The Executive Assistant is responsible for administrative duties for executive managers. Many of these duties are in the nature of screening appointments and phone calls, making travel arrangements and other duties that are personal in nature.
Primary Responsibilities:
- Preparing reports
- Financial data
- Training and supervising other support staff
- Screen telephone calls
- Managing appointments and meetings
The Executive Assistant is the personal helper for one or more executives which gives them a lot of responsibilities. It is not always easy being an Executive Assistant because you will need to know the personality of the person (s) that you are taking care of in order to make things run like well oiled machinery. Remember you are constantly on the hot seat when it comes to maintaining their schedule and the people that they are to meet. You must be aware of what is happening with all their clients in order to insure that your executive can stay on top of all situations. You need to be aware of personal things sometimes concerning the clients. You should know birthdays, anniversary and other important events in their lives. The executive may want to send special clients gifts or flowers for the occasion and depend on you to do this function. You also need to be able to read financial reports and keep track of which clients are paying and which clients need a little push.
The Executive Assistant needs strong internet research skills in order to keep your boss up to date on things that matter for him and the company. You need flexibility along with interpersonal skills. The Executive Assistance finds that many times they need to be able to coordinate projects working with all levels of internal management and staff. You are also required to be able to work with outside clients and vendors in order to keep things working well for your executive.
The Executive Assistant finds that many times they need to supervise other staff members or Staff Assistants in order to keep the departments running together smoothly. You are there to help support senior level managers and help supervise their staff it is called for by your own boss. Depending on the level of your executive will also depend on the duties that you are required to do.
Communication skills are a must for a good Executive Assistant in order to thrive in corporate life. Your skills in communication include the ability to write messages, conduct meetings, explain to staff as a group or individuals so that everyone comes off with the same message. You are also required at time to defuse any misunderstandings between staff members. Your executive in charge may not want to get involved with inner-office misconducts or misunderstandings and require you to get in there and resolve the problems. It is not uncommon for you to take dictation from your executive and make the inner office memos for the whole staff. You may be required to write notes or letters to clients about situations or problems concerning production, invoicing or product problems. All these things require the Executive Assistant to have great communication skills.
The executive has a very busy schedule and needs to be able to balance his work load with his personal life so he may require you to take the lead when it comes to helping him achieve these things. Some executives like to have Executive Assistants who are willing to remind him of their mates birthday, anniversary or special family events that are about to happen. You are expected not to schedule a meeting with a client during these special events and if necessary meet with the client to help smooth things over for your boss.
Many top executives travel and need reservations made on air flights, hotels, restaurants, and even social events that will take them away from the office. The Executive Assistant is expected to take care of all these things for the executive while maintaining the normal office procedures. Many executives will leave their Executive Assistant in charge while they are away doing other duties for the company. The Executive Assistant has many important responsibilities and duties to perform in order to make sure that the executive performance is always top notched.