Beyond the Red Carpet: Keys to becoming a successful personal assistant

by Dionne M. Muhammad

Book Overview

Often seen as the "supporting-cast" in the lives of high profile celebrities and businessmen; Personal Assistants do more than run mere errands these days. These machines of modern business are a hybrid of secretary, project manager and confidante to their employer. PA's are demanding more responsibility, autonomy and recognition. And they're getting it. Beyond the Red Carpet provides those seeking information on how to get into this field with the...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1418466727
• ISBN13: 9781418466725
• Release Date: September 2004
• Publisher: Authorhouse
• Length: 132 Pages
• Weight: 0.46 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 6.4" x 8.9"

Customer Reviews

Bible for Personal Assistants, Executive Assistants, Customer Service

I am a personal assistant and I read this book in an afternoon. I found myself highlighting every word!! It is a must read for those experienced and unexperienced assistants in the field. This book is a keeper in my library of "tools in life." This is a book that you will refer back to time and time again - trust me! When you think that you are on top of your game, a book like this one crosses your path. PURCHASE IT - you will not regret it; it's NOT just another "how to" book!

More than a good book.

I would recommend this book if you are serious about becoming a personal assistant, or wanting new ideas of skill building. It's very resourceful and a book you'd always look back to.

Great Resource Bood

Every thing I read is great input for becoming a personal assistant. The book even provides websites for you to research

Stellar Advice for a Celebrity Personal Assistant Job Seeker

I first heard about a job as a Celebrity Personal Assistant from some overdramatized, hyped show promising all sorts of glam and goodies. When I went to begin a more serious inquiry into it as a real career I found a lot of equally useless websites and guides that just glossed over the "perks" and didn't detail any real practical advice on this topic. Until I found Beyond the Red Carpet. This is a comprehensive book that offers a complete view of the vital role that Personal Assistants play in the world of celebrities and high profile successful people. It offers a clear list of the skills, temperments and abilities required for this job as well as sound,concrete steps that you can take to be successful in this career. At about 25 bucks you get a wealth of knowledge, know-how and insight. It covers the pitfalls, expectations and some of the frustatrations one might face as well as the upside - well balanced, clearly written and practical it's obvious that the writer knew her topic throughly - living it not just reporting or glamourizing it. Despite an incredibly tight budget, I invested the extra monies to take the actual workshop at their Atlanta headquarters and found their help invaluable. This is a professional text written by a talented, focused and knowledgeable woman and is a link to a much broader network of experience and expertise. I was frustrated and lost before attending and through the staff's help, the information from this text and meeting other dynamic individuals pursuing this challenging, but exciting career; I found the inspiration to make a new, more focused start. After getting home I rewrote my resume using their suggestions and was told that my it stood out amid over 400 who had applied for an Executive Assistant/Personal Assistant job to a local CEO. The comment by the HR person was - Yours was the first resume that made me stop what I was doing and pick up the phone to call you. I've accepted the position and am happily pursuing it as the next step to building the kind of experience that will land me a Celebrity position. Don't be fooled by the sales pitch flashy books out there. If you're serious about this as a career - get this book and look into their workshop. I found the author and her entire staff to be bright, energetic and talented business professionals with the experience and connections to make great things happen. RHExecAssistant at AOL

Excellent Career Tool

"Beyond the Red Carpet" gives you a behind the scenes look at what a personal assistant is and how much hard work this position can be. This book highlights different qualities that a personal assistant should possess and how to improve these qualities. There are also case studies which include real life situations and how the personal assistant was able to handle the situation. If you are thinking of making a career change into personal assisting, this is a great tool for you to judge weather or not this is the career for you.