NEWS
BR IEFING
Keep up-to-date with the latest news surrounding the role of the PA
Amazon
founder thanks
his EA on
Administrative
Professionals
Day
40,000 applications for the
PA ‘job of a lifetime’
Over 40,000 people have applied for
the PA ‘job of a lifetime’, after 26-year-
old self made millionaire Matthew
Lepre posted a now viral job listing
earlier this year.
The listing reads like the script of
an episode of ‘The Bachelor’. Lepre
offers a $52,000 salary to help manage
his ventures while living a luxurious
lifestyle, with frequent trips around
the world and complimentary nights
at five star hotels. Originally from
Sydney, the entrepreneur dropped
out of university and started an
e-commerce business, now earning
him a tidy $120,000 per month.
Despite the reasonably low salary,
Lepre’s ‘work hard, play harder’
philosophy has clearly appealed to
people looking to escape the daily
grind, with a significant chunk of
applicants being millenials.
However, the job isn’t all glitz and
glam, it requires a strong work ethic,
social media expertise and much more.
But planned trips to Croatia, Miami,
Spain and Greece make the position
hotly contested. S
JK Rowling’s ex-personal assistant
to pay back thousands in fraud case
JK Rowling’s former personal assistant
has been ordered to pay back nearly
GBP 19,000 after using the author’s
credit card without permission.
Amanda Donaldson, 35, worked as
a PA for the author of the Harry Potter
franchise from February 2014 up until
her dismissal over the incident in April
2017. Donaldson spent over GBP 9,000
at retailers and coffee shops without
authorisation from Rowling, and was
also accused of purchasing over GBP
7,000 worth of foreign currency and
withdrawing nearly GBP 2,000 in cash.
12 Chief of Staff | Issue 2 2019
The author pursued damages in a
civil case at Airdrie Sheriff Court, and
Donaldson has been ordered by Sheriff
Derek O’Carroll to pay back the money.
A statement released on behalf of
Rowling said that, “the decision to take
this matter to court was a last resort
and not for her personal benefit, but
rather to protect the reputation of her
existing staff, and to make sure Ms
Donaldson is not in a position to breach
the trust of another employer.”
Rowling will donate the reclaimed
money to her charity, Lumos. S
Jeff Bezos, the world’s richest
person and Amazon founder, has
taken to social media to publicly
thank his EA.
“John Connors has been
my executive assistant for the
last 19 years,” Jeff’s instagram
post read. “He thinks ahead,
sweats the details, and
makes things fun. On this
#administrativeprofessionalsday,
I want to say thank you. You’re a
big reason I’m able to be so busy
and not go nuts—in fact, you
somehow even make it calm!
Thank you, John!”
The post has gathered over
100,000 likes since it was posted
on 25 April. Administrative
Professionals Day in Australia is
on Friday 3 May. S