The UK’s thousands of Personal Assistants and Virtual Assistants (PAs) can now take their place alongside other recognised business specialists as a result of the launch of their own professional association (APA).

Gareth Osborne, the former Chief Executive of the UK recruitment industry trade body (REC) and the APA’s first Director General hailed the launch as a breakthrough for the UK’s half million Personal Assistants (PAs) – the legitimate guardians and gatekeepers to Britain’s business leaders.

The Association of Personal Assistants (APA) (www.paprofessional.com) is the first UK-wide organisation to represent the needs of all grades and levels of employees engaged as PAs in support of bosses in all sectors within the economy; in business as well as the public, voluntary and academic sectors. “PAs, and their professional performance, lie at the heart of every successful UK enterprise and the importance of their role, while understood and valued by those they support, is often overlooked by colleagues and business commentators, said Osborne.

PAs often participate in the important decision-making processes that drive commerce and industry and certainly act as the conduit for communication between leaders and their staff. A good PA is a boss’s most valued confidant and that can make it an isolating role, so APA is designed to bring the like-minded professional PAs together through a virtual network cited within the Members section of our website and a series of training and social events staged across the UK; all aimed to enable them to share best practice and learn from each others experience.”

Working alongside Gareth APA’s technology director, Colin Minto, is passionate to embrace the latest technology, “The APA website is filled with useful tips and tricks to help manage a PA’s workload and improve their effectiveness under pressure. As the membership grows we hope to engage Members in a series of regular on-line debates, surveys and video-streamed training sessions and events to ensure that they learn firsthand from their peers and stay ahead of the game.”

The organisation has been formed under the guidance of a group of founding PAs and they, with Gareth, are keen to place APA at the vanguard of professional bodies. “We want APA to be an essential information source for PAs, said Carly Beales, PA to Corporate Governance Directors at the Bank of America, and somewhere for them to turn when things get tough, which they certainly do at times, says Carly. “ I remember one boss calling me from Brussels; stranded with no car, no hotel and no cash, and the message was simply get me out of here! All in a day’s work for a competent PA.” concluded Carly.

Currently PAs never get the opportunity to share these anecdotes and learn from each others crises and probably jump through the same hoops time after time. We just want to share knowledge and build confidence. It will directly help PAs and their bosses alike.” Gareth concluded, “APA is a resource designed to help build skill levels amongst essential staff and we hope bosses will see the value and offer to pay for their PAs membership; which costs less than £1 per week, a small price to pay for added effectiveness.  

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