How to Become a Personal Assistant to the Wealthy

If you’re considering becoming a personal assistant to a wealthy person or family, there are plenty of things you should know beforehand.

While this job can be rewarding, it’s no walk in the park. Think: being on call at all hours, putting someone else’s wants and needs first, and fulfilling an extensive range of duties. However, it can be incredibly rewarding given all the people, places, and experiences you’ll have access to as a result.

(For clarity, throughout this article we will refer to “rich” and “wealthy” people, with the difference being that those labeled “rich” are new money millionaires whereas “wealthy” people are old money multimillionaires and billionaires.)

So, read on to get a glimpse of life as a luxury personal assistant.

What Is a Personal Assistant?

A personal assistant is someone who tends to a person’s (or people’s) daily requests and manages their needs—big or small.

For example, say your client missed a flight. It happens. So, they call you, their personal assistant, and say they need a new flight to their destination. Your job is to find a new flight immediately and then arrange all other accommodations your client might need. This could include scheduling car services, hotel cancellation and/or re-booking, and alerting anyone else who might be affected by your client’s later departure (i.e., family, business partners).

Some smaller and more mundane tasks you might handle, though, would be answering calls, emails, and texts; taking notes during meetings; or researching and scheduling events for your client.

Whether you’re outsourced by an agency, or you work solely for one person or family on a personal (see: live-in) basis, essentially, you are the manager of your client’s life and all its affairs.

What does a personal assistant do for a rich person?

Being a personal assistant for a rich person or individual will require you to fulfill an extensive range of duties. This could look like planning the client’s next vacation to being their personal shopper or handling correspondence with their business client(s), accountant, lawyer, manager, employees and so on.

You’ll might also accompany your client at their workplace, on business trips, and during off-site meetings (and perhaps you’ll be the one to plan all these events, too).

Rather than a regular 9-5 schedule, you might be expected to answer to your client’s every beck and call at any hour of the day—even scheduling something for them at 3am.

Your purpose is ultimately to make you rich client’s life easier by always being one step ahead.

How much do personal assistants to millionaires make?

This varies depending on the millionaire client a personal assistant works for. As previously mentioned, personal assistants can also work for an agency, so their salary might be determined by their company.

It’s not uncommon for personal assistants who work for millionaires to make up to $125,000 a year, plus bonuses. Also, don’t forget that some personal assistants are also given expensive gifts as a token of their client’s appreciation.

Keep in mind that on the very low end, though, some personal assistant rates can be as little as $15 an hour.

How to Become a Personal Assistant to the Wealthy with No Current Experience

Well, you’ll need to start somewhere, of course. Here are some suggestions:

Before you enter the profession, this is the time to consider which field appeals to you most, such as business, technology, professional services, or real estate. You’ll want to know the ins and outs of your future client’s industry so you can seamlessly work in lockstep with them towards their goals.
From there, depending on where you’re at in your career, you can try to network with personal assistants through first- and second-degree connections, your high school or university alumni base, or over social media. You can then hold an informational interview and/or shadow them to see if this is really what you want to do.
Should you continue to pursue this path, you may then want to search for internships or entry-level jobs to get you on track to becoming a personal assistant. If you can’t yet find a personal assistant job, you could still gain relevant work experience as an executive assistant at a corporation (or nonprofit organization) or a more low-key administrative desk job at a small start-up. Regardless, your managerial and organizational skills will be of use to future clients.
Another idea to consider—especially if you don’t have a formal education—would be enrolling in online courses that focus on event-planning and general management. Bonus points if you also learn about personal shopping and travel planning.
Additionally, being a personal assistant to the wealthy may require you to travel abroad, so apply for a passport (if you don’t’ already have one). Aside from researching your destinations and finding certain accommodations for your super rich client, it wouldn’t hurt to learn the laws and history of the country you’ll be visiting.
If you have the bandwidth to do so, learning a new language could make you more in-demand on an international scale.

