Being an executive assistant can be a great career path to use your organizational and interpersonal skills. Learn how to enter the field, how to grow within it, and what an executive assistant salary is.
An executive assistant works directly with top executives in a company or organization, fulfilling high-level administrative needs and standard assistant tasks. There are opportunities to enter this field in most major cities with the highest employment rate in New York City. According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), an estimated 466,910 people are employed in the field nationally; the average salary is $ 66,870 [1].
Learn about the different types of assistants and what sets them apart, the required skills, experience, and education.
An executive assistant plays a major role in a company's structure by providing clerical and communication assistance to high-level executives. Working directly with these executives requires discretion and organization, as they rely heavily on an executive assistant's ability to handle most communication with clients, partners, and subordinate employees.
A day in the role of an executive assistant typically involves a variety of tasks such as scheduling, drafting memos, interacting with others, and record-keeping depending on the company and executive’s needs. Your duties will likely include, but are not limited to:
Performing administrative tasks such as writing emails, creating memos, and drafting communications
Maintaining comprehensive records and creating accurate reports
Completing payroll and other accounting needs
Planning meetings by managing schedules and sending reminders
Answering the phones in a timely and helpful manner
Being the face of the company for anyone entering the office
Managing the executives' calendar, appointments, and travel details, with a key focus on organization
Employers tend to look for candidates who can handle a large workload of varying tasks and projects. If you have a natural ability to multitask and prioritize assignments, a role as an executive assistant may be a natural fit for you. Here are some skills that employers may look for in this role.
You will be responsible for managing your time and the executives' time. This includes scheduling meetings, appointments, and travel arrangements. This allows executives to focus on their responsibilities and keep the workflow on track.
Along with managing executives' time, managing your own time is equally important for your success. The company relies on you, so maintaining a track record of arriving to work on time and completing projects within their deadlines will reflect well when you're looking to advance your role.
Daily tasks will often include crafting emails and reports, making phone calls, and networking. Therefore, it's expected that an executive assistant has strong written and verbal communication skills. Using a clear and consistent tone will often help you maintain your professional relationships and those of executives.
In this role, you will be responsible for noting a large amount of information, making organization a critical skill needed for the position. Administrative, organizational tasks include filing, categorizing emails, sorting mails, and screening phone calls. For executives, it’s important for you to have an organizational system in place for calendars, appointments, reports, and budgets.
One of the reasons companies have an executive assistant is to free up an executive's time, prioritize their workload, and delegate responsibilities. To do this effectively, you must make decisions independently. This requires confidence in your abilities and a high level of strategic thinking. You'll also need to be able to proactively assess a project, predict a wide range of possible outcomes, and plan contingent solutions.
In this role, you'll be in contact with people who have various personalities, both external and within the company, making patience and kindness vital. Often, an executive assistant will be the first line of defense with unhappy clients and in-house employees, so it's essential to be able diffuse situations before involving executives. You represent both the executives and the company, allowing you to set the tone for the workplace.
Read more: Transferable Skills: How to Use Them to Land Your Next Job
When looking to enter into an executive assistant role, it's essential to consider the industry you'll be working in. While a high school diploma or a GED can be enough qualifications for an entry role in some companies, medical, tech, and legal industries can often require additional courses in industry-specific terminology.
An entry-level position in this field usually requires a minimum of a high school diploma or GED. This, along with experience in word processing and spreadsheets, can set you up for success. Some executive assistants have either an associate or bachelor’s degree, and some employers may expect this. However, it is not usually a requirement, and years of work experience can often substitute education requirements.
When considering whether to take training courses, it's important to research the industry you would like to work in and its requirements. The medical field as well as legal and tech, usually have industry-specific needs that can be met through experience or training courses. In any industry segment, it's key to have computer skills, including word processing and data entry. Newly-hired executive assistants will also receive on-the-job training in the first weeks or months.
