r/ExecutiveAssistants

I’m sure I just need to look harder for a new job. I know many of you have amazing roles at amazing companies with amazing bosses. But I feel the jobs I’ve had recently are just asking too much of me, and the job postings I see feel similar.

I think ever since Covid WFH people realize they have access at all times. Which has somehow evolved into being able to ask for and expect answers at all times. I no longer have evenings and weekends to myself. I used to expect this if there was an emergency, my boss was traveling, or we had a busy week due to a special event or deadline. But all the time? About things that they can easily search for in their email, texts, or find on the calendar? Executives have become so high maintenance.

I am also sick of EA positions becoming a catch all for other roles they want to cut budget on. Project manager, account executives, interns even.

The workload has increased, demands and expectations are higher, and of course, salaries are NOT higher.

I’m contemplating a career change but at this point I don’t even know what I’d do.

Since it’s Administrative Professionals Day, I’m curious what actually feels meaningful to you.

Not just what companies think is nice, but what really lands.

A thoughtful message?
Public recognition?
Money?
A flexible gift?
Extra time off?
Your boss finally planning ahead for once?

I work at Giftly, and I’ve seen firsthand how often people in admin/coordination roles are the ones catching small things before they turn into big problems. A lot of that work is invisible unless something goes wrong, which makes me wonder if the usual appreciation can feel a little surface-level.

What actually makes you feel appreciated, and what makes you roll your eyes?

I had a phone screening earlier. They said they’re screening a whopping 200 candidates. The role pays $72,000 a year. They openly said the executive is extremely demanding and referenced the Devil Wears Prada. I hate hate hate that reference especially for roles that pay a fraction of what that movie portrayed.

I’d recently returned from maternity leave and was blindsided and transferred into a different role. I’d been in my previous role for years and unsurprisingly, the new role is awful.

Solidarity to everyone else in this situation. This market is horrible. What a time. 😭

Long nails? Short nails? Tips or natural? Polished or no?

My nails are natural and mid length. I usually am wearing them with a neutral color or French or just clear polish.

Why does HR want to have an uncomfortable lunch with four EA’s who nicely tolerate each other? Why stir the hornets nest? I just want to be left alone. Thanks for the vent 😫

I've been dealing with a stressful frustrating situation for the past few months. The former ceo I supported for past few years left and new ceo arrived. New ceo needed a chief of staff which he was used to having. I am not a COS and don't aspire to be one. However he hired as a consultant a woman who was laid off VP from his previous company and has self confessed she is known for ruffling feathers.

Initially things were fine until she started scheduling on his calendar without giving me a heads up over impt other meetings. She started copying internal staff on scheduling so they started going to her for calendar management instead of me. Other examples of not partnering well with me.

We had an offsite and normally I would send an email on the evening dinner and shuttle transport and she refused to let me send it out. Instead she sent out the wrong information and then didn't want to send a correction because she said it would point out her mistake! She likes to schedule calls with me right at my starting time in my day when I need to log in and catch up on requests and calendar changes. When I ask her to schedule later in the day, she gets offensive its insane.

But what really frustrates me are her rude comments. When she schedules video calls with just her and I, she has said a few times now: You Iook showered!! Always emphasizing she is working over 50 hours a week like cinderella and hasn't had time to! Who does that but a narcissist??? She always sends several emails on the weekend even on holidays. On Easter, I was peppered with emails from her. She has never been a chief of staff never worked with EA before and it's showing. I have tried communicating on scheduling guidance so we can work better with each other. She says ok and does the same crap. She was a VP who got laid off and offends many people including senior leaders besides myself. I don't know how to tell him the issues I'm having with her.

And as I read all these job descriptions, I am floored at the amount of work a company expects done but the salary does not even come close to what it should be. I just find it so disheartening

Hello fellow EA folks, quick help 🙋‍♀️

I’m planning giveaway goodies for a Vegas conference, happening post June & trying to avoid the usual pens/diaries route.

Current ideas:

• Eco-friendly tote bags (with co. logo?).

• Smiley crochet keychains.

• Kangaroo plushies (random but cute?).

What would you actually keep/use? Or any fun, semi casual ideas that don’t feel like the typical corporate thing?

Looking ideas on good gifts I can send electronically. Can also send mowers, etc. open to all ideas, thank you!

(London, Uk) Curious as to what everyone is getting paid

Hi my favorite EA's!

I've been working in the same company for the last ten years, and guess who is about to get fired !

I knew from the day my executive knew I was pregnant i was done. He made my life hell for years, the environment got so toxic over the years, and i'm talking about all the red flags here!

I announced him I was 5 months pregnant back in january 2024. His exact words were "i thought you could not have children". Yes, he said that, i know!!

