With so many people now competing for Executive PA courses, it can be hard for people to get noticed – and is this why a larger number of people looking to be the most efficient and effective executive assistants are now going to university and/or taking specialist executive PA courses.
Gone are the days where executive PA’s are able to relax and take their time, being an executive PA is now an incredibly demanding job! The position includes taking care of tedious and difficult tasks such as preparing executive reports, creating presentations, attending and making contributions to executive board meetings and much more!
Because of this it is vital for executive PA’s to boast certain qualities, including but not limited to the following:
Understanding of business strategies
Executive personal assistants no matter what company they work for must hold a thorough understanding of the company’s formation and the delivery of its business strategy. Senior and executive PA’s must understand the entire business that they are working for as they typically have to run their own teams on PA’s, ensuring that they can teach others what the company is all about.
Operating efficiently and effectively
Effective executive PAs must ensure that they are able to cater for all of the needs of senior executives efficiently at all times. This means that they must know how to manage their time and workloads in all of the best ways. Being a great executive PA is not only about what you do, but how you do it – with the best executive PAs constantly finding new and improved ways of doing tasks in order to save time and assist businesses in moving forward.
Being a natural problem solver
People that have a tendency to solve problems without even trying make great executive PAs. The greatest executive PA’s don’t only solve problems that they are given, but also work with their teams and delegates to solve problems that the companies that they work for don’t even know exist.
Being a rigorous planner
Planning is one of the main roles of executive PAs, therefore people looking to be the best executive PAs possible must ensure that they know how to plan properly and that they constantly plan. Not only do these kinds of PAs have to plan their own workloads and lives but also their delegates and bosses. Planning never ever stops for executive PAs.
Being a strong influencer
Executive PA’s must know how to influence people and be able to influence people effectively. Some of the greatest influencing tactics include consultation, rational persuasion, exchange, ingratiation, coalition, upward appeals and pressure. Executive PAs are not only expected to influence their bosses to ensure that they are doing what’s best for them and the business, but also many other people include lower level PAs, customers and clients.
These are only some of the skills needed to be an executive personal assistant too! If anyone can think of any that we may have missed, we urge them to comment and share their thoughts below.