HILARY BINKS is PA to James Scott-Lee, the managing director of Chancellors estate agents. She lives ten miles from Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, where the company has its headquarters. “It takes me 25 minutes to commute door to door,” she says, “a drive through lovely countryside.”
Binks, 52, appreciates it because she worked in London for five years: “But now I have the best of both worlds. I don’t have the pressures of city life or the noise or the dirt, but I do have a job that is at city level.”
It is not hard to see what she means. She looks after Scott-Lee’s diary and travel, manages six electronic diaries for senior managers, including her boss’s, and helps to look after the 53 branches spread across southern England and Wales.
She also selects letters from happy clients, which are put up in the boardroom. Sorry, happy clients? But aren’t they estate agents? Spinks laughs: “I know that we are meant to be the people that everyone hates, but we get regular letters congratulating our staff on their service. We are members of professional bodies such as the National Approved Letting Scheme.” She adds: “I would not go back to the city for anything.”
Naomi Stevens, 23, would also hate to work in a city. She is PA to Ben Haynes, commercial manager at Wiltshire Farm Foods, a national, private home-meals delivery service based in Trowbridge. It delivers 250,000 meals a week, primarily to over-75s in their own homes.
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Stevens did not know what she wanted to do when she left Southampton Institute with a degree in media and cultural studies. But she was happy to return to Trowbridge: “I was born here and my friends are here. After university I took a break and taught horse riding. But I really enjoy this job. Ben is out of the office a lot, so I take his calls and messages, arrange his travel and meetings and look after his diary. I like being in Trowbridge. I am not a city person and I like being outside. ”
Kirsty Tooke is another graduate who has become a PA, working at Go-Teaching in Exeter. She can cycle to work along the river, and in the other direction is just five minutes from open countryside. “I am from Okehampton. I went to John Moores University in Liverpool but couldn’t wait to get back to Devon. It is an incredible place to live.
“Go-Teaching was new and I started in the call centre, organising supply teachers. Now I am PA to the chief executive, Anita Mitchell, and Graham Nicholls, head of operations. I like working in Exeter for the big open spaces and also the safety issues. I can walk around here at night by myself and not be worried.
“Go-Teaching will be national with plenty of opportunities for me.”