The story of how I became a PA

As someone who is annoyingly over organised and enjoys supporting others, it was always on the cards I suppose to become an assistant, but it’s not where I started out.

Like so many 16 year olds, I was full of myself and thought I knew everything - the plan was I’d leave school, get an amazing job, do little work, get paid lots of money and then……reality hit! It turns out I didn’t know everything (shock!) and with little qualifications, I needed to get a job. So, I started working in a call centre for an energy company, worked my way up through the ranks and eventually became a senior member of the team.

Over the next 10 years, I built up a semi successful career in customer service, but the truth was, I hated it! I just didn’t enjoy being complained to every day, it wore me down and made going to work more and more painful. To this day I have so much respect for people that work with the public, it’s a hard job.

I’d always been attracted to the role of an assistant, I loved how versatile the role was, the reach you had into different parts of the business, the challenges you face, putting on events, handling finances and most of all, supporting an exec to achieve their goals. I really wanted to do this job and knew I would be good at it, but just didn’t know where to start. So, I put together a plan on how this could be achieved and what I needed to make it work.

I realised that for me to get a job as an assistant I would need to utilise the skills I already had, which were customer service, team management and complaints handling. I started looking for roles where these skills were needed and could be used as my foot in the door. I eventually found a job working as a team PA and complaint handler for a well-known food distributor. They took a massive chance on me and I am eternally grateful because this was my stepping stone into a career that I have loved every day since.

Since that first assistant job and with a lot of hard work, late nights studying and finding training wherever possible, I have built up a great career. I have supported some of the most influential people in their professions, worked for two of the country’s most recognised charities, won an international award and travelled around the country (soon abroad) speaking to EA’s about development and achieving their goals.

My point is this – It hasn’t been an easy journey and there are a lot more obstacles that I have had to overcome to get where I am now but (and it’s a big but) if you really want something and you work hard enough, you can get it! You just have to be prepared to put the work in. Anything worthwhile is never easy, but the rewards are worth it in the end.