A personal assistant’s typical duties include:

• acting as a first point of contact for callers, dealing with emails and phone calls by responding, passing on messages or highlighting them for their manager’s attention
• managing diaries and organising meetings and appointments, often controlling access to the manager/executive
• booking and arranging travel, transport and accommodation
• organising events and conferences
• reminding the manager/executive of important tasks and deadlines
• typing, compiling and preparing reports, presentations and correspondence
• managing databases and filing systems
• implementing and maintaining procedures/administrative systems
• liaising with staff, suppliers and clients
• collating and filing expenses
• miscellaneous tasks to support their manager, which will vary according to the sector and to the manager’s remit, eg completing some corporate governance reporting (to ensure that the business is being run properly and complying with legislation and regulations) or conducting research.