Career progression: PA to...?

[Poppins2016]

If you were a PA and feel that you've achieved career progression, what do you do now?

I'm currently PA to a group managing director (my job description matches those I've seen for 'executive PA' roles).

I'm desperate for a change. I want career progression and a higher salary. I no longer want to be someone's assistant (I'm tired of assisting. I want to make my own mark and do my own thing).

I know I'm capable of carrying out a management type role (I'm considered part of the management team by my current organisation) but my CV doesn't really reflect that (my job history is administration > office manager > executive PA).

So where do I go from here and how?

Ignore the lines, formatting error (I was attempting arrows)!

I'll add (in case it sways any advice)...

I'm currently halfway through an OU degree in psychology as a mature student, as that's where my heart lies. However, I have 3 years to go (part time study) and I need a change now!

I'm tempted to ignore the psychology side of things, however, and focus on what I can do now, with no degree qualification!

I started as office manager/PA and then moved into a client relationship/sales support role. This was only possible because it was a small team (just five of us) so the OM role was very varied and I had a lot of client/prospect contact through answering phone calls and general email enquiries. This came with a salary increase and higher bonus potential. Next step up would be to move to a relationship manager position but I feel like I need a few more years experience first.

My DH had a PA he has just promoted to Director of Business Operations. She is responsible for running a number of projects related to expanding their business model and strategy planning. She showed a lot of initiative and was generally super organised and interested in the management side of their business. The company is also paying for her to do some related professional qualifications at evening school.

Is there a particular area of the business or your industry you are really interested in? What are your top skills?

Interesting thread

Events management.

Business management?

Which aspects of the job do you most enjoy and/or what purpose would get you out of bed in the morning?

I've seen exec PAs move into corporate affairs/corporate comms, corporate social responsibility, marketing, and running the diversity & inclusion programme for a FTSE100 company. All did so by identifying an area of activity that they were interested in and making a sideways (grade-wise) move.

Other areas are available - a move into the chief operating office /chief of staff /investment or portfolio management team would also be logical.

I'm definitely not a sales/account manager type person, but I am good at relationship building (diplomacy, inter-department/company relations, helping people to work together...). Not sure (non sales) 'relationship building' on it's own gets me very far, though!

Operations is possibly something to look at. My current organisation has an operations director and I feel I could probably develop into (or even do, straight off!) that role with relative ease (I was involved in supporting the role).

One of the main issues I have is that there's no room for progression (sideways or otherwise) at the company I currently work for (limited headcount), so I'm trying to collect my thoughts before applying for external jobs. I need to identify areas to focus on... the trouble is that I've been a bit of a "jack of all trades" and I'm seen as capable in many areas (in my current role I've been involved in marketing, IT, operations, HR, finance, general support to the managing director...). I don't have a true passion for any of these things, but I do need a job!

How about a move into HR? You could do your CIPD qualification to get some more experience and then make a sideways move before moving up to other HR roles.

Try the Civil Service where recruitment focuses on transferrable skills. You have lots of these.

If you're performing in current role might you be able to arrange shadowing in areas that you'd like to explore more, possibly while your replacement phases in to learn the ropes?

Relationship-building is valuable in most management roles.

Project management. A good PA has several on the go at once, so the transferable skills are high. I'd maybe do a qualification in it, to demonstrate I knew the formalities rather than just winging it, and also that I was committed to doing it properly.

Projects managers could earn about £60k, then progress to Programme Directors overseeing a number of projects. Programme Director roles at my work pay circa £140k.