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>It's been hard to hire an assistant! The problem you are having, I think, is that you are hiring someone who is not trained as an assistant, and expecting the
by lsc 16y ago
>It's been hard to hire an assistant!
The problem you are having, I think, is that you are hiring someone who is not trained as an assistant, and expecting them to become an assistant with little training.
This would be like hiring a smart guy right out of law school and then complaining that he didn't know bash or something. I mean, if you can make it through law school, I think you can pick up bash, but it is irrational to think the person will be good at it the first day, you know?
I mean, I'm not saying you made a poor choice of assistant; I've had luck with people of similar backgrounds; but if the person hasn't done the particular job you need done before, well, you are going to have to train that person; training takes time and effort.
I know you want someone who "gets things done" - the problem is, everyone wants a different level of control in different situations. I mean, personally, I like someone else to 'just deal with' the money side of things. If we're running out, lemme know and I'll go get some contract gigs. But first, most people are pretty uncomfortable spending other people's money, so reassurances need to be made. And next, even I have some strong opinions once it gets down to the wire; (I mean, until you run out, money doesn't matter... but at that point? it becomes a very big deal) I had one assistant who would pay debt before payroll. So it's like "yeah, I want you to 'just take care of it' but I also want you to do what I think is the right thing."
being an assistant is hard.
- stcredzero 16y agoI repeatedly gave instructions, like: If I don't specify it, I want you to come up with something that works. It will be my fault if I don't tell you. I want you to act with maximum initiative. I still got massive amounts of my time wasted by assistants not completing things and asking me "cover your ass" questions. I totally agree that it's a specialized skill set.
- lsc 16y ago>It will be my fault if I don't tell you. ... >asking me "cover your ass" questions. sounds like she didn't believe you.
- stcredzero 16y agoI know. It drives me crazy, because the only complaint I had was that she didn't get things done and act on her own initiative, and I tried for her to get the idea for a few weeks. I think some people are just socialized that way.
- deleted 16y ago[deleted]
- lsc 16y agoI think school is especially bad in this regard; you are expected to perform only tasks that you have been taught to perform. It's hard to make the adjustment to more goal-oriented work. I still think it's often worth working with someone like that and the effort of training them up because school teaches people to be good at things I'm not very good at. Like follow through. And following the rules.
- dagw 16y agoIt takes a long time to build up the sort mutual trust needed for something like that to work. Most people have some sort of experience with being told something like that, yet still getting into trouble when they made the "wrong" decision. There is a reason why many executives hang onto their personal assistants for decades, insisting they also get hired each time they change jobs job.