Finding the perfect personal assistant

Finding the perfect personal assistant

EVP

I need to employ a PA, but I have never employed anyone before. What are my responsibilities?

Becoming an employer is an exciting part of your journey and creating good processes as an employer from day one will ensure a positive experience. As an employer, you have responsibilities from a financial and accounting perspective as well as from an HR and management point of view. You must register with HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) as an employer before you are able to pay your first employee. You will need to decide what salary to pay and ensure you adhere to the Government rules regarding minimum wage. You will also need to check if you are responsible for registering your employee for a pension. Check that your employee has the right to work in the UK and also arrange any checks; for example, a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check.  All employers must have employers’ liability insurance with a minimum cover of £5m.  

Employment contract

Every employee must have a written statement of employment or contract of employment. This should confirm salary, holiday entitlement, sick pay arrangements and all other relevant terms and conditions. You must state clearly if the offer of employment is subject to any checks, which may include qualifications and reference checks. It is very important to ensure the contract is signed by your emp­loyee as soon as possible. Many employers produce a solid contract but then fail to follow through to the signature. 

As an employee and manager, you are legally responsible for providing a safe and secure working environment and you should check whether you are responsible for having a first aider. You must also ensure all of your employee’s personal data is stored securely. 

Given all of these responsibilities, you might wonder whether you are better to employ someone on a self-employed basis, but be aware that you need to take care to avoid falling into problems.

Employed or self-employed?

HMRC advises that you must check whether an individual is self-employed in both tax law and employment law. You can be held responsible for unpaid tax and penalties if a mistake is made. According to the HMRC website, an individual is probably self-employed if most of the following statements are true. 

The individual is:

 In business for themselves, responsible for the success or failure of their business and can make a loss or a profit;

 Able to decide what work they do and when, where or how to do it;

 Able to hire someone else to do the work;

 Responsible for fixing any unsatisfactory work in their own time;

 Paid a fixed price for their work by the employer – it does not depend on how long the job takes to finish;

 Using their own money to buy business assets, cover running costs and provide tools and equipment for their work;

 Able to work for more than one client.

The use of the words ‘probably’ and ‘most’ by HMRC make it hard to have 100% clarity and so it is best to proceed with caution. If you are in any doubt, please take professional advice. Becoming an employer for the first time is an involved process and it is important to make sure you get everything right from day one to avoid issues later on. 

If you are uncertain about the best way forward for you, then you would be wise to take expert advice which could save you time and money in the long term. 

How do I interview for the role of medical PA? What questions do you suggest I ask?

When interviewing for a medical PA, it is important to ask questions to understand experience and expertise.

You need to ensure an individual is qualified to do the role, but also to focus on the softer skills relating to dealing with patients, working with others on the team and dealing with the wider community, including insurance companies and hospital booking departments. 

Interviewing a PA

Ideally, you are looking to find the best medical PA to suit your practice, with the skills that you need and the attitude and behaviours that fit well within the culture of your team and in line with your values. 

Every individual in your team has an impact on the quality of patient experience that you deliver and choosing the right team members is of the highest priority.

Prepare for the interview by re-reading the candidate’s CV, highlighting any areas where you would like to explore in more detail or any gaps between employment that you would like to understand. 

Write a set of questions that ensure you explore the candidate’s CV. This will also provide a gentle opening to the interview by focusing on the individual’s past experience. 

Secondly, consider your job description for the medical PA role and highlight areas that have not been addressed by the CV. 

Start by ensuring the candidate has an adequate level of expertise and experience to undertake the role. Is there evidence of working in equivalent roles? 

Does the candidate know the systems you use? 

If typing is required, has the candidate confirmed their capabilities? You may want to test typing skills separately. Create a list of questions that allow you to check thoroughly for experience and expertise. 

Are your values aligned? I believe the best way to assess this is to use the competency-based interview technique. You should ask relevant questions about past experiences and how the individual handled them.

How a Virtual PA can help you stay creative

How a Virtual PA can help you stay creative

Designated PA Stay Creative

Take a moment and think back to when you decided ‘to go it alone’ or step up to the challenge of being a Creative Director. The reasons may have been many. Was it to have more flexibility, setting your own creative standards, widening your network, creating unique and intricate ideas without being overwhelmed by continuous admin roadblocks? 

Time pressure and Creativity 

In today’s fast-paced environment, it’s about the speed of creative output. Time pressure seems to have worsened, with clients wanting jobs delivered yesterday! And let’s not forget the volume of paperwork, emails and uncontrolled growth in project scope…resulting in disrupted creativity. 

Embrace being different 

The Neuroscience of creativity shows you are wired differently. You have higher levels of curiosity, a desire for novelty. Your brain is restless, you need spontaneity, free-flow thinking and not a conveyor belt of generic ideas.

Non-creative tasks are a real turn off for you. Research suggests that multitasking ruins productivity causes mistakes, and impedes creative thought. According to Nicolas Cole at Inc. creatives despise distractions among other things. 

