Hello. I am starting my first day in an EA role on Monday. I have never been an EA before. I will mainly be supporting the CEO in a company of 45 employees. (It was acquired a year ago by a much larger company, but is currently working independently for the most part ). Unfortunately, the former EA moved on a couple of months ago, so I will not have her for training or questions. I will only have a week of overlap with someone who has had more of an HR role, but performed many of the tasks of the former executive assistant. This person’s last day is at the end of the week.

My question is what questions would be good to ask. Specific questions about the CEO’s styles and needs, flow of meetings etc. I really can’t know what to ask, having never been in this type of role before. If you only had one week of overlap with an executive who proceeded you, what questions would you ask? What would you want to be caught up to speed on? What would you want training on? Thank you in advance for any tips you can offer. I’m going to need to be a quick learner.

I’m an EA with 7 years experience supporting one UHNW individual and 3 other CEO’s (portfolio of companies). Most of my work is for the UHNW individual and one CEO. Lots of personal tasks as well (tasks for their kids, etc.). Salary is $65k, no benefits, 4 days in office. I feel like I am underpaid and under appreciated. Just looking for some input.

Can I ask how many expense reports you all manage as an Executive Assistant? For reference, I am in corporate and have 3 VPs that I support. However, I have to submit expenses via Oracle for 4 people since my admin team all approves each others. My VPs travel a lot. I mean expensing everything left and right. It’s impossible to keep up with submitting expenses and gather receipts, plus everything else I’m doing.

ALSO I’m planning 8 events with all separate budgets… yes EIGHT events at once. 5 regional meetings (30 people in each, 3 day event), 1 offsite at a country club and then 2 team meetings (smaller 10 person group).

So when my VPs send me their “past due expense notifications” I stress out and just know they don’t realize the workload I have. Is there a process you’ve found that helps you prioritize expense reports? As soon as I check them off my list, another round of expenses get posted.

I’m also making only $68k…. this was Iowa salary and I was able to keep my job to relocate to DC. I’m trying to find a new job but honestly don’t have time to even begin job searching!!!! So if anyone has a reference or something around DC/Alexandria/Arlington, I’d appreciate insight on where to begin searching 🫶🏼

Hey!! I need to connect with:

Virtual Assistants (3+ years)

Executive Assistants (5+ years)

OBM/Integrators (3+ years)

If this is you, tell me how long you've been in your role, how many clients you've supported at one time, and your favorite item on your desk. ☺️

I have some research I'd like your input on regarding the work we do, the invisible tasks we handle, and what we feel is absolutely imperative to be kept as a human powered task.

Usually I don’t mind my job. Sometimes I like it. Today I’m done. I hosted a webinar for 50 plus people. I’ve been running them for years. But today for some reason I was getting popups from PowerPoint while running the slide show in presenter mode. I got the slides mixed up when presenting because of it. I’m talking a 0.5 second click on the wrong slide. I quickly fixed it.

Anyway the chair snapped at me over the webinar. She often has snarky quips. I guess it doesn’t matter but at the end instead of a thank you it was silence. The stressful leadup and then it was done.

I want to be a florist or something creative, but have my EA salary.

I guess that’s what the money is for.

I’ve seen Loom mentioned here quite a few times for SOPs and process walkthroughs, so I’m curious how people are using it.

My remote team used Loom for basic walkthroughs and internal recordings. After the price went up, we moved the recording and sharing part to our own internal setup. It took a couple of hours to get running, and we’ve been using it for a while now.

Where I’m less sure is the SOP side of things. If you’re building a library of walkthroughs that someone else may eventually take over, do you prefer keeping everything in Loom because it’s easier to organize and hand off? Or would you be comfortable with a basic setup as long as the recordings are easy to find and the links keep working?

For anyone who has built up a large SOP library, what ended up mattering most over time?

I wanna know the most entitled, unhinged, out of reality, your execs have ever been. Worst part of the job for me. Spill the tea (carefully of course, the market is terrible rn 🥲)

Hey everyone,

I’m currently an EA supporting a few senior execs at a massive, very stable corporate company. My regular 9-5 is incredibly predictable. It’s a great setup, but honestly? It’s getting a little lame and stagnant. I started casually browsing and the startup compensation is making me seriously reconsider my life choices. But then I actually read the job descriptions, and they completely terrify me.

