"The initial PA interviews are for weeding out applicants and getting a feel for a good fit for client and applicant," says Anthony Zelig, president of New York Celebrity Assistants. Zelig spent 5 1/2 years as personal assistant to Julia and David H. Koch, who is rated 37th on the Forbes.com billionaire list and is New York City's wealthiest citizen. "Those interviews are probably with a manager, agent or business manager. The client should know that the prospective personal assistant will be interviewed by the current personal assistant, a manager and, ultimately, the employer himself.''

A stringent check of an applicant's resume and references is a must, but it's the interview that can reveal whether or not a candidate uses discretion and can be trusted, Zelig says. An applicant who reveals too much about their last employer should be avoided, he says. "The client should be wary of the prospective personal assistant who is too specific'' or gossipy, he says.

Looking For A 'Service Heart'
Baker, who notes about 80% of personal and executive assistants are women, says a personal assistant should have a "service heart." He describes this as "somebody who wants to help genuinely, but not in a creepy kind of way.''

Claudia J. Allon, for example, says she acts motherly in her role as administrator and executive/personal assistant to prominent defense attorney Barry Slotnick. Robert Freedman, a retired Manhattan veterinarian who serves as part-time personal assistant for several New York clients, including Osborne of Turner Classic Movies, says clients should demand consistent service from their PA. "Consistency is primary, and so is knowing how to keep your mouth shut. And you have to be truly interested in and care about your client's needs,'' Freedman says.

Osborne says the ideal PA "is on time, sticks to it, doesn't need to be the center of attention, gets the work done and doesn't talk too much!''
Personal assistants say they must be flexible and able to turn on a dime, such as changing travel plans or obtaining a passport for a client at the last minute. It's all about having a can-do attitude, they say.

Noting that "the larger the wealth, the bigger the life," Zelig says a personal assistant serving a high-net-worth client may be involved in the management of multiple households and numerous social, political and charitable events. The demands are more intense but Zelig enjoys the challenge. "Never say no. You must think nothing is impossible,'' he says.

Allon, a mother of three and a former U.S. Marine, says a PA should have "a very strong sense of numbers." Much of a PA's duties involve juggling dollar figures, says Allon, who holds an MBA degree.

"You're shopping, buying things, balancing the Amex card. If there's a discrepancy, we're not talking a few dollars; we can be talking about thousands," she says. "You have to be extremely organized. You are following up on everything: insurances, flex plans, hedge funds, stocks, working with accountants, family members."

The ability to handle multiple tasks at once is a key quality in a personal assistant, experts say.

"Right now, besides my regular weekly bill paying clients, I am running around checking out office space for a psychologist who has to move from her current location, going through resumes and interviewing secretaries for another psychologist, photographing antique furniture that another client wants to sell on EBay and negotiating with the New York City Department of Education to get back some expenses for two women who paid out of pocket for services for their autistic children that should have been provided by the city,'' Freedman said in July.