Want to Work for a Billionaire? It’s Not as Hard as You Think

Not a day goes by that I don’t get an email from someone asking if I have any jobs working for a billionaire as a personal assistant. And, I get it, because I’m the one who promotes the jet-set lifestyle and people want a little taste of the high life.

You don’t need a recruiter to work for a billionaire

I challenge you right now to scour the internet and see if you find any job ads that say “Billionaire looking for a PA.” I’m quite sure you won’t find a single position open in any city worldwide. The truth is that those positions exist in the hidden job market. Bottom line: Billionaires don’t normally go to headhunters looking for executive assistants, so you should go to them.

The secret to jobs working for a billionaire

As a recruiter for high-net-worth individuals, I’ve always been very surprised how reluctant some of the super-rich are to pay a “finder’s fee” for getting them competent and dedicated staff. Sure, it is expensive; but time is money.

A headhunter is going to charge about one-third of the total compensation package, so a position that pays $150,000 a year is going to have a hefty price tag from the agency that made the placement. Simply put, thrifty billionaires don’t want to pay it, so just send them your resume yourself. Do you think I’m kidding?

Let’s run some numbers. According to Forbes, here are more than 2,000 billionaires in the world, and about 600 live in the United States. Less than 100 live in New York City, and much less in Los Angeles. So that means the ultra-high net worth are tucked away in every corner of the USA — in cities big and small.

It would take a lifetime to mail your resume to all 600 in America, so simply start with the ones in your state. If you Google the phrase “billionaires in the state of X,” you can get the list near you in two seconds flat.

How to score the traveling PA to a billionaire job

The real trick to getting a celebrity, billionaire or prince to hire you is to convince them that you are right for the job; so you shouldn’t send out the same generic resume to everyone.

For example, I once had a consulting client of mine who was a nurse, and he wanted to work for a billionaire in his area. So we formed a targeted list of “elderly billionaires” (I’m not kidding).

Long story made short, he sent out a customized resume to each of the targets on the list and highlighted the skills he had to fit their industry, which is what you should be doing when you apply for jobs anyway to increase your chances of getting noticed by hiring managers.

After about three months of work, he was offered a hybrid position of a nurse/personal assistant and he doubled his salary. He resigned from the hospital he was working at and was jet-setting all over the world with his new “elderly” billionaire boss.

The opportunities to work for the super-rich are endless

According to CNBC, there are about 50,000 U.S. households with net worth between 50 and 500 million dollars. Additionally, there are about 10 million millionaires in America. In short, there are literally millions of opportunities out there to work for the wealthy, and you could start reaping the benefits of world-class job perks if you are willing to put in the elbow grease and do some research about the high net worth in your area.