Qualifications to become a personal assistant to the wealthy

Wealthy clients to personal assistants will likely want to see that you have relevant work experience and solid references. Since your role will quite literally be overseeing the events of their day-to-day life and setting them up for success, it’s important that your client knows they can trust you and rely on you to do your job well.

Moreover, it may go without saying, but this is a job that requires a considerable amount of flexibility. And sacrifice.

Personal assistants may not have much of a personal life depending on how hands-on they need to be with their client. Should a client be demanding of their personal assistant’s services on a daily basis, this could mean the P.A. won’t have time for much else outside of work.

Beyond your professional qualifications, potential personal assistants to the affluent should also emulate specific qualities and skills, such as communication, patience, confidentiality, organization, astuteness, problem-solving, networking, and a can-do attitude.

And, based on a client’s industry, the personal assistant might need to be proficient in other areas.

Maybe they’ll be a personal assistant to an influencer, so being a decent photographer, knowing how to edit photos, and having a knack for clever social media captions could serve the client positively.

How to Become a Personal Assistant for a Rich Person

Firstly, let’s talk location. You’re more likely to find rich folks who need personal assistants in larger cities like New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, London, Paris, and so on. Many of these cities are home to executives and CEOs who are way too busy to complete mundane daily tasks, so that’s where you’ll come in.

If you haven’t moved to a metropolitan area yet, that may be your first step. From there, you can refer to the suggestions discussed under How to become a personal assistant to a wealthy person with no current experience. However, if you already have enough personal assistant experience under your belt and you’re ready to apply your know-how to a well-to-do client’s life and affairs, we have some ideas.

You’ll need to pull out some of your networking skills, namely the bravery to send cold calls, emails and messages (via LinkedIn messaging for example). If you have a client in mind that you’d love to work for, draft a letter expressing your interest, include your resume, and send it to their company receptionist or publicist (or if they must be accessed through an agency, send it to their human resources department). Alternatively, you can work for a personal assistant agency that can place you with one of their existing clients.

How to Become a Personal Assistant to a Wealthy Family

Once again, location is key. If you’re living in a small town, chances are, there probably aren’t as many wealthy families there who need an assistant (but maybe they’re looking for a nanny, which could end up being relevant work experience!). That’s not to say you can’t get your start in said small town—surely there are administrative jobs that you can add to your resume. But if you’re looking to land a job with a wealthy family, it would be best to seek this out in a large city.

Much like finding an individual client, sending an inquiry letter and your resume to their team, or working for a personal assistant agency can help get your foot in the door.

What makes this slightly different than working for one person is that you could be working for a high-net-worth couple or power couple who may need assistance as they navigate running businesses; balancing work and parenting; or living out the retirement of their dreams. Or perhaps you assist not just a couple, but other members of their family, too.

Obviously, this could come with more challenges than being a personal assistant to just one wealthy person. Should you find that you’re being spread too thin, you could pitch and even be tasked with hiring more people onto their team.

Conclusion

Although being a personal assistant to the wealthy and rich can be a difficult and taxing role, it might afford you opportunities you wouldn’t find elsewhere. Because of your proximity to someone who is well-off and well-known, you may gain access to aspects of their life and industry that you’d otherwise be denied to (or on a waitlist for). Further, you can even use such advantages to segue into a different career or higher role.

Take Ursula Burns for example. She started her career as an executive assistant at Xerox and worked her way up to become the first African American CEO of a Fortune 500 company. Or, let’s look at Vickie Sokol Evans who transitioned from a legal executive assistant and went on to build a world-class company, The Red Cape Company, that teaches teams from the likes of Google, Microsoft as well as Apple on the best productivity practices. Lastly, former Hewlett-Packard CEO and the first female to lead a Fortune 20 company, Carly Fiorina, got her start from working as an executive assistant for a small real estate firm.

So, while it may seem that this job means your wants, needs, and desires take a back seat, remember that the career path of a personal assistant to the wealthy and rich can have the potential to be a stepping stone to something greater.

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