Anyway, I was on maternity leave, then parental leave (I took a year), and for many reasons, my doctor put me on sick leave the day I should have been back to work. It is all on the title now, guess who's getting fired?

The job market is not at his best, but I guess I will let myself recover from that one. For my ea's who went through this, how did you bounce back? I mean being treated like sh*t after dedicating years of hard work and TIME, countless hours, countless missing diners at home kinda work.

Hey all!

I just landed my first EA job and I want to start off on the right foot. My executive has never had an EA, so we’re figuring this out together. I’m looking for suggestions on what questions to ask in our 1 on 1s this week to really nail down her preferences and goals. How do I start taking things off her plate when she’s used to doing everything herself?

Any general advice/insight is appreciated! I’m excited/nervous and want to be as helpful as possible. I know it’s going to be a learning curve for us both, but I want to do my best to succeed.

Assisting C-suite, throughout the year i maintained the tracker of my tasks. Helped out my team as much as i could. Even worked at PA to CMO on demand for CMO.

I had a mess up with CHRO where i couldn't submit his expenses on time and he gave me an ND which is understandable.

But for CMO i have done everything. There was no delay in anything. He gave me an ND stating i failed to book an appointment in hospital opposite to office and booked it hospital 10 mins away (which was corrected on the same day itself) hence i lack attention to detail.

I feel no motivation to come in to work. I live 30 kms away from work. I used to happily clock in at 8 am from office now i don't even smile in office and feel like crying as soon as i enter, i feel very emotionally heavy. Am i over reacting?

There’s a great poster who kindly shared a job posting from their company that’s hiring an EA a few days ago. I’ve already messaged with them to share my experience and had their blessing in posting as I wanna be clear they did nothing wrong, and at face value, it’s not a bad job.

I just want to share with all the EAs here that if you apply for that job, understand that company specifically — has a very new EA support function. Over the last 6 months there has been so many changes to a team that’s quite new.

Initially it was centralized. Meaning, you didn’t report into your executive. You reported into an EA Team Lead. I supported an executive who was the manager to the executive my team lead supported, which was already quite a strange dichotomy. There were a lot of contentions and a lot of mismanaging of which happened. I won’t blame the EA team lead because they had no guidance whatsoever. Her “manager” was VP of Operations who truly functioned as CPO/Head of HR, so they provided no support to my manager and especially not us reporting into them. There was tension between my manager and I when they started, but that’s because

I found that because they hired them to build out a team, they came in with wanting to change how I’d been working with my executives (one of which was the ceo) for the duration of close to 10 months prior.

There was a change in the CEO in early December. I can’t expand onto some of my more particular thoughts as I don’t want to compromise my own identity. But basically, I supported the CEO who left in December. The company hired two new EAs in September, one of which didn’t know they were going to be supporting someone who would inevitably be named as the new CEO in no more than 10 weeks. There was no real training, it was truly make shift. Again, team lead did try their best but there was nothing for them to pull from as they had no support from their manager.

That said, I was let go of in February. The excuse was that my workload “decreased” since the former head of the company left (albeit I still had other execs). They knew he was leaving for months, and in turn weaponized that against me about two months later. They also at least decentralized the model so the remaining EAs could report into their execs directly.

The person supporting the new CEO got abruptly removed from their calendar in such a brash way (very disrespectful) and was being used as a scapegoat. They had already decided that they didn’t want her supporting this new head of company privately and never gave her any warnings about concerns or “performance”. The person she supported also didn’t pair too well with EAs in the past and didn’t really find value in the role, even called her handling of their calendar troubling. It was just odd. They made a weird pacifist switch to her role and gaslit her into believing it’s because she’s good at the 2 things they have her doing. Her title is still EA but does no job functions of one, only does operations and supports the former lead—so supports the execs all indirectly, while not being the face. They said really disparaging things about her. She knows a lot about many things. They informed us all, even me when telling me I’d be departing, that it was a business decision… all while also informing us they’d be hiring an EA for the marketing department. And honing in on the fact they wanted someone who has that exact experience. So; that’s the story of how that role opened up. The other real EA supports product persons.

One of the biggest issues with that company is they blame senior workers who have real life complex experience for their organizational chaos. They don’t properly train even the most capable people, and process is often a person. If people who have supported CEO’s of bigger orgs before find an issue here, then it’s not them. They also let go of people without setting them up for success, so if you apply for that EA role, just please understand it may be a bit unstable at first. And if at any point you get a glance of your role being “redesigned”, start looking elsewhere and truly just keep your options open. They will always blame things on business when it’s just them finally getting the cajones to cut people they don’t find value for.

I believe in responsibility but that company is truly a “it’s not you; it’s them” lol. The marketing EA role may be a lot better though.

Just sharing before some of you give up your roles at places more stable and more with possibility just to work at a dating app, because it sounds decent by listing.

