Published: 2nd December 2021.
Written by Jodie Magrath
A career as a Personal Assistant can be exciting and rewarding. You’ll work alongside managers and other professional people to provide administrative and general support. Whether you’re attending meetings, answering phone calls or dealing with correspondence, working as a Personal Assistant is varied and fast-paced. You might organise appointments, make travel arrangements or maintain files and databases. Personal Assistants often take notes and minutes, conduct necessary research and prepare presentation material.
Working as a Personal Assistant requires excellent multi-tasking skills. You’ll often be handling several tasks at one time so you’ll need to be highly organised and know how to prioritise your duties. Personal Assistants should have good interpersonal skills and be able to follow instructions closely. It’s important that you can communicate well and liaise with people from a range of backgrounds. You’ll need to be capable of a range of administrative tasks and be able to work in a team environment.
If a career as a Personal Assistant interests you, the following courses can help you get started:
Certificate IV in Business
A Certificate IV in Business is a great way to prepare for a range of personal assistant duties. This course covers a range of topics relevant to today’s business world and also focuses on the use of digital technologies in the workplace. The Certificate IV in Business also allows you to tailor your studies to your job role or industry with specialisations in administration, operations, sustainability, big data, cyber security, finance, records and information management, procurement and leadership.
Certificate IV in Business (Operations)
A Certificate IV in Business (Operations) will give you the skills to succeed in a business environment with a focus on business operations. If you’re planning to work as a personal assistant in this area, this course could be a great course for you. You’ll cover a range of topics including business planning, recruitment and onboarding, marketing and sales, customer service, risk management and governance, policy development, supplier negotiation, social media and organisational websites.
Certificate IV in Business (Records and Information Management)
A Certificate IV in Business (Records and Information Management) is an ideal choice if your personal assistant role involves working with records systems. This course will give you the skills to set up and maintain information management systems and work with data management networks. You’ll cover topics relevant to this field including digital technologies, business writing, workplace information systems and communication strategies.
Getting started
If you’re planning to study to become a Personal Assistant, it’s important you collect information from a range of course providers before you enrol. Providers usually vary in how they deliver their courses so you’ll need to find out about course duration, costs, any prerequisites and the content the course will cover. Once you have all the details you can compare courses and find the provider that bests meets your needs.