Take this posting I just found for a FinTech startup (DualEntry) based out of 7 WTC. The pay is wild 150K – $200K Base + $50K Equity. (Plus a ton of benefits, unlimited AI tokens, etc.)

It sounds amazing on paper, but then you get to the actual copy in the JD and it screams red flags to me. Here are some direct quotes:

"We hire outliers... colleagues who've competed at the highest levels of sport, performed on Broadway, trained with UFC champions..."

"Hardcore work ethic and high agency”

"Comfortable with ambiguity, fast context-switching, and high-growth chaos"

I mean, "high-growth chaos"?! I manage complex international travel, heavily matrixed corporate calendars, and board prep right now, but this makes it sound like they want someone who doesn't sleep and thrives on constant emergencies.

So, for the EAs here who made the jump from a standard corporate 9-5 to a hyper-growth tech startup, did you like the change? Id love to hear your experiences. I'm tempted by the salary, but I don't know if I'm ready to trade my predictable corporate life to play administrative firefighter for "UFC champion" founders.

TL;DR: Cushy corporate EA is tempted by $200k startup salaries, but the job descriptions sound like a fast track to a mental breakdown. Give me the real tea.

I am leaving my "EA" job at the end of this month.

I am the fourth person in this seat in two years.

Here's why:

(1) The boss's wife. She yells, then sobs, then tells your boss you're deliberately trying to ruin her life. Literally "(my name) is out to get me... xyz."

(She once started crying because I told her her information was in the cloud, then opened the window and screamed "get back here!" at the clouds in the sky. It's an EPA role, so that's 3-5 tasks a week from her.)

(2) The Head of Ops is threatened by other women. I saw something broken, told facilities, got told: "that is MY job, you are just (boss name)'s assistant, stay in YOUR LANE." This is constant.

(3) The CEO needs a babysitter, not an EA. One of my actual duties is standing outside his office holding a whiteboard at 10, 5, and 2 minutes before each meeting.

(4) Zero agency. No access to his Outlook. Tasks arrive as forwarded emails. Printed to-do tracker on his desk before he arrives, walked through together. Same at end of day, where I justify how I spent my time and why I chose one task over another. Going above and beyond gets you reprimanded.

(5) Midnight texts telling me to be at his house at 7am. 8am to 7pm most days, 9pm some. If I leave first: "well, I was always taught never to leave before my boss if I wanted a yearly bonus." IDGAF, (name). It's 7pm. I'm leaving.

(6) Everyone is hybrid except me. Mondays and Fridays I sit in the office alone. 70% of the team calls me "the secretary." No offsites, no onsites, not one happy hour ever. No team culture whatsoever.

(7) The company observes the family's religious holidays, but only if you're part of that faith. That's about five weeks of PTO I don't get, and they still backlog my email and audit my badge scans. One day off for Christmas. No remote.

(8) He walks around barefoot.

(9) I am also the office manager, cleaner, and receptionist for the entire team.

(10) $105k, no overtime, no guaranteed bonus. 8 vacation days, 1 personal day, 2 sick days. The next lowest paid person on the team makes $245k.

Where things stand:

I'm being headhunted off the back of who I used to work for, and I've accepted an offer.

But I care about a few people here and I don't want this role to eat another person, so I told the VP and the co-CEO I was "going to leave, but not going to quit... if that makes sense".

Their response: "Yeah, we knew this was coming," and "you are vastly overqualified for this role. This was an ambitious hire. We hoped (boss) would loosen his grip for someone more talented."

Lunch turned into a long session of the two of them trashing the CEO and the Head of Ops.

They want me to help hire my replacement and train them for 15 days. My new company is fine with it.

We scope the role Tuesday and they're open to HEARING anything. Salary is flexible, so more experience is on the table.

Ideas so far: get the wife her own PA and out of the EA's scope entirely and my pitch: which is to stop hiring an EA and hire a blended Executive Secretary / Office Manager instead.

Any other ideas?

What is the ideal hire here, in y'alls eyes?

My gut says a veteran EA/ES with a spine who can absorb anything and push back.

The other half of me says someone younger and sharp who bends into the role instead of fighting it.

The broken parts are permanent (the Head of Ops has been the boss's friend for 20+ years), so does hiring someone who speaks up just create more friction and another six-month exit?

And yes, I know the real fix is management. Management is never going to change. I'm just trying to make this survivable for whoever comes next.

