Becoming an assistant for a celebrity is no easy task, but it’s a dream that can come true with some planning and hard work.
First, you’ll want to find out what kind of personality your celebrity idol has. Is he or she more likely to be on time and be prepared? Or does the celebrity have a more relaxed approach to life and expect his or her staff to adapt? If it’s the latter, you might want to start dressing for success in order to impress him or her early on.
Next, make sure you’re ready for all kinds of situations. This includes everything from dealing with paparazzi at an event to helping your boss handle a crisis situation (like an unexpected pregnancy). You should also be able to problem solve effectively if something goes wrong during an event or if there are issues with scheduling conflicts.
Finally, be prepared for long hours—sometimes even working into the night when they’re filming or recording their next album. And keep in mind that celebrities often have different schedules than normal people do—they might wake up early in order to work out before going into work or stay up late because they have late-night meetings scheduled with their manager about upcoming projects.
How To Become An Assistant For A Celebrity
The job of celebrity assistant can be a fulfilling career path, with the opportunity to meet many influential people. Becoming a celebrity assistant is a process that requires time, preparation and industry knowledge. If you’re considering working as a celebrity assistant, it may be helpful to understand what the position requires and the steps you can take to secure employment in this field. In this article, we define celebrity assistants, discuss what they do and provide a list of steps on how to become one.
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What is a celebrity assistant?
A celebrity assistant, also called a personal assistant or an executive personal assistant, is a person who assists a celebrity in all aspects of their daily life. Celebrity assistants must manage their client’s schedules in addition to coordinating aspects of their professional life. Celebrity assistants may also form personal relationships with their clients and are often the first person their client calls on for a wide variety of needs.
What does a celebrity assistant do?
Celebrity assistants have many responsibilities, including:
- Being constantly available: Celebrity assistants are often on-call, meaning continuously available to their clients. They must be ready to assist their client whenever they’re needed.
- Making and keeping a daily schedule: As a celebrity assistant, you will usually prepare your client’s daily schedules and inform them of their day’s activities. This aspect of the position may involve changing plans suddenly and rescheduling with little notice, so organization and problem-solving skills are important to have as a celebrity assistant.
- Performing or coordinating personal tasks: Celebrity assistants often help their clients complete daily life tasks such as dropping off or picking up laundry, shopping for household items, purchasing clothes or food, organizing pet care and paying bills.
- Listening and advising: A celebrity assistant can be more than an employee, sometimes acting as a friend to their client. They may need to talk to their clients about issues they face, and their clients may ask them for their opinions or advice.
- Managing social media: Some celebrities prefer to manage their own social media content, while others may ask their assistant to make posts, read comments and respond to comments for them.
- Liaising with other professionals: Celebrity assistants often need to make and manage appointments for their clients with other industry professionals such as stylists, managers and other celebrities or their assistants.
- Making travel arrangements: In addition to accompanying their client when they travel, celebrity assistants often also do things like booking tickets, coordinating travel schedules, arranging baggage transport and booking hotels.
- Planning events: A celebrity assistant may plan events like house parties, vacations and press appearances. Their tasks may involve choosing and booking venues, preparing invitations and coordinating with other professionals like caterers, photographers and entertainers.
- Handling communications: Celebrity assistants often represent their clients to others, like the media, and are responsible for upholding the celebrity’s reputation and brand. They may need to respond to emails, voicemails, text messages, letters or other communications.
- Controlling access to their client: A celebrity assistant may need to control who can access the celebrity and when. Controlling access can include paparazzi and fans at events, other professionals and celebrities or friends and family.
How to become a celebrity assistant
The following are steps you can follow to help you become a celebrity assistant:
1. Make a plan
Becoming a celebrity assistant requires a long-term strategy. Your clients may have high expectations and hectic lives, so it is a good idea to think ahead of time about how you can build the best portfolio to meet their needs. This position is often not suitable for someone’s first job, and by making a strategy, you can increase your chances of eventually becoming a celebrity assistant.
In order to make a plan for becoming a celebrity assistant, consider your long-term career goals and the types of celebrities for which you’d like to work. Then, consider researching how successful celebrity assistants developed their careers and create a plan around their actions and your objectives.
Related: How To Write an Action Plan To Achieve Your Goals
2. Develop your skills
Celebrity assistants can have a very fast-paced job with a wide variety of responsibilities. The many demands of the job often require excellent organizational skills. Developing these skills is an important part of preparing yourself for the position. You can practice these skills at school or work by keeping well-organized schedules, calendars and files. Other skills that would be good to develop before becoming a celebrity assistant include event planning, communications and maintaining interpersonal relationships.
Read more: Interpersonal Skills: Definitions and Examples
3. Consider an education
Becoming a celebrity assistant does not require a college degree, but one might be helpful. If you choose to get a degree, those in subjects like business or communications may help you develop some of the necessary skills for the job. You may also choose to take classes related to the types of celebrities you would like to work with, such as music, screenwriting or acting, to help you better understand the industry.
Related: 25 Business Degrees To Consider Pursuing
4. Get relevant work experience
Before becoming a celebrity assistant, you will probably need to have other work experience. You can work in areas like sales, public relations, customer service, communications and hospitality. For example, you could be a hotel manager, nanny or secretary.
These jobs usually provide hands-on experience and help you develop many of the necessary skills to be a celebrity assistant. You might have to start in more general roles and seek to move toward higher-level work as you build your resume. Working at these jobs is also an excellent time to get to know people and making connections.
Related: 10 Hospitality Careers To Consider
5. Prepare your personal life
You probably won’t be able to make and keep regular plans with family and friends while working as a celebrity assistant. This is because you usually accompany your client when they work and travel and must be available to them at a moment’s notice. Consider letting the people close to you know what to expect from your new job. You might also need to move, for example, to New York City or Los Angeles, depending on how many celebrities are local to your area.
6. Get a job as a personal assistant
When you are ready, you may seek employment as a personal assistant (PA). You do not necessarily have to work for someone in the entertainment industry. Instead, it may be a good idea to look for any way to get relevant work experience. Your first PA job is also a chance to prove your skills and earn positive recommendations from clients. You can find PA positions through online career sites, classified ads and through your personal and professional network.
After working as a PA, you may begin seeking employment as a celebrity assistant. Many celebrity assistants get their jobs through recommendations and references. Consider talking to the people you know and trying to get introductions or excellent references. You can also apply through a staffing agency if you can’t find a job using your connections and network.