As an executive with a tight schedule, you are often advised to hire an administrative or executive assistant to manage your workload.

Six months down the line, you are more frustrated than before, and haven’t reclaimed your time.

What you need is an executive assistant with experience providing high-level support. 

Now, let’s examine what makes a good executive assistant, including the ideal combination of hard and soft skills.

TL;DR – What Makes a Great Executive Assistant

A great executive assistant must understand that they are a utility player. Their roles exceed those of the typical assistant, as they encompass undertaking tasks, projects, and responsibilities that fall under the five performance multipliers: business partner, chief of staff, scheduler, personal assistant, and project manager.

The right technical/hard skills help executive assistants undertake their daily administrative tasks:

  • Tech savviness to use executive assistant tools
  • Written communication for effective email correspondence
  • Calendar management to solve scheduling bottlenecks
  • Research skills to find information quickly and present it in the correct format

A good executive assistant must also have the emotional intelligence to influence their soft skills:

  • Type A personality that helps them maintain control under pressure
  • Willingness to take initiative by anticipating problems and addressing them
  • Ability to exist within a ‘system’ and be a team player
  • Empathetic to other people’s feelings and emotions
  • Ability to use their influence to address bottlenecks subtly

Getting an executive assistant who checks all these boxes requires a thorough interviewing process, which most C-suites lack the time for. 

ProAssisting gives ready access to well-vetted remote executive assistants with experience providing high-level support to CEOs, public figures, founders, and directors. 

Even better, you can hire an EA full-time or utilize ⅓, ½, or ⅔ of their services.

Take the first step. Book a one-on-one consultation to learn how the right EA can help you reclaim your time!

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How a Great Executive Assistant Brings Strategic Edge

An excellent EA does far more than manage calendars or handle logistics; they become an extension of their principal. A seasoned EA won’t wait for instructions; instead, they will anticipate needs and spot challenges before the executive does.

Consequently, their proactivity, foresight, and creativity reshape how the principal operates, which Ethan Bull refers to as the five performance multipliers:

1. Business Partner: We are not suggesting that your EA is a co-director in your firm or business. However, a great EA shares your concern for your business and readily goes out of their way to help you achieve your company goals. This makes them the perfect person to bounce ideas off and get an objective perspective on how to tackle your operational challenges.

    2. Chief of Staff: The right EA functions as your ‘double,’ representing you in meetings and responding to emails or phone calls on your behalf. They become your point person through whom all communication and correspondence passes, so they can filter the information and involve you only when needed. This frees up your time, allowing you to focus on your core business functions.

    3. Project Manager: The role of an EA as a project manager mainly involves planning and overseeing company events such as board meetings and retreats. For example, your EA should review your calendar to identify the best time to organize a retreat that doesn’t conflict with other commitments. Additionally, they should be the designated contact person on the specific day(s), allowing you to engage with your stakeholders or board members without distractions.

    4. Assistant/Scheduler: A great EA should be a master at playing calendar tetris, organizing meetings, and commitments based on priority. Further, they should provide the requisite support for the meetings, such as highlighting key points for discussion or preparing a dossier on potential clients.

    5. Personal Assistant: Many executives struggle to balance their personal and professional lives, with their professional life often flourishing at the expense of their personal life. The right EA steps into your personal life and handles errands like renewing your gym membership, planning your annual family trip, or even overseeing grocery shopping. 

    Bottom line, a great EA gives you a strategic edge by handling administrative tasks so you can focus on your most important projects. This allows you to accomplish significantly more than you would have before hiring an executive assistant, and achieve what Ethan Bull likes to call “The 29-Hour Work Day.”

    Two women collaborate at a desk with a laptop. One is seated typing, while the other stands, leaning over and giving suggestions. Bright and focused.

    The Problem with Defining a ‘Good Executive Assistant’ by Tasks Alone

    Many executives hire EAs to undertake administrative tasks like email correspondence and calendar management, so it makes perfect sense that they’d judge performance based on task completion.

    On paper, an EA could be considered ‘excellent’ if they are efficient and get things done quickly. The main challenge, however, would be whether they effectively apply emotional intelligence and soft skills in their roles.

    An executive assistant who has been with their principal for, say, a decade, possesses vicarious authority, so they can use ‘sharp elbows’ to get their way around the office. Such an EA meets the criteria for a ‘good executive assistant’ when judging by tasks alone, but they are not the complete package.

