Whenever we’re hunting for jobs, the first impression that we get from any recruiting company definitely comes from their listing first.
What is the salary range? What is the job scope? What are the requirements?
Now imagine you were looking at a recruitment listing for Personal Assistant to the CEO of the cryptocurrency company Coinfloww Exchange, and you see this:
Pardon, but are you hiring a maid or looking for a wife?
When “Personal” Gets Too Personal
Whoever wrote the recruitment notice must seriously doubt their CEO’s ability to complete his most basic needs, because apparently everything about his life needs to be managed.
Laundry and packing his travel luggage sounds normal enough; sometimes your boss might need an extra suit, or there is an emergency business trip to attend.
This happens in novels frequently, and it is probably true to life to some extent.
But having to ensure that he has three meals a day with specific dietary requirements, eating his vitamins, supplements, fruits and nuts, to making sure he sleeps on time…
It’s starting to sound like you are caring for a toddler instead.
The only thing missing is “ensure the CEO takes a shower every day”, but who knows what “completing other daily tasks as needed” even encompasses anymore?
Maybe someday the PA will be invited the CEO’s house to clean their toilet and mop their floors too.
The most troubling of the description is the fact that the PA needs to remind the CEO to do pending tasks and oversee them completed.
At this point, the CEO’s only responsibility might as well be picking up the pen and signing the line that the PA points at.
Better yet, maybe the PA has to be like Trump’s aides, whereby they need to make picture presentations to hold their boss’ attention for extended periods of time.
Seriously, just ask the CEO to get a Google calendar for his daily agenda, the reminder system is far more superior than a human alarm.
But There’s More
Putting aside how demeaning the tasks are to both the CEO and future PA, there are still the usual job scope that the PA has to attend to.
Everything appears to be normal until the fourth point which states, “Make sure the CEO’s meetings are timely booked, and then properly reminded up to 3 times, accordingly to SOP”.
Question: Is the “three times” for the CEO, or the other party?
Regardless of who the reminders are for, the recruiter must be worried about the state of their memory, such that it is beyond them to remember something even after it was repeated to them two times.
Even restaurant reservations only remind the customers once.
Also, what is their Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) like, do they have an entire manual just for dealing with the CEO alone?
The most terrifying part about the job listing would go to the requirements though.
Ah, it appears that the writer is aware that the PA is effectively doubling as a maid.
Except it’s worse than being a maid, because you need to be at the CEO’s beck and call at all times.
If that was not enough, it is preferred if the candidate has “no family or personal commitments”—aka no life outside of work—because being that CEO’s PA is that time-consuming, apparently.
When the candidate signs the contract, they are practically signing away all their time and life.
The salary better be worth it.
And while visiting a new country or city once every month sounds like an exciting prospect, it is at the expense of never having a fixed address.
It can also get tiring if you are constantly travelling.
Conclusions
Like many netizens have said, maybe the company should try hiring a nanny for the CEO instead.
A nanny will guarantee that the CEO will eat, sleep, exercise, and complete all their work on time. They are masters at wrangling people.
Either that, or find a domestic worker agency to hire a maid. They would find it easier to accept the latter half of the job description.
Let the administrative professionals do what they are supposed to do, rather than dogpiling menial tasks on their workload simply for the sake of saving on some money.
Moreover, if the PA has to be around the CEO almost 24/7, it is in breach of the maximum working hours and overtime stipulated by the Ministry of Manpower.
Work-life balance is incredibly important.
Surprisingly enough, 160 people actually applied for this job, despite the description.
Best of luck to the future PA.
You can watch this video to know what your boss can’t do to you in Singapore, and trust me, you’d be surprised at how many laws your boss might have broken today:
Featured Image: LinkedIn