Executive assistant role

[Peanutbutteryday]

am I mad to consider looking at EA roles? I’m a qualified trained professional in A professional services firm. Client facing. Fairly senior but not a partner or director. I’m tired I have two children and I feel behind with the techno al aspect and I want to have more brain space for my kids. The job is client led so often I have late requests which rquire complex technical analysis which really doesn’t work anymore with my brain capacity and also wanting to focus on my kids.
im considering looking at EA roles. I could take a pay cut. I want more set hours. Happy for fast paced but happy for no technical. I’m organised and used to dealing with board level and partners and directors in my current client facing role.
what am I missing.
I work in London BTW.

Go for it. EAs are really well thought of in professional services and usually senior manager level so it may not be quite the cut you think.

It sounds a good fit with your skillset but make sure roles are genuine EA roles before investing time in your application, not 'PA to an Executive' mis-described as an EA.

The set hours are also something to be careful of - you might end up having to work at odd times according to the needs of your Exec.

Interesting that you think EA roles take less brain power. They are often running complex projects and the roles are certainly not just about being organised and dealing with board level staff. Set hours can also be tricky. As a pp said, they are also often considered at senior level and there is a reason for that.

Good idea. Depending on salary you need I would look in the independent school sector. Good holidays and school fee discount.

How do you think you would get a good EA role with no experience? I would suggest staying with what you do now and perhaps looking for a new role with better work/life balance.

You conception of an EA is a bit wrong. You constantly have to think on your feet; Its like being a PM for a person rather than a project. Board weeks and Governance weeks are mentally and emotionally draining you have to be 1 step ahead of task manager and anticipate needs (if the organisation has board/governance). The relationship can take weeks/months to achieve with ‘your person’. What’s important to them is not what’s important to another and to be good at your job you get technical. This is from someone that works in that environment

I probably didn’t word well. Without outing my current job it’s the technical aspect ie sifting through legislation and providing an opinion at all hours that I dont find works with having two children. I think EA roles are demanding but perhaps with less risk of opening up my company for being sued if I provided an incorrect technical opinion at 10pm on a Friday - which is stressful. Busy deadlines etc I can deal with. If I am wrong would really appreciate an honest overview hence making this post as I obviously haven’t undertaken an EA role before. Thanks for your time

Appreciate your time, thank you. To be honest this all sounds fine and pretty normal to me based on my current role - all skills I excel at. I’m fairly senior. Except what do you mean by technical? This is the aspect I’d like to lose. I had to train years with many exams and a formal training contract to be able to provide a technical opinion in my area of expertise.

Hi OP, I think some replies here are a little defensive!

My EA is amazing and has some really varied skills and experiences. She does routine diary/ project support/ budget tracking stuff for me, but also things like events organisation, providing in-person support in difficult conversations, and even last week, helping film a podcast!

She is great and her main skill is pretty much never blinking and just finding a solution to almost anything. She is always up for new challenges and just finished an AI apprenticeship paid for by our organisation.

I will say, the relationship between us is important. We are quite different people but respect each other, and crucially, she will challenge me in a helpful way. I think that's important.

I think you are a solicitor @Peanutbutteryday ? If so an EA role would be a good fit for your existing skills. Where I think you'd struggle is in working in an environment where not everyone you work with has the same skills and expertise as you, if you're in-house you'll already know this!
Also be aware that if you want to go back to soliciting later on it might be difficult.
Apologies if I've got your current profession wrong!

US-owned corporate based in UK. One thing that is common across our different territories is the respect paid the EA’s. It sounds as if it might be a good match for your skill set.

However, no one is ever recruited from outside the organisation directly to into a full EA position. They all work their way up the ladder from team secretary via small group of heads of department before landing a 1:1 position. Easiest may to move up the ranks is to have one of the people you work for be promoted up to having their own EA. They usually take their EA with them.

Success depends so much on the fit of personalities alongside the skills. Great job if you can get it, with a lot of flexibility and autonomy but really hard work, long hours and a certain magic to make things happen to get there.

good luck.