To ask any ex PA's or EA's what they do now and how they transitioned?

[Keke94LND]

Sorry to post here but .. I wanted traffic 😬 also FYI PA stands for personal assistant and EA stands for executive assistant.

I'm an EA and have been for 6 years and I want OUT.. but how and to what?

Any ex PA's/EA's able to share their experiences? Please 😁

Have you considered working for yourself?
Skilled up EAs can make excellent virtual assistants for small businesses and entrepreneurs.
You can choose your specialism and your clients. It can be very flexible and well paid.
HTTPS://vact.co.uk is a good place to learn more. I have hired my assistants through this organisation.
It's not for everyone but I'd you have the itch to do your own thing then you definitely will have skills in demand by others.

@SalsaLove

I retrained in HR, and I’m so glad I did after 20 years as a PA. Have you thought of HR or Project Management?

Definitely considering HR! I'd really love something in corporate social responsibility eventually.. and I think HR could be a good route into something like that

@GrimDamnFanjo

Have you considered working for yourself? Skilled up EAs can make excellent virtual assistants for small businesses and entrepreneurs. You can choose your specialism and your clients. It can be very flexible and well paid. HTTPS://vact.co.uk is a good place to learn more. I have hired my assistants through this organisation. It's not for everyone but I'd you have the itch to do your own thing then you definitely will have skills in demand by others.

Definitely considered it! But I just don't feel experienced enough having only had 6 years experience 🤷🏼‍♀️ I also don't have any contacts having only worked for 2 very small companies

@GrimDamnFanjo

Have you considered working for yourself? Skilled up EAs can make excellent virtual assistants for small businesses and entrepreneurs. You can choose your specialism and your clients. It can be very flexible and well paid. HTTPS://vact.co.uk is a good place to learn more. I have hired my assistants through this organisation. It's not for everyone but I'd you have the itch to do your own thing then you definitely will have skills in demand by others.

That links not working www.vact.co.uk

@Keke94LND I've sent you a pm about the career coaching I had.

@Keke94LND only 6 years!!

You've definitely got enough experience!
My va has an ex finance sector background. She works for about 5 clients me, a tech agency, a photographer, a craft business, an artist as well I think. I never see the others impacting my work with her. She's a great time organiser as you'd expect.

I agree marketing yourself can be a daunting thought but there's a lot of support and advice out there.

how did you go about getting a job with a different title?

This sounds more organised than it was, but basically I thought of a field I was interested in and did some research about what kind of jobs were in that field. There are "support" type jobs everywhere, it's just in a lot of fields it's a mix of that with other things. Like people have said for example it might be a job that involves looking after someone's diary but also (for example) being the administrator for a specific council committee, or helping arrange photoshoots, or what have you.

I was an EA for ten years but became a self employed Virtual Assistant a couple of years ago.i now work the hours I want and only take on the type of work I want to do.

There are lots of different types of VAs but there is definitely demand for those with classic PA/EA skills.

This website was a fantastic source of info when I was getting started. www.thevahandbook.com

One of the equity partners in my previous City law firm was an ex-PA. She qualified via the ILEX route. She was one of the highest earners and most respected partners in the whole firm. It's definitely possible to switch!

I took a sideways move into Health and Safety admin. Far more interesting and the admin skills are very well used. I have also gained qualifications and the chance to progress.

I am an ex PA/Office Manager for UHNW individuals. I refrained as an Estate Manager and worked as that until I had children. I now work for my local parish council. Doesn’t pay as well (£15 per hour) but is 100% flexible and home working so it suits me really well with young children.

I moved into an office manager role for a start up, wrote all their processes, procedures, office policies and as a result an moving into HR. It was a great move for me, developing project management skills and doing something I enjoy and am good at.

@elbea

I am an ex PA/Office Manager for UHNW individuals. I refrained as an Estate Manager and worked as that until I had children. I now work for my local parish council. Doesn’t pay as well (£15 per hour) but is 100% flexible and home working so it suits me really well with young children.

