By Gordon Kramer, COO · Last updated: August 2026
Yes, and we've been doing it for decades. Palo Alto Staffing places executive assistants, chiefs of staff, and administrative professionals anywhere in the US: on-site in your market, hybrid, or fully remote. We staffed the world's largest venture firms as they expanded from Sand Hill Road to New York and London, so out-of-market search isn't a stretch for us; it's the history of the firm. Same vetting standard wherever the role sits.
For on-site roles, we recruit in your market. The network is national, built over 45 years of following our clients wherever they opened offices. When it makes more sense to relocate proven talent, we'll say so and manage that honestly. For hybrid and remote roles, we match time zones, communication style, and the principal's working rhythm: the things that actually determine whether distance works. Every candidate is vetted the same way regardless of geography.
See how our staffing process worksThese get confused, and the difference matters. A virtual assistant service (Athena, Boldly, Double and similar) provides a subscription: fractional help, often shared, managed by the service. Genuinely useful for task overflow at a lower price point. A placed executive assistant is your dedicated professional: W-2, embedded in your business, present in your meetings and your confidences, on-site if you want them there. If your need is a few hours of task execution a day, a VA subscription may be the right call. If one person's judgment will touch everything your principal does, that's a placement, and that's what we do.
Home base: Palo Alto and the San Francisco Bay Area, since 1979. National: every major US market, on-site, hybrid, and remote.
Do you charge more for out-of-market searches?
No. Fees are quoted per engagement the same way everywhere, in writing, in the first conversation.
Can you place on-site staff outside California?
Yes. On-site placements nationwide; we recruit in the market where the role sits.
How do you vet someone you've never met in person?
The same way, more deliberately: live video interviews, scenario work, and references carry the weight. We've refined this over decades of multi-market work.
Remote EA or virtual assistant?
A VA for task volume; a placed EA for judgment, access, and continuity.