executive assistant

The specific duties of an executive assistant include:

• planning meetings: as the person in charge of your executive's schedule, planning and facilitating meetings falls to you. You set up meetings, which can be in-person or virtual. You attend to all meeting requirements, such as providing essential documentation and resources. You will find and book an appropriate location on a date that works for all concerned, book necessary equipment, and ensure everyone is notified. During meetings, you record the proceedings for later transcription so that people unable to attend don't miss out on important information.
• managing schedules: your executive is a busy person, and the planning of their schedule is a time-consuming task. You act as the gatekeeper to their time, strategically managing their timetable, fielding meeting requests, and generally ensuring your executive has time for all the appointments they need to attend.
• coordinating travel: executives typically need to travel as part of their duties. Arranging travel would be a very time-consuming task, which is why you take care of it. You ensure a smooth travel experience by organising trains and flights, as well as accommodation if necessary. You also prepare the itinerary for business trips, ensuring your executive doesn't miss anything.
• handling correspondence: you manage phone calls, emails, and any other correspondence that comes through to your executive's office. Part of this duty is organising and prioritising correspondence to make the most efficient use of your executive's time.

As an executive assistant, your work environment is primarily in an office. Your role is a largely solitary one in that you are not working as a part of a wider team other than yourself and your executive. However, you collaborate with other office staff. Much of your job involves taking care of business at the office when your executive is travelling, but you occasionally travel with them.

As mentioned above, your role as an executive assistant is one that can transfer from industry to industry without changing substantially. Therefore, the people you work with largely stay the same. You work with administrative assistants, marketing managers, operations managers, office managers, sales executives, sales associates, sales representatives, and others. Any person your executive has to deal with is a person you interact with as part of your job.

Executives work long and sometimes unsociable hours. Your hours are mostly tied to your executive's hours, meaning flexibility is built into your schedule. Your work schedule may overlap with your personal life at times, and you must accept this inconvenience if you want to work in this role.

Your job outlook as an executive assistant is good in terms of job opportunities. Executives often find it hard to balance their work and personal lives, so executive assistants are always in demand. The more you work with a specific executive, the more earning potential you will have. This is because the more you work with a specific executive, the better you get at your job. Executives would rather pay an assistant they know and like a higher salary than hire a new assistant.

Finding your executive assistant job through Randstad provides important advantages such as:

• a wide variety of training and development opportunities
• an experienced contact person to provide help if needed
• a range of opportunities in your area
• get paid on a monthly basis
• temporary and permanent contracts

Want a permanent contract? A temporary job as an executive assistant is often a stepping stone to an attractive permanent job. Every year, thousands of people earn a permanent contract with great employers thanks to a temporary job found through Randstad. What's more, many companies recruit their permanent employees through Randstad too!

An executive assistant in India earns, on average, ₹307,200. Entry-level executive assistants make around ₹154,000, while the highest earners can make as much as ₹800,000.

The first step to becoming an executive assistant is to complete your education. From there, you can pursue more educational qualifications, such as a degree in business management or business administration, to improve your job chances. Alternatively, you can look for an entry-level position and work your way up.

Executive assistants are there to make life easier for their executives by performing a wide range of administrative tasks on their behalf. This allows the executive to focus on their core tasks.

It is possible, though unlikely, for someone working as an executive assistant to rise through the ranks and become CEO. An executive assistant's typical progression path leads to them becoming assistants to more senior staff members.

Applying for an executive assistant job is easy: create a Randstad profile and search our job offers for vacancies in your area. Then simply send us your CV and cover letter. Need help with your application? Check out all our job search tips here!