"Are They Hiring A Nanny Or A Wife?" – M'sians Chuckle At PA To CEO Job Posting
The job description said the applicant must ensure the CEO meets his daily dietary requirements and sleeps at the right time.
By May Vin Ang — 21 Sep 2022, 06:18 PM
An online job advertisement for a personal assistant (PA) role has left netizens bewildered by its extraordinary job description, with many wondering if the company is looking for a nanny instead
The job posting came to light after the founder of employability initiative One Step Closer, Sharifah Hani Yasmin, shared a screenshot of it on Twitter on Tuesday, 20 September.
"Is this an ad for a personal assistant or for a nanny? Make it make sense please," she tweeted.
The screenshot she shared showed a "personal assistant to chief executive officer (CEO)" role at a digital asset exchange operating company based in Malaysia.
The job description reads that the PA reports directly to the CEO, serves as his primary point of contact, and must be able to handle a wide variety of matters with the utmost discretion
Besides the conventional tasks expected from a PA such as making appointments, coordinating the CEO's schedule, and other administrative tasks, the job description said the applicant must also be able to "complete a wide range of the CEO's personal tasks every day".
The applicant will have to tick off a daily checklist, which includes:
- Arrange three meals with specific dietary requirements daily
- Arrange daily exercise
- Make sure vitamins and supplements are taken daily
- Make sure fruits and nuts are taken daily
- Remind the CEO to do pending tasks and oversee them until completion
- Organise the CEO's personal belongings and be ready to travel at a moment's notice
- Ensure the CEO sleeps before a certain time
- Ensure the CEO completes other daily tasks as needed (such as meditation)
- Arrange laundry to be done once every two weeks
Other requirements include that the applicant must be able to "travel all of the time with the CEO, as frequently as one new country or city each month, and have no permanent place of residence"
"Due to frequent nomad-like travelling, it is preferred for this candidate to have no family or personal commitments," stated the job posting.
Besides that, it also said the applicant should be able to handle other ad hoc and "maid-like" tasks as needed, and have at least two years of experience as a PA.
The job posting did not state the role's compensation but said a "competitive salary can be paid in any currency or cryptocurrency of your choosing".
The tweet went viral with many Korean drama fans fantasising that the job sounds like a premise to a K-drama called What's Wrong With Secretary Kim, starring Park Seo-joon and Park Min-young
The fans were not deterred by the elaborate job description, as in the drama, a romance blossoms between a company's handsome CEO and his very dependable secretary.
'What's Wrong With Secretary Kim' stars South Korean actor Park Seo-joon and actress Park Min-young.
Image via The Awesome One
Sharifah told SAYS she was surprised almost 50 candidates have applied for the position so far, and had advised her followers against doing the same
"No idea about the compensation but let's not encourage worker exploitation. No money is worth it," the founder of the employee empowerment initiative opined.
Having frequently advised others to know their rights when applying for jobs, she also told SAYS to advise interested candidates to really reflect on what the job entails before applying.
She said, "I'd like applicants to think long and hard about whether any job description that requires them to be on-call almost 24/7 and do menial tasks under the guise of 'Personal Assistant' is best suited to them."
