Executive assistants are an integral part of any business. You work hard every day to make your executive’s life easier so they can focus on what they do best: guiding the strategic vision of the organization. You do everything from managing inboxes to planning events to creating briefs to organizing lunch. You wear many different hats and have to adapt at the drop of a hat—all while wearing a smile on your face. It’s no easy feat, but you make it look easy.
All that said, there may be times where you can’t help but wonder…is my job secure? How can I ensure I’m seen as a critical piece of the organization’s success?
When it comes to executive assistant job security, the most impactful thing you can do is to showcase your unique value. Like with any career, setting yourself apart is key. With Base, you’ll have a tool that helps you to show the value you bring to the table. Our platform allows EAs to be more proactive and efficient, ultimately maximizing their overall impact. Unlocking your latent potential is our vibe, and we have the resources and tools to help you learn how to be a great EA.
How Does An Executive Assistant Maintain Job Security?
The future of any executive assistant is driven by their impact and ability to make their executive feel most supported. Base offers best practice advice and paves the path to excellence by ensuring EAs are set up with a platform that maximizes outcomes. If you’ve found yourself wondering, “how does an executive assistant maintain job security?”—here’s the lowdown:
Organization: Keeping track of files, meetings, events, and other items on your exec’s to-do list is essential to the role—and it does a lot to aid in overall efficiency and productivity. Also, knowing your executive’s preferences (and keeping track of those preferences in case you forget) can help ensure you’re always on top of things. Leverage these two tools to make your job easier while simultaneously impressing the heck out of your exec:
- Base’s Tasks tool for assistants makes it easy for you to combine your inbox, Slack messages, projects, and more in a dedicated hub. You can organize every to-do with custom tags and deadlines that are easily searchable. Specifically designed for the assistant’s workflow, Tasks is about to be your new BFF. Pro tip: Remember to use color-coding and tagging in Tasks to make searching, finding, and adding so much easier!
- Our Dossier tool enables you to organize your executive’s preferences, habits, key contacts, software, and more in a single, secure location instead of in multiple insecure Word or Google Documents. Plus, having your information in one place can make it easy for another EA to cover you while you’re on vacation, leave, or in times of transition.
Communication: No matter what your day-to-day looks like, communication is a large facet of your role. Improving your communication skills to express things more clearly, adapt to your execs’ needs and emotions, and streamline your communication efforts will make a huge impact.
With our Digest feature, you can communicate information to your exec in a beautifully-designed brief that takes just minutes to create and send. Leveraging this powerful tool will help you communicate important information to your exec in an efficient, effective, and organized way based on their preferences and needs.
Tech Skills: As an executive assistant, you’re expected to know how to use basic office software, like the Microsoft Office Suite, Slack, calendar tools, and various other platforms. It’s important to stay up-to-date on the technology your organization uses and how to use it effectively.
If you hear about a new software your company is using, take the initiative and start learning how to use it on your own. Or, if you know of an inefficiency that technology could help solve, make some recommendations (including pros, cons, cost, etc.) to your executive using our Digest tool. This will make it easier for them to absorb and pass on the information to operations. Or maybe you simply need more info to make an effective recommendation; use Decision Stream to get your questions answered ASAP.
Prioritization: Executives lead busy lives, and it’s their EA’s job to notice places where they can free up their execs’ time based on their priorities. When your executive asks how they could better be spending their time — or you notice they are feeling burned out or not having enough time to focus on their goals — Base has you covered with our Analyze feature. This tool gives EAs a general overview of where their exec is spending their time. If an executive is spending too much time in internal meetings when they need to be prioritizing external communication, Analyze can help bring this typically overlooked inefficiency to light.
Adaptability: Learning how to be an effective executive assistant means understanding how to be highly adaptable to your exec’s ever-changing needs. A great EA is focused less on themselves and more on how they can best support their executive — which is why adaptability plays such a huge role in an EA’s life. While it can be hard to maintain composure when managing multiple conflicting priorities, just know that your ability to remain calm under pressure, adapt, and offer solutions has a domino effect on everyone you surround. It won’t go unnoticed.
Research: When your executive needs information, they’ll oftentimes depend on their EA to find it. Whether it’s researching complex business concepts or which spots have the best coffee for early-morning meetings, knowing your way around online and offline resources can prove useful in the overall scheme of things. Save your research in Dossier, and you’ll have your personal EA cheat sheet directly at your fingertips.
Proactiveness: One of the top qualities of a great EA is the ability to anticipate the needs of your executive and organization. The difficulty is that most EAs know they need to be more proactive—and WANT to be more proactive—but find it difficult with the reactive nature of their role. One way you can try to be more proactive is by sending daily updates to your executive rather than weekly updates, or taking control of your execs’ calendar to free up some of their time when you notice they are feeling burned out. It’s this big-picture thinking that sets EAs apart and enforces job security.
The Executive Assistant Future is Bright
At Base, we believe in a future where EAs are better supported in their roles as assistants and humans — and are able to provide better support as a result. While there’s no doubt in our minds that assistants are in the perfect position to be the perfect support system for leaders of all shapes and sizes, we also understand assistants are often playing a constant game of “prove your value.”
As today’s workforce continues to evolve, there is a hyper-focus on technology and how every individual in a corporation can impact revenue—and modern assistants need to be prepared for this inevitable shift.
Luckily, we know how to help. Base can help you gain a stronger pulse on your executive’s goals and priorities, so you can become a trusted guide that lays the path forward and eliminates roadblocks. The EA role is all about strategically getting your executive from point A to point B—and doing so successfully solidifies yourself as an invaluable resource in the future of work.
Why Executive Assistants Are Important
For us, this question is a no-brainer. Simply put: businesses achieve their goals best when leaders have strategic support. While many professionals enjoy the steady work and stability the EA position offers, it’s those extra-ambitious executive assistants that are constantly improving themselves that won’t have to worry about job security.
If you’d like to learn more about executive assistant best practices and career opportunities, we offer a wide range of resources and tools to help you excel. Executive assistant job security is easy with our EA platform and community. Get started locking down your position today!
