The rewarding profession of Assistants

Abbiamo intervistato Shirwyn Weber, primo PA uomo dell’anno del Sudafrica che considera il suo lavoro molto gratificante. Leggete il suo punto di vista!

Shirwyn Weber è stato eletto pochi mesi fa Personal Assistant dell’anno del Sudafrica. Oltre al prestigioso titolo, assegnato da PAFSA e CareerSuccess Magazine, è anche onorato di essere il primo assistente uomo del suo paese ad avere ricevuto tale merito.

Noi lo abbiamo conosciuto lo scorso anno al WAS di Francoforte e siamo felici di potervelo presentare con questa intervista 👇🏽

You’re the first South African male PA of the Year, a great achievement. Tell us how you feel about it.

The day the decision came out was the most amazing day of my professional career, being the first male to receive the award made the award even better. I have been working in this profession for the past 14 years and all along I knew it was a female dominated profession. It had validated all the time and hard work I spent building up my career as an assistant. It is also really good to see other males starting to come to the fore in our beloved profession, I see the nominations in the international space and seeing other males being recognized makes me smile.

Any suggestion/advice for other men who would like to start a career as assistant?

My advice for other men wanting to start a career as an assistant would be to go for it, embrace it and give it your all, it is a very rewarding profession and can definitely take you places. Do not think about it in terms of a female dominated profession but a profession for all.

According to you what are the main satisfactions this profession can give?

Apart from knowing that you are just as accountable as any other person within your organisation for the success, you are in the heart of decision making, you have the voice and place at the table to make this role what you want it to be.
I know of assistants that have gone on to be a part of the executive structures based on their knowledge and dedication to the business. It can set you up with skills that you would not necessarily gain working in other departments. For me, it makes me feel valued, it gives me an amazing sense of belonging.

In your opinion, which skills are required for assistants in the future?

The future role of the assistant as I have said before is not the role of old, yes, you still have all the admin duties to complete, but in order to be there at the end you should embrace change, embrace technology and never stop learning, project management, finance and human resources are areas of the business that will never cease to have some sort of human interaction, gain knowledge around these areas and make yourself indispensable, not irreplaceable, because no one is irreplaceable.