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[quote=Anonymous]First of all, I agree with the PP who said your job requirements go beyond "assistant."  If you are actually expecting her to write blog posts and manage social media, that's a communications role.  You can certainly find someone who can do all of these things, but you're going to have to pay for it. And probably give them a better title than "assistant."

Second of all, you have to understand the economics.  Even assuming we're only talking about true admin work (organizing meetings, calls, filing, letters, etc) it takes a lot of personal character to do a good job:  diligence, conscientiousness, intelligence, good communications skills, detail-oriented, good presentation and social skills to deal with coworkers and the public (since an admin can be the public face of the boss).  Anyone with all of these skills is a true find -- and as such, has a LOT of value in the market place.  In most organizations, I believe a good assistant is probably more crucial and has more market value than the professional staff, who may have more training and knowledge, but are ultimately more fungible.

Thus, how do you find and RETAIN an employee who is essential and has a lot of market value?  You have a few choices:

1) Pay really really well, and give great benefits and working conditions.

2) Exploit a market imperfection that reduces the excellent assistant's ability to find other positions.  In the past, this was easy:  you could hire women, who because of sexism could not find jobs elsewhere.  Think about it -- you had a whole 50% of the population to draw on, who were blocked from finding any other kind of job.  There would be some excellent candidates in that 50% and once you hired them you could essentially old them hostage, because where else are they going to go?  Today, the equivalent is probably hiring a really sharp and motivate minority who has not gone to college (couldn't afford it, or maybe for cultural reasons).  Or perhaps an illegal immigrant.  You can also try hiring a recent college grad who doesn't have that much earning potential elsewhere - but as others have noted, this can have a lot of pitfalls because they don't see themselves as limited in the marketplace and will resent admin work.  And they'll leave to go to law school in two years anyway.
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