If you're an Executive Assistant what duties do you undertake?

[SurvivingTheSeasons]

Just curious about a change of career with transferrable skills but slightly concerned about how it would fit around my personal life.

They tend to be quite different roles depending on sector and size of the company, and the person / people you are EA for. I am in EA in a small company. I do:
Two diaries, 3 expenses, two travel, office management, specific projects e.g research on competitors, invoice processing, HR induction.

Timing wise I often pick things up for an hour in the evening because we work across time zones, but it's not compulsory. But I get that back in having flexibility in the day to go to appointments etc. The main person I am EA for works completely different timings to me a lot of the time but we make it work through lots of messaging, so I'm not precious about being contacted out of hours.

DH has an EA. She intercepts all his emails, answering or redirecting them unless he absolutely needs to answer, takes minutes in all his meetings, sets up all his meetings (and rejects those just put in his diary), takes any organising/ interfacing work, ensures deadlines are met by others by monitoring deliverables, keeps her ear out for anything dh needs to hear in the company, sorts all his travel. She is also his buffer to the world, the one who can read him in a meeting to know when things need to be paused (or for him to have a stretch break as he has chronic pain but obv that isn't something a CEO says in meetings), and is the one everyone needs to get through before he has one more thing to deal with.
I think people often confuse EA and PA work, and certainly for DH he has to have an enormous amount of trust in his EA, so there is a lot of personality fit too.

I think Executive Assistant is one of those job titles that can mean anything or nothing. It very much depends on what the company/manager needs it to mean! It often seems to be used interchangeably with Personal Assistant. If you are applying for specific jobs there should be a job description. Otherwise, it can vary depending on whether you are working for an individual or a team.

Generally there is lots of diary and meeting management, minute taking, travel arrangements, expenses, collating of e.g. Board papers, acting as a "gate keeper" etc. I have been an EA and worked for a fairly high-profile individual whose work and life were intertwined so there was also a lot of personal admin - Christmas present buying, doctor/dentist appointments, arranging holidays, concert tickets for her daughter, car servicing etc etc. It's useful to know before you start the role if your employer will keep their personal admin completely separate or not - some people love undertaking it, some hate it, which is unfortunate if you end up spending time sourcing a particular kind of cashmere jumper or buying a birthday gift for a 5-year old!

Nowadays, few companies can afford/value having people in purely admin or support roles so often an EA will also have some responsibilities in e.g. HR, contract agreements.

I don't understand your point about how it would work around your personal life? It is no more or less likely to impact upon that than many other roles. What do you do currently?

As PPs have said, it varies a lot. When I first came across that type of role it was for someone who assisted the top bod but in addition to a PA who did the diary and gatekeeping etc. It was actually quite a senior role but without management responsibility - like having an extra brain to unload work onto but didn't have responsibility for decision-making.

Nowadays it can mean a PA type role - lots of diary work, minuting meetings, booking travel etc. In my current place there are both EAs and PAs and no one knows why both titles are in use, as it's not based on their grades. And even here the roles vary - some include broader duties (office management or departmental administration) whereas some support multiple directors and it's very diary/minuting heavy and endlessly trying to find meeting rooms.

As for fitting around your personal life, many of the jobs are just straightforward office hours. Are you thinking of a high end role where you are on call beyond normal office hours? If so make sure you're searching in the right place for them as many EA roles advertised in normal channels won't be that type of role.

The EAs I have known were highly qualified people and it was a stepping stone to a management job.

They would answer emails as if they were their director - even emails to the company CEO. They were privy to everything and acted as gatekeeper and prepared the director's meetings/presentations/press releases/Twitter messages......

I once worked for a director who had a PA (classic Pa job), a general EA plus me, his EA for a specific part of his job. It was fascinating just how much he delegated (right down to his emails to his direct manager). One of us was almost always at his side, especially briefing and debriefing in corridors between meetings, accompanying him on business trips etc.

His PA also coordinated with his wife so that his many bsiness trips didn't disrupt his family life too much. Including agreeing what time the motorbike would pick him up to take him to the airport...