Again no shade to that OP. I already connected with them and we actually have worked together in various capacities in cross functional situations. Small world.

Work in financial services. 20 years in the business. Was at current role/company for almost 3 yrs before the axe. Supported 4-6 individuals but reported up to a COS due to an organizational change. Had good feedback from managers before org change, then all of a sudden I’m not doing enough/productivity is too low. I did everything in my job description and then some…but never was enough! Thinking it was my salary. Glad and sad at same time due to the toxic nature.

Anyone have their masters? I’ve always been a Jack of all Trades and want to get my Masters.

What do you have your Masters in?

Hi!

Warning and advance apology, long post ahead

I’ve been in my role for almost 10 years. Started temp to hire at a small family office in the NYC/CT area, UHNW, less than 10 employees.

Here because I’ve been feeling extremely under appreciated and it’s getting to be really discouraging. It’s been helpful to read other’s experiences and now I’m really hoping to get a bit of insight.

Listing my current primary responsibilities, doesn’t even feel like it covers everything but to limit risk of over disclosure I’m trying to keep it somewhat light.

What do you think the title/comp should be for the role as listed?

I think I may be under-titled and feel underpaid but I have no idea where to place myself relative to market because I’m struggling to find similar scopes - would really appreciate any help 🥲

Responsibilities: Provide day-to-day executive and personal support to two (2) principals including meals, errands, prescriptions, returns, and time-sensitive reminders; coordinate complex scheduling across medical appointments, private and commercial travel logistics, vehicle servicing, gifts, and household/vendor appointments; serve as on-site point of contact for vendors and services at private residences; oversee daily office operations and act as a central resource for internal processes and workflow coordination; provide support to VP/Accounting department; manage Accounts Payable end-to-end including invoice processing, approvals, and execution of high-volume payment runs; 1099 preparation and compliance; maintain and work within QuickBooks including execution of system migration and cleanup and chart of account design; assist with financial tracking, documentation, wires, and trustee-related submissions; identify and flag discrepancies across contracts and payments to ensure accuracy; coordinate with external contacts regarding board meetings, attendance, and travel logistics; support onboarding of vendors and property managers; act as internal point of contact for real estate operations including coordination of utilities, maintenance, and property-level logistics; step in across functions to support high-priority and time-sensitive tasks; absorb overflow work to enable team output and maintain deadlines; troubleshoot operational and communication gaps; maintain institutional knowledge and ensure continuity across both business and personal operations in a fast-paced, high-demand environment.

Additional context: The other office members frequently take credit for work I’ve executed, they make more while doing less, and they’re much more respected. I feel disconnected from my job in a way I never have before, it feels like my is work invisible and it’s driving me crazy. I’m glossed over, taken advantage of, and am constantly being pulled in a million directions/have to stay late to make it all work. The responsibilities continue to grow/evolve without any change in compensation outside of regular cost of living raises, clarification, or shift in title. I feel the role has outgrown an executive support title but have no clue where to align these responsibilities and I’m at my wits end. Looking for a little hope 🥲

Sorry again for the long post and thank you so, so much for any insight.

I have been working as a temp at a major financial firm in NYC for about a year now, and I’m honestly starting to feel really stuck.

I’ve shown up consistently, taken on a lot, supported multiple teams/desks, and built good relationships. Recently they extended me another 6 months, which on paper sounds like a positive—but there are still no benefits, and that’s becoming a real issue. I’m paying out of pocket for healthcare and it’s not sustainable.

I’ve been actively interviewing for permanent roles outside the firm, trying to move into something stable with benefits, but nothing has landed yet. It’s frustrating because I know I’m capable and experienced, but the process has been slow and inconsistent.

At this point, I feel trapped—like I can’t leave because I need the income, but staying doesn’t really move me forward either.

Has anyone else been in this position? How did you get out of a long-term temp role and into something permanent

I’ve worked as an EA across multiple industries over 7 years experience but….. I need out. I’m terrible at excel and don’t like operations. what could be some good pivots that are actually achievable? I’m in London and culturally I feel recruiters just see you as support admin and it’s infuriating.

After going through the whole process of setting up our store on swaggy shop i have some thoughts for anyone considering it. first: curating your product list matters more than you think, too many options and people get overwhelmed and order nothing second: gift codes are the move if you want to control spend, way cleaner than refund people after third: you will still get questions from coworkers no matter how self explanatory the store is, just accept this now, people are kinda stupid and it's just part of dealing with these things fourth: the no inventory thing is actually as good as it sounds, not just good marketing, not having boxes of hoodies in odd sizes taking up closet space was a big relief fifth: don't expect a massive catalog, it's curated which is mostly a good thing but if you need super specific items you might not find them.

Edit: No idea why was it removed, here’s me trying again