From booking meetings and arranging business trips to answering phones
and ordering office supplies, an executive assistant (or EA, as they are often
called) must do anything to help make an executive's job easier. Executive
assistants have to be ready for practically anything!
"A really successful executive assistant needs to be prepared to support
his or her executive in such a manner as to allow the executive to focus on
the big picture and the big decisions," says Debbie Shumans. Shumans is an
executive secretary in Savannah, Georgia.
As a support position, executive assistants work behind the scenes to
make sure things run according to plan. It can be a fast-paced and extremely
varied job in which no two days are the same.
"I am the caretaker of the office," says Elaine Tallmon. She works as an
executive assistant in Charlotte, North Carolina. "I am looked to as the one
who keeps things running smoothly and as the one who makes things right when
they are wrong."
With communications technologies such as the Internet, e-mail and voicemail,
and gadgets such as BlackBerry devices and cell phones, executives can now
perform certain tasks much quicker on their own instead of passing the responsibility
on to the assistant.
"Bosses tend to rely on their assistants in different ways because they
can now do their own correspondence and other communications faster," says
Tallmon.
Initially, some feared these technical advances would make this career
obsolete. Instead, however, the job of an executive assistant has adapted
and evolved into a much more complex career.
"It's a very interesting and fascinating job," says Fred Woo. Woo works
as an executive assistant.
"The opportunity to meet with a variety of people, from all different disciplines,
makes this job extremely interesting," he says.
Executive assistants work in offices of all sizes. They may work in a wide
range of businesses and industries, including fields such as medicine, oil
and gas, education, and banking.
While work hours are usually normal business hours, executive assistants
must be willing to be flexible.
"I must be able to flex those hours as needed," says Shumans. "A valuable
executive assistant will be able to do that."
Working odd hours could be required when welcoming out-of-town business
guests or when you're planning and getting ready for big events. An executive
assistant may also be occasionally required to travel.
This work has very few physical demands. Many people with physical challenges
could do the work of an executive assistant.