Executive Assistant
What the work is
Provides high level support to individual executives, a team of executives, Managers and/or Professionals in an organisation.
Would you enjoy the work?
These are the main tasks in the official description. Mark how each one sounds to you.
- Acts as a proxy for the individual executives they support
- Organises and prepares for meetings, including gathering documents and attending to meeting logistics
- Drafts, reviews and sends communications on behalf of executives
- Coordinates travel arrangements
- Sets daily schedules for executives
- Prioritises and responds to emails
- Answers and returns phone calls
- May assist with personal tasks such as making doctor's appointments or handling family-related matters
Try it
A simulation and a case study from this kind of work, set in the executive office of a regional health network, supporting its chief executive. They are fictional.
The kind of days you could have
Good days
- You smooth a tough week so well that the executive says it felt easy
- You catch a conflict in the diary a week before it would have mattered
- You are trusted with something sensitive and you handle it quietly
Hard days
- Three urgent requests arrive together and the executive is out of reach
- A flight is cancelled and half the next day's meetings depend on it
- You are asked to relay a message you think is a mistake
Written by Career Calling as a general guide. Real roles vary by employer and place.
Work a mission
Step into a simulated workplace in this field, with a brief from your manager.
Description and tasks: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Occupation Standard Classification for Australia, 2024, Version 1.0 (opens another site), occupation 522231, used under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence. The skill guide above is our plain English summary.