Conducting the above research should help you decide if a career as a PA is for you.

If you feel that it would be, great!

But before you apply for a PA job you need to make sure that you have some relevant skills and experience!

There is a vast array of PA training courses available, tailored to different levels of PA experience, so it could be a great idea to take part in a beginner PA course to boost your knowledge of the profession and to learn some useful ‘tips of the trade’.

For some excellent training courses, please see the training section of the APA website.

What if you are just leaving school and aspire to be a PA?

If you are a school leaver and new to the working world, try to get some office experience under your belt.  Ask local companies if you could work for them during the school holidays, perhaps offer holiday cover for a team secretary or receptionist. I spent a few holidays working as an admin assistant, and here you can build up valuable skills needed for being a PA, for example politely and professionally liaising with clients, organising colleagues or systems to be more efficient!

Although you may not be able to land a PA role straight away, having experience in team secretary/ administrative roles will often lead to promotion to a PA position. 

And if you are a Graduate? 

If you are a graduate just leaving university, make sure you visit graduate recruitment fairs, (you can find out from your university careers centre as to when and where these are happening). At the fairs visit the stands for the companies that appeal to you. Although they may be recruiting for graduate training schemes in areas such as marketing or finance, speak to one of the graduate recruitment team, as they will be able to discuss working for the company with you, give you tips on what the company looks for and they may be able to advise on current vacancies.

Give them your CV and highlight why you’d make a great PA; give some examples of how your time at university has developed skills required in a PA role, for example, you may have juggled a job with your university studies, meaning that you now have excellent time management skills, and working on many different coursework assignments means that you are used to working to tight deadlines under pressure.

What if you are already working in a diferent role? 

If you are already working in a different role but feel that you’d like to change career path and become a PA, there are a number of ways in which you could build up relevant PA experience. PAs are really busy people, so a great start would be to talk to a PA in your company about whether you could help him/ her out at all. Quite often there’ll be multiple events that the PA is organising, and normally an extra pair of hands is always welcome!

You could always offer to provide holiday cover for company PAs, and I actually experienced PA work by providing maternity cover for a PA whilst I was in a non-PA role. Monitor internal vacancies, and apply for any internal PA positions that arise- you’ll be able to highlight the experience you have had assisting/ covering for company PAs, and you will already have a lot of knowledge of the business, and good contacts around the company- which all Directors need their PAs to have.


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What key skills/competencies do you need to become an exceptional PA? First and foremost PAs need to fully understand the business’ corporate strategic objectives. A PA’s role is to assist their Director in the achievement of these, so being able to prioritise them and work towards them is essential. I also think PAs should have excellent communication and interpersonal skills, as they are constantly meeting/ liaising with very senior personnel. PAs also need to be fantastic organisers and confident, decisive crisis managers- as PAs are required to smoothly manage the constantly changing priorities of Directors. I think having a pro-active and willing attitude is vital, as is having a discreet manner as PAs are frequently required to deal with highly confidential or sensitive information. Last but not least, I think PAs should have a real passion for the role. Our role has evolved so much in recent years- PAs bring a considerable amount of value to organisations, and we should be vocal about that to ensure our demanding roles are recognised!  What are the most difficult aspects of the job and how do you overcome these? One challenging aspect of the role is dealing with difficult people! If you’re a PA to a senior figure, you have to interact with some very influential and senior people- some of which can have quite a temper or ego and can be quite rude! I deal with them by reminding myself that it’s not personal and that regardless of their behaviour I’m a professional and will act in that manner. Another difficult aspect of the role is time pressure. PAs juggle a million and one tasks and face demanding deadlines and it can get very stressful. I’m a big fan of to do lists, where I list tasks in a prioritised order and make sure I work through them in that priority order. Lastly, PAs need to manage their bosses and this can be tough, you need to be aware of your boss’ mental energy and act accordingly. This means that sometimes you have to push back on people and absorb pressure for your boss, other times even if your boss is having a difficult time, you may need to be very firm to ensure deadlines are met. The role really isn’t as easy as some people might think!