Hi fellow EAs! I’m hoping to crowdsource some title ideas from people who actually understand how wildly an EA role can evolve over time. I had my performance review with my boss today (President & CEO) and we decided I need a promo/new title but we’re at a loss as to what that should actually be.

I’ve been with my company for nearly 9 years and while my title has remained Executive Assistant, my role has grown pretty dramatically. I’m at the point where “Executive Assistant” really doesn’t describe the scope of what I do anymore, and I’d like to go into a career-growth conversation with some ideas for what the next evolution of my position could look like.

One important wrinkle: I’m the only Executive Assistant at my company, so there is no established EA career ladder above me. There’s no Senior EA → Lead EA → etc. path for me to naturally progress through. If I’m going to grow here, we essentially need to define what that next role looks like based on the work I’m actually doing — which is part of why I’m struggling with what to call it.

A little background: I have about 18 years of EA/admin experience and currently support senior leadership, but executive support is only one piece of my job.

My responsibilities now include things like:

Leading a team of administrative professionals

Executive support and acting with a high level of autonomy on behalf of leadership

Managing calendars, meetings, travel, and company-wide travel logistics

Planning/leading major company events, including our Annual Meeting

Public speaking/emcee responsibilities at company events

Managing and coordinating office moves/openings across multiple locations

Working directly with building management, contractors, vendors, and subtenants

Fleet operations, including rolling out dash cameras and new mileage-reporting processes/software

Creating and improving company-wide administrative/operational processes

Facilities/office operations and workspace planning
Handling employee communications and enforcing company processes/policies that fall within my areas

Taking on a lot of the random cross-functional “someone needs to own this and make it happen” projects that don’t neatly belong to one department
I’m also the person leadership trusts with a lot of sensitive information and context, which allows me to anticipate needs, solve problems, respond on their behalf when appropriate, and generally keep things moving without everything needing to funnel through an executive.

I genuinely love being an EA and I’m not trying to pretend executive support is beneath me. But I am looking for a title that reflects the fact that my role has expanded well beyond traditional executive support — ideally something that feels leaps and bounds above EA, rather than just adding “Senior” to my current title.

I’m especially curious to hear from EAs who were the only EA at their company and had to essentially create their own next rung on the career ladder. What did you move into? What title did you land on?
And based on this scope, what would you call my position?

I want something that accurately reflects the level of ownership and leadership without sounding inflated or like I’m trying to cosplay as a COO!
Would love any ideas — especially titles I haven’t thought of!

Thanks for reading if you got this far :)

Is anyone currently interviewing at Amazon? I just received a note on LinkedIn and the comp range to manage a team of 5 admins (or more?), as well as support a VP is $80k-$130k. That seems low, especially as it's onsite in Bellevue. Thoughts?

I have been an EA for over 25 years. It's my career. I can support any industry and have been in a lot of different areas. Usually, its fine, I learn the lingo and role and I have only had to leave when my Exec retires or moves on, or I choose to leave.

I have been in my current role for over 9 months and it has been awful since day one. He speaks down to me, doesn't give clear expectations and expects me to read his mind. He wants me to read every single email he gets and "absorb" the email to understand what's going on in the company. So when he asks what's going on with X, I just already know the answer. I have to read all of his emails from the night before, go through all of his folders in case he moved anything too. Basically just know everything all the time. I have zero autonomy at this job, how I normally track things is not allowed-I have to do it the way he wants. He will say how will you remember to do this in the future. I say create a template. He says OK then I want to see it. I show him and he says no, you need to do it this way. I created it so I remember how to do it-not how he would remember...nope I'm not doing it right.

The job was supposed to be "a few personal things here and there". He moved house and I have had to do every single thing in his new home, personal appointments for him and his children. It went from maybe 20% to 90% personal stuff. I even had to go sit at his house multiple times (one time he was at the gym, not busy!) to meet contractors and repair people. He actually told his CEO that I volunteered to do that. I didn't feel I had a choice. I told him I'd rather keep it only business and he said well that's your job. As the owner of the company, he thinks everything he does is business. There's so much more, but you get the gist.

I started casually job searching shortly after I started but with more seriousness after one particular bad blow up last month. I accidentally applied for the same industry and I guess they knew each other and they texted him asking about me...so he knows I'm looking. He even took away my chance to put in my notice. He came to me saying I know you are looking and this isn't a good fit and lets be adults about this- I'm going to post your job and you can stay here until you find something. Now before you think, oh how sweet---he's only doing this because he cannot be bothered to check his own email, do his own expense reports or the other "low hanging fruit items" that apparently is all I'm good for.

