In 2022, this incredibly dystopian, albeit high-paying, nanny job to care for a Stanford student made the rounds on social media.
I wish I could say my jaw hit my apartment’s hardwood floors when almost two years ago I found myself eyeing through this now-expired completely bonkers personal assistant application put on Indeed. But it was something of a common occurrence then and continues to be to this day: scrolling through personal aid and nanny jobs that pay twice as much as the going nationwide average salary for a professional writer.
For this specific gig that was posted in April of last year, willing applicants who could stomach the list of mundane necessities — like, say, taking their employer’s cat to the vet — would at least be rewarded rather handsomely; the hourly rate for the chosen applicant is $50hr. For context: This hourly rate is nearly 250% more than San Francisco’s current minimum wage, which recently received its highest increase in well over a decade.
The part-time job, itself, required about 15hrs to 20hrs of the PA’s week, with most of those shifts scheduled in the afternoons, and the occasional need to dedicate more paid work hours. Oh and remember, this ad wasn’t organized around the needs of, say, an infant or toddler. Not, reader… applicants were putting in their resumes and cover letters to tend to a college-age human being — a then-enrolled Stanford Student, specifically. It’s still a wild and absolutely Bay Area thing.
Here’s a brief rundown on the list of tasks the chosen candidate — who must live in close proximity to Stanford, obviously — was expected to perform on a regular basis:
Responsibilities include:
- Errands including grocery shopping
- Driving her to appointments, stores, and the airport
- Home organization
- Coordinating and communicating with contractors/repairmen, and her landlord
- Bringing cat to vet
- Scheduling and calendar management
Per the Indeed post, which has since been closed, likely after either being filled or receiving a whiplash of comedic backlash, the ideal candidate was “kind, compassionate, and patient, with his or her sense of authority.” They also needed to be able to peer into crystal balls and tackle certain issues without explicit direction or communication — mindreading, if you will. And because it’s Silicon Valley, all applicants needed to have prior experience assisting a “high-net-worth individual.” (Daddy Zuck’s PA, if you’re reading this, please excuse any unnecessary traumatic flashbacks I might’ve inadvertently triggered.)
Oh, the candidate also needed to moonlight as an on-call therapist who has the “ability to provide emotional support” for the student naturally. Also, applicants with college degrees and “excellent written and verbal communication skills” were considered above those who don’t possess those qualities/pieces of paper/
All of this gave me uncomfortable fits of déjà vu when a six-figure nanny role in San Francisco was posted on the same website in 2021. But I mean, hey: green is green. And with these rates of inflation on everyday expenses, chase that bag, babes.
Feature image: Stockbyte