    So what constitutes a good executive assistant? Let’s answer that question in the next section.

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    What Makes a Good Executive Assistant?

    At the very least, an EA should be able to perform administrative tasks, such as calendar management and travel planning. However, being tech savvy but with low EQ limits how much an EA can meet their principal’s support needs.

    A good executive assistant requires a well-balanced combination of hard and soft skills.

    Hard Skills/Qualities of a Good Executive Assistant

    These are the technical abilities that enable an EA to undertake their daily or administrative tasks efficiently:

    • Tech Savviness: Proficiency in productivity, communication, and project management tools like Microsoft Office, Google Workspace, and Slack.
    • Written Communication: Ability to draft professional emails, correspondence, memos, or prepare comprehensive reports.
    • Calendar Management: Strong organizational skills to address the principal’s scheduling bottlenecks, allocate time based on priority and urgency, and get the email inbox under control.
    • Research Skills: The right EA should be able to quickly find the required information, process it, and break it down into bite-sized formats that support the principal’s decision-making process. 
    A woman working in an office, using a smartphone while sitting in front of a laptop, surrounded by colorful stationery and design materials.

    Soft Skills That Set Top Executive Assistants Apart

    Human-centered skills are among the most important traits to consider when hiring an executive assistant, as they often set apart a good EA from an exceptional one:

    • Type A personality: Top EAs are highly organized, driven, and detail-oriented, which helps them manage workloads, juggle priorities, and maintain control under pressure, so it doesn’t get to the principal.
    • Proactivity: Exceptional EAs don’t wait for instructions from their principals. They leverage their executive assistant superpowers, such as ESP and omniscience, to anticipate needs and solve problems before they escalate.
    • Being a Team Player: While an EA’s primary role is to support their principal, they must also be willing to facilitate communication within the organization. Their collaboration is often invaluable to the team, considering they are the primary contact for the C-Suite, where most executive decisions are made.
    • Empathy: Top EAs can read, understand, and respond effectively to people’s emotions, especially when dealing with stakeholders, so they represent their principals in the best light.
    • Using Influence or ‘Grease’: An EA’s proximity to their principal comes with ‘power’ they can leverage to get things done. Exceptional EAs use the influence to make things happen behind the scenes and smooth over obstacles, without overstepping.
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    ProAssisting’s Approach to High-Level Executive Assistants

    ProAssisting follows the 51/49 skills rule as popularized by renowned restaurateur Danny Meyer. The rule suggests that pairing 49% technical/hard skills with 51% soft skills provides the best probability of success.

    So when recruiting new ProAssistants, we rely on the candidates’ resumes to vet their EA knowledge and work experience. We aim to verify that they have extensive experience providing high-level executive support to C-suite executives. 

    However, our executive assistant interview questions go beyond their hard skills. We assess their emotional intelligence, particularly how it influences their soft skills. We assess how they handle and express themselves, both in writing and verbally, to determine if they’ll be a good representative for their principals.

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    Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

    Let’s wind up by answering some commonly asked questions about what makes a good EA.

    Is Technical Knowledge Important for a Good Executive Assistant?

    Yes. Technical knowledge is essential for a good executive assistant, as it enhances their ability to get up to speed on new technologies quickly. At ProAssisting, we empower our EAs to learn at least one tool in relevant categories, including CRMs, Image Editors, and LMS. 

    Can a Remote Executive Assistant Be as Effective as an In-Office EA?

    Yes. A remote EA can be as effective as an in-office EA, considering they can undertake most roles relating to scheduling, project management, problem-solving, and being the contact person for your office. The only limitation of a remote EA is if you need an assistant to receive your mail, send out packages, or manage your physical office’s reception area.

    Should Executive Assistants Receive Ongoing Training and Development?

    Yes. Executive assistants should receive ongoing training and development to evolve their skills so they remain well-equipped to handle their principals’ dynamic needs. For example, unlike traditional EA roles that operated mainly as secretaries and receptionists, modern EAs double up as chief of staff, so they may be required to attend meetings on behalf of their principals.

    Conclusion

    A typical executive assistant will help you manage your administrative tasks, but you need an exceptional EA to get a strategic edge.

    ProAssisting bridges this gap entirely.

    Our ProAssistants have 5+ years of experience providing high-level support to C-suites and can handle up to 95% of what an in-house assistant does.

    Let’s help you hire an executive assistant with a difference. Start with a free consultation today!