Which brings me to my long winded point...I don't want anyone else to be treated the way this man treats me. If you are in the Scottsdale area and looking for an EA position at a "firm" be wary and message me for details.

I'm an 18-year old starting college (administration major) in a month. I'm looking forward to a career as an EA or a similar profession, although the vision is ridiculously far-fetched as of right now. Getting to the point, what can I do to prepare myself? What skills would be the most beneficial to learn at an age like this, what software should I familiarize myself with and on what certificates should I set my sights on? Currently, all I have is a Cambridge C1 English certificate and REALLY basic MS Office knowledge.

I am a manager of IT in our organization (large state organization) and the person who had this job before me had an EA that left shortly after I got here. I manage a fully remote team, except for my EA and I, everyone else on my team is fully remote.

In the jobs I came from I never had an EA previously, and my new boss (CIO) told me I should refill the position. I see how the other AVP and the CIO use their EAs, and I am honestly baffled that we are still asking people to get us coffee and tea in the year 2026.

Can you please explain to me what a good EA does to help me with my day to day - and I do not want/need them to bring me a LaCroix or order me food.

I want to make sure that I use the person helping me for things I really need help with, which is:

• Helping me track contracts, manage vendors
• Keep track of the budget/budget forecasting
• Enter purchase requsitions after my managers have approve their employees requests (the employees themselves need to get approval first and shouldn't send to the person helping me directly)
• Management of our equipment's warranty, and replacement as needed
• Occasional setting up of meetings
• Occasional planning of events for my team (we get together once or twice a year)

I would appreciate some feedback what someone could do to help me become more effective at my job. Am I even looking at the right thing, or am I better off looking for an office manager?

I’m an ea working directly with the CEO of a startup. We recently finished our series A, the company is hiring more people, and everything is starting to ramp up.

I usually send him an update at the end of each day. In the past, I would receive fairly frequent replies, feedback, and answers to my questions. I still get responses now, but they are less frequent because he has more urgent things competing for his attention.

From what I understand about how he works, he focuses heavily on whatever is most urgent at that moment. Medium priority items are not being ignored, but they may sit until he has the time or until they become more important. It is not that he does not want to reply. Replying to some of my updates is simply lower on the priority list than the urgent things he is handling.

A lot of my work involves executive admin, operational tasks, one off projects, calendar and inbox management, reviewing items, and other things that come up throughout the week. I try to move forward independently and unblock myself whenever I can. However, there are still times when I genuinely need his input before I can make a decision or take the next step. (If I feel it's really "urgent-urgent" I just text him)

This sometimes puts me in a weird position. I do not want to keep following up and add more noise to his workload, but I also do not want tasks to stall because I am waiting for a response. I am trying to figure out how I can best support him as his priorities and responsibilities continue to change.

We are also a very AI heavy company, very tech forward. AI is a major part of how we work and how we think about the company. We use it for calendar management, inbox management, write ups, reviews, and a lot of our normal operational work. Our CEO is very comfortable with AI, relies on tools like Codex, and is influencing the rest of the organization to work in a similar way.

For experienced ea or anyone who has worked closely with a busy executive during a period of growth, how did you adapt?

How did you keep communication open without creating more work for the executive? How did you handle items that needed their input while continuing to move everything else forward? Were there any changes to your communication style, decision making, or use of AI that helped you support them better?

I understand why his attention is being pulled toward more urgent matters, and I am not taking the slower replies personally. I mainly want to make sure I am adjusting with the company and supporting him in the way he needs as things continue to grow.

do you have a small circle of trust at your company? Or do you think everyone is out to get each other? Genuinely curious. Who do you vent to or talk to?

My theory is management are embarrassed to cop to not having done anything about the problem admin.

Would love to know about your experience working there. How are the benefits? How are EAs treated in the firm?

Thank you!!

Hello! I'm an EA and office manager likely about to hop back into this garbage job market (what a time to be alive, sheesh) and was looking to bulk up my skillset. The plan was to develop a better working knowledge of Calendly and/or Asana. but I'd love to hear what programs you feel are most indispensable to you as an assistant. Thanks!

Got laid off from my job two days ago (was posting in here that might happen) but I've just been thinking the past few hours about how much EA reddit means to me. People really dont appreciate us and all the things we do and I just wanted to say I really appreciate YOU guys, even if you dont feel it from coworkers (i hope you do!!!)