Interesting .. I work with UHNW individuals .. I guess you live rurally though if you are an estate manager,

I’ve employed former EAs in my marketing team - event management particularly but also Investor Relations type roles, know some who went into HR by studying alongside work for a while.

I was a board level PA for 15 years before retraining as a Counsellor, it took time (3 years part time) and did cost a fair bit around £7k in total to get qualified/accredited but totally worth it, now I choose my hours with good pay and do something worthwhile with my time. I was so bored in my PA life and just didnt want to look after someone else's day/diary/life for ever! It was really scary but worth taking the plunge, best of luck with your next steps

I worked as very senior EA in Financial services, but after I had my kids i couldn’t stand it anymore (too many big babies to look after) so I transitioned into a business enablement role, started picking some big projects and then my org funded a MSc in HR for me and now I have a senior HR role and I love it.

There are so many transferable skills from EA work,. I think finding your niche is key. I used to worry about my “past” but no one has ever questioned my credentials or ability. I would agree that emphasising the more strategic aspects of your role in your CV is important, projects you have led etc. I applied for about 20 jobs before I got my transition role, you just need to be persistent.

@MirandasMumIsSuchFun

I was a board level PA for 15 years before retraining as a Counsellor, it took time (3 years part time) and did cost a fair bit around £7k in total to get qualified/accredited but totally worth it, now I choose my hours with good pay and do something worthwhile with my time. I was so bored in my PA life and just didnt want to look after someone else's day/diary/life for ever! It was really scary but worth taking the plunge, best of luck with your next steps

Interesting! I actually think I would make a good counsellor haha but never had any idea how to get into that.. Did you have to take a pay cut initially? I volunteer for a crisis line so have a little bit of experience

I'm a Project Manager now, was an EA. Similar skills just more delivery responsibilities.

@Keke94LND not necessarily, my last job as an estate manager was 30 minutes on the train to Euston. I’ve equally worked as an Estate Manager living in the Lake District. Having previously worked for UHNW individuals was a huge bonus.

they see being an EA as a job rather than a career

I don't actually know what an Executive Assistant does as they didn't exist when I last worked in an office (20 years ago). There were secretaries and PAs who basically did a secretarial job with less typing.

Obviously, roles evole but - from this thread - it would appear that PA/EA isn't a career and doesn't need a degree. There seems to be no natural progression, it's a job. Which is fine as, contrary to what many on MN seems to think, not everyone has or wants a career.

It must be frustrating for someone who has got a degree but maybe we shouldn't encourage people to go to uni at 18 without some sort of plan.

I'm having that conversation with DD at the moment.

Thank you for answering my question, OP, and best of luck to you.

Currently work in a multinational company and a lot of EA's have transitioned into project management / communication roles.
Have you considered something like event managaement?
Where I work though EA's do things like create slides, organise events etc on behalf of their Managing Directors (career/awareness etc events) and so are quite experienced in their own right!

If you don't want to make a decision now try aiming for a job in a bigger company, you never know where it'll take you. a lot of MNC's also prefer to recruit internally and if people take a chance on you they can even create roles for you on their team. Much easier than applying 'blind' for open roles so to speak.

I was a PA who went to being a project manager, then ops manager and now have returned to being a PA again.

My current role uses lots of project management and ops skills. Mainly because I made it clear that if I wasn't involved in more than just diary management and expenses, I wouldn't be staying. I'm very happy - I was lucky to get a good boss that involves me fully in the business and respects me. It's a small company, so I could shape my role to a large extent.

I'm in my 50s so not bothered about changing to anything else at this point - in your shoes OP I think I'd be going the HR route.

@AmanitaRubescens I don’t think that’s fair to say really, I think it’s definitely a career if you want it to be. I started off as an admin apprentice at 18 for a UHNW by 25 I was earning £60,000. I had a career change because I wanted to work outside an office.

I have friends that have gone on to qualify as Company secretaries earning six figures. If you have the drive it can definitely be a career.

OK but progression for the majority is patchy.

I think many people are happy to do a 9-5 (or 6pm) job, switch off their computers and switch off from work. PA/EA work sounds ideal for them. Obviously, not for OP as she clearly has drive.