When clients enter the offices of Calgary's Design Group Staffing, they tend to stop and stare at the two employees - one male, one female - positioned behind the front desk.
Inevitably, they walk toward Adam Burton.
Mr. Burton, 41, works as an executive assistant, a job he says raises eyebrows in the testosterone-driven world of the oil and gas industry recruiting business, but not in the way you might expect.
"I was the first male administrator they ever had here, so they weren't sure how that was going to be perceived," he said of his employers. "But if anything, I think I'm taken a little more seriously, and maybe that's unfortunate."
The male assistant, while not a new addition to the working world, has achieved a heightened level of attention these days.
Men who take jobs as personal assistants no longer consider the role as one of gender bending, but a form of mentorship and an opportunity to be groomed by the best.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper has a male personal assistant, as does U.S. presidential candidate Barack Obama.
The male assistant is also having its pop culture moment. There are executives with male assistants on the television shows Ugly Betty and 30 Rock, and the HBO comedy Entourage has been paying special attention to Lloyd, assistant to uber-agent Ari.
Real-world male assistants say the job is a way to stay close to the source of power and learn by proxy.
Mr. Harper's assistant, Ray Novak, is a young Conservative who was hired after doing a research project for the PM back when he was head of the National Citizens Coalition. Mr. Novak is regarded by many in Ottawa as having his boss's ear more so than some senior staff.
Jennifer Berdahl, a professor at the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto, studies workplace power relations and says that there is a different dynamic when members of the same sex work together.
"People are often more comfortable with someone of the same gender," she said.
Brad Holtkamp, an account manager at Design Group Staffing, said Mr. Burton is more like a friend than an assistant.
"Adam's a pretty outgoing guy, so he creates a good atmosphere," he said. "You can have a laugh with him, for sure."
And some outlandishly say they hire men to protect themselves from temptation. In November, 2006, Seattle mega-church Pastor Mark Driscoll responded to a sex scandal surrounding his colleague Ted Haggard by suggesting that religious men should hire only male employees.
"I have been blessed with a trustworthy heterosexual male assistant who can travel with me, meet with me, etc., without the fear of any temptations or even false allegations since we have beautiful wives and eight children between us," he wrote on his blog.
But Ms. Berdahl said employers also unfairly view male assistants as more upwardly mobile than their female counterparts. "Men get assistant positions, but that assistant position would then lead to a promotion," she said.
Toronto city councillor and Toronto Transit Commission chairman Adam Giambrone has two male executive assistants. One, Kevin Beaulieu, met Mr. Giambrone while working at a university bookstore and volunteered on his first election campaign.
Mr. Beaulieu, 36, is six years older than his friend and boss, but says both relationships are hassle-free.
"It's a great way to work because there's a definite amount of respect and licence - we can be frank with each other."
In politics, Mr. Beaulieu acknowledges there is a history of assistants attempting to take over the reins when their boss moves on. For now, though, he is content to continue learning from his superior.
"I still think of him as a friend, but I know he's my boss," Mr. Beaulieu said. "I don't forget that. I respect that."
