BH Associates™ Case Study
Earning Our Client’s Trust to Replace an Executive Personal Assistant Within One Week
Challenge
In 2022, our client, a commercial real estate, private equity investment firm in New York City, needed help replacing the executive personal assistant to the chief executive officer (CEO) that Beacon Hill Associates had placed in 2018. The original executive personal assistant had been so successful that the CEO and their family were skeptical that finding someone of equal talent would be like finding a needle in a haystack. Experience in professional and personal assistance was vital, as was understanding how to support a high-net-worth individual and family.
Beyond that, given the long hours and time spent together, the new executive personal assistant needed to fit in with the CEO’s and their family’s personalities.
Most critically, the CEO had one week to onboard a new executive personal assistant before the former left. Placing a new executive personal assistant outside of that week would have resulted in a loss in knowledge transfer.
Since Beacon Hill had filled the initial position so successfully, as well as the temporary backfills for the role during the original executive personal assistant’s parental leave and other vacation time, our client entrusted us to find the right replacement quickly.
Solution
Understanding the urgency of this need and the big shoes we needed to fill, Beacon Hill immediately identified two top-notch candidates for our candidate to interview within twenty-four hours. One of the candidates was being interviewed by another company, and we provided absolute transparency across all three parties.
Achievements
Our client interviewed the first option and, understanding their own situation and the competitiveness of the field, immediately moved forward with a hard-hitting offer of $175,000 a year, thereby securing an accepted offer. This speaks volumes about the trust we build with our clients and the range of candidates we have available, including high-caliber, niche candidates. Further, our success in supporting this need resulted in our client returning to us to support the temporary backfill needs for this position.
