PAs / EAs I have a diary management question (for interview this afternoon)

[valerianroot]

Hi all - I'm interviewing for an EA position and it's looking after 3 people 2 in EU and other in US. I've only ever done EMEA time zones before and while in theory I don't mind looking after someone in US I'm not sure best way of doing this (obviously I don't want to stay online until COP in US). I think it's probably going to be a question asked today in interview, Any tips would be great. Thank you.

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What hours will you be doing? It might be that the hours are slightly off set so you can catch up on US work before the office hours of the EU work. So starting at 7am to do two hours “catch up” then after 9am dedicated to live time?

My experience is that unless it is US focussed (in which case hours slightly flexed for this purpose) that they will be aware and that the US person is likely an extra who will be light support - worth asking. That said, it really matters if they are Eastern or Pacific time. Eastern is manageable as you still have a good few hours when they come online and they may well start early, Pacific time it would be a silly idea really and I can't see any organisation knowingly setting that up.

Good luck. This is probably too late.

Are you working a standard 9-5? Where in the US is the other person? Just so that I can think how far out the hours are going to be. I work across Europe, US & sometimes Singapore. It's often understood that you'll basically be on the same timezone as the EU, but the US people are often used to you only being there in their morning, and then coming into a load of stuff from you the next day. I also find that US folk get up and are willing to have meetings earlier, although I wouldn't suggest that you say that anybody you're assisting needs to adjust their way of working to fit in with you!

To add, a lot of the people I have worked for have travelled extensively and at one point I had someone working in the UAE where he worked Sundays which simply meant I had a very busy Monday morning. It was about just managing expectations and building good relationships with EAs in other offices to help you (of course returning the favour when their people visit etc).

I do think it is worth mentioning relationship building with global support staff though... it demonstrates team work and willingness to look at the problem widely, stressing of course that it is a recipricol relationship.

Thank you all - she's based in New York, so there will be a good few hours afternoon overlap. My hours would be 9 - 5.30 (but obviously I'm flexible).

I think New York is definitely manageable, particularly if there is a small amount of flex both ways. She will be aware that she needs to get things done with you in the morning.

This was common in a company I used to work for. I think bosses were generally accepting that when they had an EA on another time zone that they wouldn’t always have someone available over the whole working day and it was their responsibility to get requests across during the half of the day that did align or be prepared to wait a bit longer. Then there was a network of global EAs that would help each out as/when needed. If you’ve previously supported a boss that travels a lot then it’ll be easy peasy as at least you always know what the time difference is! Good luck