Becoming a Senior Executive Assistant
The Objectives of the Senior Executive Assistant
The titles “Personal Assistant” and “Executive Assistant” are often used interchangeably. But this should not detract from the fact that senior Executive Assistants are established professionals with proven managerial and operational abilities.
Senior EA often work at CEO levels are expected to be fully aware of their executive’s goals because helping their boss achieve his/her strategic objectives is a fundamental requirement of the role. The senior EA’s ability to prioritize and remain focused under pressure is testimony of their flexibility, adaptability and change responsiveness in an atmosphere of constantly shifting priorities.
Executive Assistant Training and Development
Senior Executive Assistants adopt an attitude of regular professional development. They keep abreast of technological changes so that they can quickly master new technologies and keep a watchful eye on the latest gadgetry. Influencing decisions by recommending the latest and most cost effective office technology is an aspect of the senior EA’s role.
Senior EA’s invariably have a bachelors’ degree – usually in Business Administration or similar. Many have a Masters’ degree. For bright junior Administrators, the senior EA role represents a clear career strategy, and a pathway for planning training and development.
The Senior EA role tends to expand to include important projects; therefore, the successful EA should have multi-faceted skills that include project management. Attending Executive Assistant training courses and EA seminars on a regular basis is a must for the EA’s continuous professional development.
The Senior Executive Assistant’s CV
The senior EA’s CV shows a high level of IT literacy and the ability to trouble-shoot technical problems. It also shows good numeracy skills, an understanding of budgets and strong decision-making abilities. The EA’s CV would present evidence of their ability to work independently and with a high level of autonomy, such as representing the boss at meetings and events, as well as running the business in the boss’s absence. The Senior EA’s CV would also show that she/he has mentored peers and perhaps even managed a team.
Being the Executive’s “Right Hand Person”
Because of their understanding of the long-term goals of the organization and their dependability, accountability and proximity to management, EAs are considered to be key players in the organization – a fact that is not lost on colleagues. As the executives’ (boss’s) “right hand person” and his/her eyes and ears, EAs make up for gaps in their boss’s knowledge and memory.
Senior EAs assume a lot of power in organizations. As gate-keepers of the executive’s time, they ensure that the executive remains sufficiently accessible, while keeping him/her on track with their daily objectives. As confidantes, EAs are discrete and maintain strict confidentiality. They have excellent verbal and written communication skills and often draft written communication in the guise of their executive. Many work similarly anti-social hours as the boss and it’s not unusual for them to attend to an emergency at 1 o’clock in the morning.
The Senior EA’s Knowledge Base
In addition to the above attributes and expectations, senior EAs should have a general understanding of ecommerce, health and safety, human resources procedure, and the basics of public relations, such as how to deal with the press. Senior EAs should also understand their executive’s statutory responsibilities in order to ensure that they are met.
The EA is relied upon to develop and maintain systems and procedures, and translate protocols, such as the company’s purchasing protocol. A basic understanding of corporate law and governance would help EAs to effectively support the Board of Directors; therefore, corporate governance is an important skill to develop.
It is clear that senior EAs are established professionals and middle-managers in their own right. The key to becoming an effective senior EA is regular and strategic Executive Assistant training and an ongoing program of continuous professional development, because “the road to success is always under construction!”
Personal Assistant Duties and Attributes
The Personal Assistant Role versus the Executive Assistant Role
Depending on where you live in the world, the Personal Assistant role is often confused with the Executive Assistant role. Particularly as some managers promote their PA to Executive Assistant but are slow to fully compensate them for the greater responsibility that goes with the EA title, or give them full autonomy in the EA role. Consequently, many EA roles could more accurately be categorized as PA roles.
Personal Assistants should fully understand the scope of the Personal Assistant duties they are expected to deliver, as well as the attributes they should possess. The typical skills and characteristics that hiring managers look for when filling PA positions are outlined below.
Personal Assistant Attributes
The attributes of an effective PA are:
- Efficient
- Discrete
- Flexible
- self-motivated
- organized
- proactive
- a good communicator
One of the most important requirements of the PA skill-set is IT literacy. At the very least, PAs should have advanced-level skills in Word for Windows and Microsoft PowerPoint. And at least an intermediate-level knowledge of Microsoft Excel.
Maintaining Personal Assistant Development
PAs manage and source resources and conduct research so they need to be well informed about many things. They also need to keep up-to-date with the latest apps and gadgets, and with professional best practice. PA refresher training and Advanced-level PA training are all essential for continuous professional development, which should be considered essential maintenance for the PA role.
Working under Pressure
Personal Assistants are calm under pressure and capable of thinking on their feet in a crisis. They typically support senior managers, executives and teams. Gone are the days when PAs worked exclusively for one manager. Private Secretaries, Celebrity Personal Assistants and PAs who work for high-net-worth individuals typically work for one person, but corporate PAs often acquire more and more managers over time, and the diary and inbox management pressures that accompany them. This makes the PA role a highly stressful one, as PAs also have to accommodate special projects and deal with shifting priorities.
PAs should be capable of competently managing the office in their manager’s absence. They should be confident enough to delegate upwards to their manager’s direct reports in order to effectively manage their manager’s time and workload. Maintaining confidentiality is a fundamental requirement for PAs because ultimately, building a strategic relationship with their manager is only possible if their manager trusts them enough to keep them in the loop about what is going on in the business.
Understanding PA Duties
Corporate Personal Assistant positions demand competence and skill in the following areas:
- reading, monitoring and responding to the manager’s email,
- answering calls and liaising with clients competently
- preliminary drafting of correspondence on the manager’s behalf,
- delegating work in the manager’s absence
- diary management
- planning and organizing meetings,
- organizing complex travel
- taking action points and writing minutes
- preparing papers for meetings
- taking dictation,
- planning and organizing events,
- improving office systems
- conducting research
- preparing presentations
- managing and reviewing filing and office systems
- typing
- sourcing and ordering stationery and office equipment
- managing ad hoc projects
The above list is not exhaustive because the scope of the Personal Assistant role can be wide and varied.
As mentioned above, the Personal Assistant title and the Executive Assistant title are sometimes used interchangeably. However, the Senior Executive Assistant role is essentially a middle-management level role that demands a good understanding of the operations of the business, and the executive’s objectives.
Securing a promotion to the title of Executive Assistant may simply be a case of completing Executive Assistant level training and presenting your argument for a promotion.