quietly and seems withdrawn in their body language, a good recruiter will never send them to a workplace where they will be supporting outspoken, straight-to-the-point management styles.

2. Consider Previous Experience

Previous experience is a critical factor in EA recruitment. Their track record can showcase how they will handle the demands of your role and reduce the risk of a mismatch. A candidate with experience in a similar industry or who has supported professionals with comparable responsibilities to yours might adapt more quickly to your requirements.

When interviewing a candidate, you should ask them to tell the story of their career to date, with a particular focus on how long they stayed at each job and why they left. If a candidate has previously jumped around from one role to the next, it generally does mean there’s a higher likelihood they’ll do the same again. Similarly, their reasons for leaving will often paint a more colorful picture of what they’re looking for now.

A recruiter can help you evaluate a candidate’s previous experience. They have the expertise to spot red flags or patterns of excellence that you might overlook. Recruiters also verify references and past employment details, ensuring that the information presented is accurate and relevant to your needs.

3. Trust Your Recruiter

When looking for a PA, it’s essential to secure a robust shortlist to get an accurate overview of the market and available candidates. A recruiter should send you a few strong, but different options, to ensure you have a range of choices. They might even suggest a candidate who seems to lack certain technical skills but has the right personality fit, adhering to the philosophy that specific skills can be learned, whereas the right cultural fit is priceless.

It is essential to trust your recruiter’s recommendations. Recruiters have a deep understanding of the job market and the qualities that make a candidate a good fit for a role. By relying on their recommendations, you can increase your chances of finding the right person for your EA position.

4. Identify Soft Skills

For an executive assistant, essential soft skills include effective communication, adaptability, problem-solving, and time management. An EA will also be savvy to the ways of the city, including the best transport, food, and gifting options: characteristics that are also important when supporting management. You would be surprised by how much these little details make a difference when working with your EA!

You can identify these essential soft skills by asking specific behavioral questions during the interview. For example, you can ask about a time they overcame a challenge or had to adapt quickly to a change. Their responses will give you insight into their problem-solving abilities and flexibility.

An executive assistant’s soft skills may not always be obvious from their resume. A recruiter will be able to gauge an EA’s transferable attributes, such as emotional intelligence, leadership traits, and communication style from an initial face-to-face registration. Recruiters can also interpret subtle cues in candidates’ responses and behaviors, ensuring you meet only the most suitable individuals who possess the soft skills essential for the role.

5. Manage Expectations and Be Responsive

Managing candidate expectations and being responsive is essential during the recruitment process. This includes keeping potential candidates informed about their application status, the recruitment process stages, and expected timelines for your decisions. In our current market, speed is of the essence, especially with recruiting for EAs. We have seen hundreds of employers miss fantastic candidates by being unavailable or inflexible to interview or delaying feedback.

Being unresponsive with your recruiter will be especially detrimental to you finding the best person for the job. Responsiveness enables a smooth and efficient search, allowing recruiters to quickly refine their selection based on your feedback. This collaboration ensures that the candidates presented match your requirements, saving you time and resources.

Expert PA Hiring with Tiger Recruitment

At Tiger Recruitment, we pride ourselves on our expertise in pairing top-tier executive assistants with professionals and business owners. We are committed to understanding your unique needs and preferences, enabling us to find the right candidates for your requirements. With our bespoke approach, you will receive support throughout the recruitment process.

If you are thinking about hiring a new permanent or temporary EA, read our ultimate guide to hiring an EA and, for further information, contact us today.

Author Jess Krisburg Tiger Recruitment Team