Executive Assistants are crucial to the smooth functioning of any business organization. In fact, Staples conducted a social survey that found the majority of office professionals find the executive assistant to be more important than the boss.
Many offices would simply grind to a halt without the executive assistant. So if you work as one, you can take pride in the fact that your boss probably couldn’t do his or her job without your help.
Four Ways to Be a Better Executive Assistant
1. Detail Oriented
This is a critical skill for this role, because it is in the nature of the job to have to deal with varied and numerous tasks, details and files. You may not realize it, but you’re probably the glue that keeps the whole office together.
Think of your job as organizer-in chief. As as admin, people are probably coming to you all the time to ask for information, help, requests, files, whatever it is they need to get done. Establish a daily routine and use checklists to accomplish your various tasks. Many of these items can be tracked by software.
Always follow up on incoming requests and calls right away. The sooner you can complete tasks and cross them off your list, the more time you have to focus on long terms goals and projects as well as getting more tasks done. Track your progress on a daily/weekly/monthly basis so you know where you stand.
2. Solid Judgment
As an administrative assistant, you’ll be expected to use good judgment in handling different tasks. Customer inquiries, employee complaints, questions about files and record keeping, phone calls from corporate headquarters and outside vendors, office equipment and supply ordering, sensitive corporate documents are the kinds of issues that will cross your desk.
That requires setting priorities, using logic and reasoning, figuring out who needs what, and keeping a cool head in the process.
Beyond the physical items, you’ll also be dealing with many different types of people, employees and customers. Learn to handle different personalities and request with aplomb. Just remember to make one decision at a time, and handle the most urgent requests first.
3. Time Management
Since you have a million and one things to do on a weekly basis, you can’t afford to spend too much time on any one task, especially if you work in a face paced office. We've put together a huge list of online tools that can help with time and task management in our ultimate list of resources for executive administrators. You can save it to your computer and reference it when you need a tool to help keep you organized.
4. Become Indispensable
Being indispensable is the ultimate job security. Whether it's being the hardest worker or being a slightly secretive about how you do things better than others. Basically, find a way to prove your value and hold onto it. It's really a judgment call, and something you'll figure out along the way, but if you do great work, you'll be rewarded.