The typical personal assistant earns less than $30,000 a year. In New York City, the average salary is higher: $44,000.

But one Manhattan-based couple seeking a "family personal assistant" is prepared to double that figure, according to a recent job listing on ChronicleVitae, which reads: "Position with outstanding compensation available for academically accomplished, responsible, extraordinarily talented individual to serve as a household assistant to a highly engaged professional couple."

This modern-day version of Mary Poppins is expected to tutor their middle-school-aged child as well as provide "administrative support (such as calendar management) for the family, research projects, some light cleaning and meal prep (the family has a housekeeper that handles the bulk of these responsibilities), and pet care for a hypoallergenic dog."