PA PROFILE
“There are so many considerations. I am also a career coach
and I’m all about my long-term respect in the industry, so I’ve often advised candidates not to take a job. I don’t want them leaving a really great job then getting fired from their new one.”
What advice would you give to a PA who wants to work with VIPs and celebrities? “I want to hear from them! There are amazing opportunities for people willing to relocate. Almost half the world’s billionaires are in the US, but they are all over the place, many in the mid- dle of nowhere. There are only about 50 in New York and even fewer in LA. I get calls from these people and they say ‘there is no talent here’. “When you look at the number of wealthy people today, the opportunities for EAs and PAs have never been greater. The jobs are out there for the taking – you just have to be willing to make the sacrifices needed.”
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There must have been defining moments for you after realising the world of VIPs and celebrities was where you wanted to be. “When I was working the front desk at the hotel in Beverly Hills in 1998, I saw Celine Dion standing in the lobby before leaving for the Oscars to sing the Titanic theme song (My Heart Will Go On). “This guy comes up to the front desk and asks to go into the
vault. So I take him back there and he pulls out a box and is about to leave when he says ‘You wanna see something?’ He opens the box and in it is the Titanic necklace, the real one. He says, ‘I am about to go into the lobby and put this on Celine Dion. We just sold it for $4 million, and as soon as she is done singing and comes off stage, I’m going to take it off her and hand it to the new owner.’ And that’s how I got to hold the Titanic necklace.”
What was it like working for the Saudi royal family? “To be chief-of-staff for a royal family with the private jets and managing all the estates... it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. I did that for about two years, working 18 hours a day. I could easily go three months without a day off, so the pressure was overwhelming. “I could be with my boss in Miami, say, and he is with all his
family members. These people travel in entourages and there are like 20 cars, and he says: ‘We’re going to Paris’ – so some- thing you would normally spend two months planning has to be done in days. “It’s a logistical nightmare, organising all the cars, the armed
bodyguards, securing the hotel rooms, and you have to rent the whole floor. Then you have 200 pieces of luggage. I had to hire assistants who were just in charge of the bags. When you get to the hotel, you have a whole army of maids to unpack and iron everything. Someone has to organise it all, and that was me.”
How selective are you with clients? “I tell at least 25 per cent of all employers who approach me that I am not the right agency for them. The average wage for one of my assistants is $80,000 (£52,000), but I have assistants who make more than $150,000 (£98,000). High-net-worth people have the money but they can be very thrifty. If they want an assistant worth $150,000 but only want to pay half that, then I politely turn them down. “Just as I qualify candidates, I qualify employers too. A
famous doctor contacted me. I did my homework on him, and he had a lot of emotional problems – arrested several times, domestic violence, a whole list of things. It didn’t matter that he wanted to pay $120,000 (£78,000) a year. I just can’t expose my candidates to that.
10 JULY/AUGUST 2013 |
WWW.EXECUTIVEPA.COM
What process do you use to find the very best assistants? “Part of how I qualify candidates is their attention to detail. There is a protocol for applying. It’s on the jobs page of the website. Don’t attach a resume – paste it. Put this in the subject line. I do it on purpose to see if they are reading the details. A person who does- n’t follow the instructions will stumble later. If you can’t handle all of those small things on the front end, then you will fall flat on your face at the back end where the big things really matter.”
What tips can you give to candidates who have got through to the interview? “There are some tried-and-true gold nuggets I always tell people looking for celebrity assistant jobs. First and foremost, it is hard to get these jobs but not as hard as you think because it is easy to outshine your competitors. Go the extra mile, be over-prepared for the interview, dress like a million dollars, don’t overdo it, don’t underdo it, rehearse your answers, show up to the interview early so you can get all the nerves and excitement out of your system and get focused. And make sure you have your parking spot. “I have seen people miss the job because they couldn’t find
parking. Walk in two minutes late and you don’t get the job. If you are on time, you are late. You have to be 10 minutes early. When you get down to those last five people, they are splitting hairs, so focus on what you can control.”
How important is the rapport between a VIP client and their PA? “It’s everything. You’re married to them. You will spend more time with the client than they do with their boyfriend/girlfriend or spouse. They are going to be sharing their deepest, darkest secrets. Their whole lives are going to be in the hands of the assistant.”
You must have seen things that would make a gossip columnist blush! “Oh man! I would never put names to what I saw when I worked at the Beverly Hills hotel – the little trysts, A-listers sneaking in people. You wouldn’t believe what I witnessed, and that was only the beginning. After I got into the PA world I was exposed to so much. I was with a VIP client – and I wish I could tell you who – and we walked into his house and there was this major A-list actress there. The magazines had just done a big story complete with pictures of her and her husband and kids, and here she was cheating on her husband. This is the kind of stuff you see all the time.” E
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