You may start as an office assistant, secretary, or administrative assistant to advance to an executive assistant position. These roles provide key work experience needed to move into an executive assistant position. This job is dependent on your interpersonal and organizational skills, which should develop over time through relevant work experience.
Beyond work experience and education, licenses and professional certificates are usually not required. However, they can help demonstrate your competency and increase your earning potential. You might consider various certifications offered by Microsoft to show your proficiency in using its Office products. You can also pursue certifications specific to executive or administrative assistant roles.
The Advanced Certificate for the Executive Assistant is a five-day intensive training program accredited internationally by Qualifi, an official UK government-regulated awarding body. During the five days, you will learn practical skills and a deeper understanding of operational business needs.
The Certified Administrative Professional Certification is offered by The International Association of Administrative Professionals. You'll need an associate or bachelor’s degree or two or three years of relevant experience to qualify for this certification. Four years of relevant experience will also qualify you in lieu of a college degree. Once you are deemed eligible, an exam is required to demonstrate your knowledge.
If you do not have administrative experience but are looking to become an executive assistant, consider these positions as a starting point to gain experience.
*All average salary data is sourced from Glassdoor as of May 2022
An administrative assistant role is similar to an executive assistant but usually less specialized. Tasks often include scheduling meetings, screening phone calls, managing deadlines and projects, and preparing travel itineraries.
Average annual salary (US): $62,923
An administrative officer tends to work for an entire office as opposed to assisting one person's day-to-day needs. This involves stocking paper and supply needs, managing payroll, working the front desk, and additional general office needs.
Average annual salary (US): $65,123
This is a managerial role in companies that require a team of administrators to run smoothly. Larger organizations will tend to have a team of administrative assistants or clerical aids. The administrative manager is responsible for the entire team as well as training new administrative assistants.
Average annual salary (US): $68,093
This role is common in large companies located in popular metropolitan areas. The largest concentration of executive assistant jobs are in the New York City, Los Angeles, and Chicago metropolitan areas.
The national average salary for an executive assistant is $74,909 [1].Depending on your education and work experience, you can find significant room for growth and higher pay.
This job can be an opportunity for someone without formal education beyond a high school diploma or GED but who has the technical skills for a business organization. This career offers growth and challenges due to its fast-paced nature. Every day this job is different; for the right person, this can be a fulfilling career.
As you gain more experience as an executive assistant, you will often have the opportunity to work with higher-level executives up to the CEO. Another move for an executive assistant is to aspire to advance into larger and larger companies. A large company tends to offer more room to grow and higher pay. If you’re interested in becoming an executive yourself, this role can serve as a mentorship with the executive you’re assisting.
If you’re interested in building your organizational and communication skills, then a career as an executive assistant could be your next career move. To develop these skills, consider some of the courses offered on Coursera, such as the University of Pennsylvania’s Improving Communication Skills course or the University of California Davis’s Professional Skills for the Workplace Specialization. These, along with other courses offered on Coursera, give personal and professional growth options in the workplace.
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An administrative assistant is a more generalized role that works with teams or multiple people in a company. An executive assistant works directly with one executive and tends to provide advice and strategic thinking. Both roles focus heavily on clerical work such as managing schedules, stocking supplies, and answering phone calls.
It’s important to highlight past relevant work experience and any higher education. An executive assistant role usually requires past employment history in similar positions to demonstrate a clear understanding of the required tasks.
Standard daily tasks involve administrative needs as well as high skilled assistant duties. Some administrative responsibilities include writing emails, creating memos, and drafting communications on the executive request. It’s also sometimes expected to complete payroll and other accounting needs. The more executive needs tend to include creating accurate reports, planning travel and scheduling meetings as needed for the executive.
1. US Bureau of Labor Statistics. “Executive Secretaries and Executive Administrative Assistants, https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes436011.htm#(3)." Accessed May 30, 2022.
This content has been made available for informational purposes only. Learners are advised to conduct additional research to ensure that courses and other credentials pursued meet their personal, professional, and financial goals.