How do you become a personal assistant to a Fortune 500 billionaire?
Would you like to become a personal assistant to a Fortune 500 Billionaire and earn up to $250,000 annually?
Receive the following salary, benefits and perks?
Sound good? Welcome to the world of a personal assistant for Fortune 500 billionaires.
Becoming a personal assistant to a celebrity or wealthy CEO is an exciting opportunity. You’ll manage the day-to-day tasks of highly influential and busy individuals and enjoy an insider’s view of the rich and famous lifestyle that the rest of us get to see only on TV.
Receive the following salary, benefits and perks?
- Up to $250,000 (based on experience and salary history)
- Country club membership
- Company car (Lexus, BMW or Mercedes)
- Full health insurance package
- Retirement plan
- Two weeks paid vacation
- Year-end bonuses based on performance
- A relocation package
Sound good? Welcome to the world of a personal assistant for Fortune 500 billionaires.
Becoming a personal assistant to a celebrity or wealthy CEO is an exciting opportunity. You’ll manage the day-to-day tasks of highly influential and busy individuals and enjoy an insider’s view of the rich and famous lifestyle that the rest of us get to see only on TV.
Here are our tips; do you qualify?
- Be able to leave town on a moment’s notice and be out of town for days/weeks at a time.
- Be unflustered: You will constantly be under tremendous pressure and will have to meet break-neck deadlines on a regular basis.
- Have excellent communication and organization skills, diplomacy, discretion and networking expertise.
- Live in a major city like Los Angeles or New York City, where prospective wealthy clients are based. New York City is the best place in the world for that.
- Register with a placement agency that specializes in executive staffing for elite clientele such as authors, athletes, wealthy families, CEOs, and members of the entertainment industry. This would be a good starting point.
- Experience in managing very complex calendars that constantly changes.
- It would be advisable to be well-versed in the world of private aviation and yachting, as many clients own several private jets, helicopters, fleets of exotic cars and mega-yachts.
- Should have at least 3 years of tenure from your current/last employer, and strong letters of recommendation from the last two employers.
- It’s always an advantage to show experience in leading diversified teams in both corporate and domestic environments, as you may be expected to oversee subordinate assistants, yacht crew, and estate managers at multiple properties.
- Superior knowledge of Microsoft Office and be able to program advanced Excel spreadsheets is also a very big plus.
- Excellent writing and grammar skills are essential, as you will regularly correspond on behalf of the employer to business leaders, celebrities, agents, business managers, investors, and philanthropists.
- Educate yourself on every aspect of your dream client’s industry so you can talk and understand the multiplicity of factors that impact its growth or stagnation and learn to identify the public and private resources you’ll need to get exactly what your client wants.
- When you have the dream client you want to work for in mind, you’ll also need to research everything that makes them tick. Read whatever they write, every interview, what they say about their books, blogs, Facebook posts, etc. Try to understand who their friends are and try to befriend them.
- Take your role seriously: Get training, watch videos, read books and enroll in classes to learn the rudiments of event planning, household management, etiquette, personal shopping and travel coordination.
- Reinvent your personal image and demeanor to be consistent with your wealthy employer’s expectations of polish and perfection. Define your personal brand.
- If your dream client frequently travels abroad on business, familiarize yourself with the customs of each country. Learn foreign languages to facilitate negotiations and social interactions.
- If you have never acted before, take some classes in improvisational theatre. It’s good training for being able to think fast on your feet in a social emergency.
- Confidentiality is essential if you want to hold on to your job as a personal assistant. Do not gossip, criticize or share information, even when tempted in an interview. In most cases, a non-disclosure agreement must be signed before the candidate can start the interview process.
- You will probably need to pass criminal background check, credit review, personality test, driving record check, and be insured because of the responsibilities related to having control over large amounts of cash and credit.
If you’re serious about making this change, you may consider reading Dream Careers: The Insider's Guide to Working with the High Net Worth by Brian Daniel of FindCelebrityJobs.com.
NOTE: This article was edited for length and updated in 2024