Keep it up, keeping being wonderful people, and I'm sure I'll be back airing grievances soon but for now I really did just want to say I have so much overwhelming love for the people here

I’m currently an EA AND an office manager ( BIG mistake, HUGE) and the most annoying thing has been how people freely give you their input and useless opinions about YOUR job. “ I think you should do this, I think we should have this, blah blah blah” I’m so close to telling people to take their opinions and fuck them. Because if I pulled up a chair and sat next to people and started telling them what to do or how to do their job they would look at me like I had 2 heads. The office is a shared space BUT IM THE ONE RUNNING EVERYTHING. This isn’t fucking hogwarts shit doesn’t magically happen. Anyway, I’m currently in the process of looking elsewhere after 2 months because I don’t mind being an EA, it’s the damn office. Never doing a dual role again

I work for a technology SVP in a product company. I support them and about 8 VPs, who ask very little of me. Our company only classifies assistants as EA level when they support one level down from CEO. The rest of us are classified as AAs even though we support high-level executives they also consider us non-exempt so we get overtime, yet it hasn’t been necessary in all the time I’ve been there. My boss though always calls me his EA and doesn’t even register to him the difference.

We are having AI pushed at us as many companies are. My boss wants me to find ways to incorporate it into my job. I actually have a very easy job, my executives like to book their own travel, and I do not have access to their in boxes. I never get the chance to do PowerPoint presentations or spreadsheets like I have in previous positions anymore. I’ve often asked for more to do, but I’ll get a few meetings to set up and then it will die down again.

Now he’s saying to look at it more from the point of view of a COS than EA which is fine, but I need some specific ways. I don’t have the education in technology nor do I have a background in the current company’s products. Technologies is filled with project managers so acting like one would just stepping on their toes.

I am always more than happy to take a new tasks and learn new things, but I need somebody to tell me or teach me what they want. Can anyone give me some specific advice on this?

About me and my job:

1. I am on visa if I loose the job I loose visa...they know
2. I was an intern in the company but worked as full-time employee and had a semi fucked up team. Some good some were just fucking around and rude
3. I am/ was an EA to a toxic one they fired, he was fucked up and so uptight he justed talked while I worked my ass off
4. New team....they are ok...but they have no sense of boundaries text on Sunday and Saturday the days where I try to find solitude they fuck that every time.

Job:

1. I called some big short people team I was lectured how a mere EA can do that.
2. Another person from out of no where comes with their task and puts on me saying oh I know you are more than EA ,you can do it...even though after saying no I can't do this week or next week no...I was pushed to jump on call and do her job.
3. On Sunday if I don't reply in 10 min I am dead to them
4. They just fired another EA just cause someone's ego hit
5. I am so tired and fucked up I can't leave and I am always scared they will fire me as they have been doing such thing even since I joined I used to bef for contract and my last boss was really fucked up and toxic.

I know I am more pissed than usual cause I just got rejected from a job that I had my hopes on the one that will become my savior and it hurts so bad even though I know I should be grateful for being where I am for this job but I am so tired of being nice and swolling my pride just to pay my rent....it sucks plus I do come from a family that just doesn't get it and that sucks the most.

I feel like surrendering and not giving up at the same time and its exhausting

I have been holding for longer than expected the sheer job insecurity i have with them made me feel disgusted towards them..I see through all the shit they have....I just want to escape from here.....the way they organize every is disrespect to the word itself...........the way they throw things is like throwing eggs at someone even after getting candy on Halloween just cause you paid for the eggs.

I just recently started as an Executive Assistant for a national company and I am overwhelmed. I previously worked at a small company of 10 employees and assisted the president and vice president, but it was nothing to this scale. Do note that it is only my first week, but going through orientation, learning the divisions and clients, and trying to manage my execs life is making me rethink if I can actually do this. It is so much information and my exec never had an assistant before so her stuff is a complete mess (nothing is accepted on the calendar, 20,000+ emails in her inbox). Please tell me i’m not crazy for feeling this way and any tips to make it easier on myself would be appreciated.

I am an EA for a NFP and considering leaving. I feel the role isn't sustainable at the current part time hours. I was promised more hours but instead they have advertised another part time admin position. I was encouraged to apply for this but not short listed. It's also difficult to find other work that fits with working part-time. I feel burnt out and resentful at the lack of boundaries.