1. For Immediate Release:
Recession‐proof PA roles get the star treatment
Office Angels announces 14th annual ‘Britain’s Next Top PA’ Award to celebrate excellence
September 2011 ‐ Increasingly recognised as a career of choice and boosted by new ‘celebrity’
status, the position of the PA is now a highly sought after and competitive career choice among
today’s young professionals, according to leading office and secretarial recruitment agency Office
Angels.
Over the last year, Office Angels, which is launching the 14th annual ‘Britain’s Next Top PA’ Award
today/this week, has seen a surge in applications for PA roles, particularly among graduates with on
average nearly 70 candidates applying for each available role. Competitive salaries and varied
responsibilities, coupled with the ‘celebrity status’ afforded to the role by the likes of this year’s
Apprentice runner up, Executive Assistant Helen Milligan, have all helped to increase the status and
the desirability of this role. The PA is now one of the highest paid roles in administration and non‐
professional services, with an average salary of £29,338* and annual salary growth of 4.5%*, against
an average of 0.2%.*
PA roles have also fared well during the recession, with PAs typically taking on further
responsibilities as many employers have been forced to reduce staff headcount. As well as managing
the smooth running of their bosses’ diaries and travel arrangements, today’s PAs are increasingly
getting involved in elements of HR as well as marketing, often responsible for training staff,
managing websites, creating marketing collateral and even preparing reports and presentations.
The Office Angels ‘Britain’s Next Top PA’ Award aims to recognise and reward the excellence of
these crucial team members. The competition, which is open to any PA, secretary or administrative
worker in the UK and Ireland, looks for excellence in a variety of areas including organisation, people
skills and diary management.
Administrative professionals can enter themselves in the competition or can be nominated by their
bosses. Six finalists will be invited to London for an assessment day on 2nd November, with the
winner receiving an exciting prize, including two flights and accommodation in Rotterdam, courtesy
of travel partner CityJet. Nominations can be made at www.office‐angels.com and the deadline for
applications is 12th October 2011.
Last year’s winner Belen Lopez, team secretary at Jones Lang LaSalle for over seven years, has seen
the benefits of getting this prestigious title added to her CV: “Winning last year’s Britain’s Next Top
PA has enhanced the dynamics and role of my job. I have become more involved in wider company
projects and it has heightened my profile within the company across the board, even with
international directors. Winning has definitely boosted my confidence and it looks fantastic on my
CV. It has also led to me to mentoring other secretaries, so I am helping to raise the standard of
other administrative professionals within the company as a whole and showing them what they too
can achieve”.
David Clubb, managing director of Office Angels, said: “This prestigious award is an excellent
addition to any administrative professional’s CV. Most senior executives highly value their PAs and
admit that they are instrumental to the smooth running of their own position. We are constantly
placing high‐flying PAs in increasingly varied and exciting roles and we have seen a noted increase in
applications from young graduates over the last year. The skill set required of successful applicants is
*Based on the Office Angels Salary Watch and data taken from mysalarychecker.com ‐ August 2011

2. constantly evolving and we are proud to be able to reward the excellence of those people who
underpin the smooth functioning of both small and large companies.”
Partners for this year’s Britain’s Next Top PA Award include: CityJet, De Vere Group and Speck.
Ends
For more information, please contact Rebecca Taylor or Lindsey Hemming at
officeangels@octopuscomms.net or 08453 700 655
About Office Angels
Since 1986, Office Angels has prided itself on being the market leading office and secretarial
recruitment agency, with career opportunities at all levels of experience in a wide range of industry
sectors across the UK and Ireland.
Consultants provide a service that goes beyond traditional recruitment practices, ensuring that your
staff have not only the right skills but also the right character fit.
The Office Angels Training Solutions (OATS) consists of over 60 on‐line courses, and includes MS
Office packages, accountancy packages, languages, customer service, IT and psychometric testing.
Other soft skills include general business packages, which focus on areas such as email etiquette,
team leadership, and stress management.
Office Angels is part of the Adecco Group UK & Ireland
*Based on the Office Angels Salary Watch and data taken from mysalarychecker.com ‐ August 2011