Hello! Here we are again. I am in need of two brand new PAs/carers to assist me at home and at University. Back In July, after a year of being my PA, both Arianna and Penelope both handed in their resignations. I was sad about this as we all worked as a good team, but I understand that they wanted to pursue other paths in their life.
NOTE: All names have been replaced with character names from the TV Series Once Upon a Time.
The Recruitment of Ruby
Ruby has been my friend for a long time. The two of us have known each other for a few years now as she has often come around to help us out when my current PAs were unavailable or we were in the middle of the recruitment process for other PAs and we were in need of someone to help out in the meantime. We always got on well and any time we needed cover, she was always the one I would ask for, (if she was available).
Ruby and I have always kept in regular touch and enjoyed chatting about everything Harry Potter. She also studied at the University of Birmingham so she was nearby whenever we wanted to meet up in person. Even though she was bank staff, we still enjoyed going out together to coffee shops and more.
he had read some of the novel which I was working that and seemed enthused to assist me with the crucial edits and ideas leading up to the final submission date. In amongst this, we had downtime and breathing space and I was able to find out more about what she was getting up to lately.
Ruby had successfully completed three years at the University of Birmingham and had graduated, she was looking for employment in between this and her next job. Dad and I talked about proposing the opportunity to give her one of the vacancies and thought it was a good idea, so we did. It turned out that Ruby was thinking the same thing and the three of us discussed how we could make it possible. After an anxious wait, Ruby accepted the job and I got so excited to enjoy the fun, creatively brainstorming for my fiction stories or blogging in amongst the stress of studying.
Step Two
Now with Ruby onside, my Dad and I turned our attention to looking for a second PA who would join Ruby and me on the next adventure at University and elsewhere. Unfortunately, due to Covid-19, the number of people applying had taken a dive, leaving fewer potential applicants to be put forth for the role and we were worried that we would run out of time to recruit.
A Potential Applicant – Anastasia
Then the AskJules representative contacted us regarding an application from a person I will give the name of Anastasia. She described herself as an ambitious, proactive undergraduate who was about to go into her final year. Her previous experience includes customer service. From how she described this previous experience I was unsure how focused she would be in this area and how it would come into the job.
Anastasia’s skills of being reliable, problem solver with high communication and organisation and knowledge in Office 365 (Microsoft Windows) will all help me in my course, with her willingness to learn and attention to detail being useful in my creative writing. Together we could manage deadlines by using my creativity and self-motivation to complete key things leading up to the deadline while she would contribute her multi-tasking and time management skills to help me handle the high pressure of a deadline.
One of my concerns was Anastasia’s ability to juggle her studies with this job if she were to be successful, but she reassured me that the remainder of her course was online and she could be flexible. Learning all of this about Anastasia was good but still, I had no feel for her personality, hobbies or interests so didn’t feel like I could offer the position.
Another Successful Candidate – Jasmine
While on the hunt for a second PA, I had a number of different PAs covering shifts so Ruby wasn’t working full time. That’s when I met Jasmine. She came recommended by AskJules as she had worked with other clients before. As it was just a cover shift, I didn’t do much with Jasmine during the week but it allowed me to get to know her personally and I found she was a very bubbly character. She was very good at the care side of the role which is always a worry for me and she was helpful around the house. Though I was studying at the time she was covering a shift, and I didn’t have a chance to go out with her, I got to know what she likes and dislikes. I felt these aligned with mine. We decided to offer her the role and she is now working alongside myself and Ruby.
Being close to Christmas, I hope to arrange a day that Ruby, Jasmine and myself can get together and meet each other as a whole team.
The Life of Sophie 