How to stay creative 

Are continuous multitasking and endless admin still a reality for you? Putting a stop to it is easier than you think! If you’ve lost your creative flow, then take the time to replenish it. Don’t let admin tasks get in your way, ask for help.

Stay Creative and offload admin to a Virtual Assistant PA. 

A Virtual Personal Assistant can help you get back doing what you do best -. big idea thinking. 

Think how much time you could save by #SayingNotoAdmin and having a Virtual Assistant PA. 

No more time spent… 

  • Managing your mailbox 
  • Arranging meetings 
  • Liaising with clients
  • Chasing payments
  • Paying Invoices. 

The opportunities to make the most out of your day are endless with a Designated Personal Assistant.

For more information please contact Hannah, our client services manager who will be happy to talk your through all that’s involved with hiring a Virtual PA:  hannah@designatedgroup.com

The top 10 reasons you should consider hiring a Virtual PA in 2021

The top 10 reasons you should consider hiring a Virtual PA in 2021

We all hate having to do our business ‘housekeeping’ chores; whether it’s organising your filing, sorting out your business cards, typing up letters or just simply getting your tax return done… the list is endless. So how can a virtual PA help you become more effective, more efficiently?

Any why is it more important to consider hiring a virtual PA in 2021 than in previous years? 

 

Top Ten Reasons to use a Designated Virtual PA 

 

  1. Got a big presentation to do? Let the professionals take charge!

With minimal supervision, we can turn around a document in Word, Excel, PowerPoint or even Canva and turn it from a jumble of numbers and words into a coherent work of art, fit for any boardroom. As businesses more from kitchen table to a more corporate environment, it’s more important than every before to keep teams engaged. No death by PowerPoint over here thank you!

 

  1. Flummoxed by figures, or simply no time to file that tax return?

Why not get us to take a look at the books and help you get back on track, whilst you concentrate on making the big bucks. Though many of us have been busier than ever working from home, we were used to being distraction free. As we move back into the office those small pesky tasks you forgot about will creep back in and can swallow your time. 

 

  1. Give us an inch and we’ll go the extra mile 

We are never happier than when we have a new project to get our teeth into; whether it’s investigating new business opportunities, or following up existing leads, we like to help you make a difference. We know that some of the most important business research can fall to the bottom of the list, especially when you’re playing catch up in 2021. Let us cover this area for you and stay on top of what your competitors are doing whilst you focus on the day to day running of your business. 

 

  1. Lost for words?

As a team of experienced professionals, we are well-versed in the art of creating compelling copy and putting together savvy sales pitches. 

Writing copy is time-consuming, especially when post-pandemic, we need to be more aware and sensitive than ever to our customers, clients and colleagues work/personal situations. 

 

  1. We do it, so you don’t have to! 

Don’t have time to enter all those potentially lucrative prospects into your system? All we need is a list and we can upload, annotate and amend to your heart’s content. 

 

  1. All dressed up and nowhere to go?

Networking can be a time-consuming activity, but just one well-connected contact can pay dividends. We can help advise on which groups are suitable and research any hidden costs or lucrative opportunities that you hadn’t considered. 

 

  1. Let us organise your life, leaving you free to concentrate on what makes your business tick.

We can coordinate meetings, arrange travel, type up minutes, compile documents, respond to email on your behalf and even contact previous clients for their feedback on your product or service. 

Particuarly this year when there are so many rules and regulations which are ever-changing and differ depending on where you would like to go. Our PA’s are in touch with highly experienced travel professionals who can ensure both business and pleasure trips are fully managed. 

 

  1. Raise your game and we’ll up your ante! 

We can search for, and post, relevant, interesting, compelling content onto your social network profile pages, with the click of a mouse and the tap of the keyboard. We can also help you optimise your pages, reach out to your contacts and keep your pages fresh and relevant – leaving you free to go and do the networking you were born to do! 

 

  1. Take the chaos out of conferences

Use us to project manage your corporate events. We get to grips with the gritty details, ensuring no glass is left unfilled. Whether you need client hospitality, private banquets, or large scale exhibitions organised, we are there to calmly communicate and coordinate with your clients and suppliers. 

 

  1. Ever get that sinking feeling?

The superpowers of a good PA are often overlooked; whether it be the ability to efficiently manage calls, whilst juggling emails and monitoring a jam-packed diary, or tracking down lost and forgotten receipts. Being able to depend upon a reliable set of hands, eyes and ears can be the difference between staying on top, or getting mired in an administrative nightmare. Never is that more apparent when you are in desperate need and don’t know where to turn. Enter, Designated! We are often able to put you in touch with fellow super-powered assistants, potentially looking for a step up, down or change in direction. We can also vet CVs, write up job adverts or simply field responses until you have time to start interviewing. 

 

So, if you are looking for your next PA or just know you need help but can’t justify the cost of hiring someone on a full-time basis, perhaps going ‘virtual’ is the best way forward – after all, you’ve only got time to lose. Get in touch and chat to us about how we can help.