Personal Assistant

PROFESSIONAL TIME SAVER. This is a unique opportunity for a highly organized, proactive, and flexible Personal Assistant to support a busy executive with his professional, personal, and travel schedules (usually all three intertwine extensively). The role offers a dynamic and fast-paced work environment with opportunity for growth, mentorship, and fun-while-working-hard. If you thrive in a varied role and are eager to make a meaningful impact on the life of a successful business leader by recovering his most valuable resource- TIME- then we want to hear from you!

Who- the Company:
Our client is a highly reputable and successful professional services firm with clients across North America. The company is known for its long-term, consultative, and strategic approach to business, with a significant focus on relationships. Although headquartered in Vancouver, the firm has offices in a few major cities across Canada and expanding into new markets.

What- the Role:
The firm has been growing year over year it was in 2020, and as the company gets busier, so does the Founder/Owner/Managing Partner. The time has come for the Partner to hire a dedicated Personal Assistant whose #1 mandate will be: Save Time for their Boss. The Personal Assistant will be empowered to achieve this overarching goal in a variety of ways and the role will evolve with time as the PA gets to know the cadence, challenges, and time constraints of the Partner’s work, personal, and travel schedules. Every day will be different in this role- on any given day the PA may be finding a new client to join the Partner at the hockey game that night due to a last minute cancelation, dealing with a residential landscaping company, changing a flight, driving the Partner to an important meeting while he finalizes a presentation, sourcing and buying a thoughtful gift for a client, or generally figuring out how to make the Partner’s extremely busy work schedule line up nicely with his personal family schedule.

The Partner has an excellent remote Executive Assistant who takes care of things like calendaring, emailing clients to book meetings, and making restaurant reservations, but due to time zone differences, the local new PA will also support these areas on occasion.  He also has staff on the household front, a travel agent, an accountant, and other service providers. The PA will be in charge of tying these strings together so that schedules and communication are streamlined.

What makes this opportunity special are: the firm’s incredible reputation in the market, the opportunity for year-over-year professional development and earning potential as a top-tier personal assistant, the tight-knit team of amazing people to work with and have fun with, and the value of benefiting from the mentorship and guidance of a kind, inspiring, and well-respected business leader. SWIM will provide interested candidates with a more thorough job description and list of responsibilities.

Who- the Candidate:
We are looking for a Personal Assistant who is highly flexible, organized, and reliable, with exceptional attention to detail. Ideal candidates for this role will be intuitive, proactive, and eager to solve problems with a sense of urgency and care. The new PA will thrive in a fast-paced ever-changing environment, will embrace variety, and will demonstrate a willingness to support across multiple areas of the Partner’s professional and personal life. With a self-motivated and entrepreneurial spirit, the PA will be passionate, curious, and love finding efficiencies and new ways to reclaim time for the executive so he can devote more hours to strategic business matters. We seek individuals who confidently take the initiative, and who can tackle a wide range of personal, administrative, financial, and operational tasks with dedication and resourcefulness.

Qualified candidates will have at least 3 years’ experience as a Personal Assistant or Executive Assistant. Post-secondary education in a related area such as business, commerce, or communications is preferred. Work experience in a very fast-paced hospitality or service role will be viewed favourably.

SWIM is seeking someone who is accountable, adaptable, and responsive, maintaining a high level of professionalism and confidentiality. Strong verbal and written communication skills are essential, allowing for effective interaction with internal and external stakeholders who are based around the world. We value problem-solvers with a positive, can-do attitude who thrive under pressure. The ideal candidate will be proficient with technology and time-saving tools. They should be resourceful and mostly independent but willing to seek clarification and direction as needed to ensure success.

Where:
The firm is headquartered in downtown Vancouver, but the Partner and his family live in Coquitlam. It is highly preferred that the Personal Assistant live either in Vancouver or Coquitlam area (Tri-Cities). Ideally the PA will also have access to their own working vehicle and will hold a clean, valid driver’s license (please note that any work travel aside from home-to-office commute will be reimbursed). The PA will occasionally join the Partner and/or his team on business trips in Canada and the US- the frequency and length of these work trips can be determined upon selection of a finalist, based on how much they enjoy doing work travel. Candidates must have a valid passport and ability to travel within North American.

How Much:
Base salary will be commensurate with personal assistance work experience and skills- currently the range is quite wide at $64,000 to $90,000, with room to grow over the years based on performance and goal achievement. Please discuss your total compensation expectations in more detail with SWIM. Additionally, the PA will receive health & dental benefits, paid vacation, and an annual team-building trip somewhere hot (like Mexico, Hawaii, Florida). Work travel costs and mileage will be covered.

When & How to Apply:
Swim Recruiting has been engaged as the exclusive recruitment partner on this important search and will be presenting the profiles of shortlisted candidates directly to the hiring Managing Partner for review. If you already have a Recruiter at SWIM, please reach out very soon. If you do not yet have a contact at Swim Recruiting, please hit 'APPLY NOW' to send us your resume (preferably in MS Word format as it works best with our internal systems). Given this role is so much about soft skills/personality match, custom cover letters are very welcome- but not necessary. Thank you!