What does an executive/personal assistant do?

An executive/personal assistant is responsible for performing secretarial duties, including administrative and clerical tasks as needed, helping the business operations run smoothly and efficiently. Executive/personal assistants receive and respond to client's calls and inquiries, schedule and maintain an organized record of executive and staff meetings, sorting files and documents, and attending general meetings on behalf of the executives. They should also have excellent communication and critical-thinking skills, especially on providing recommendations for business decisions and profitable opportunities. An executive/personal assistant creates expense reports, monitors the adequacy of stock inventory, and coordinates with planning company events.
Executive/personal assistant responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real executive/personal assistant resumes:
- Manage the rabbi's blog and twitter accounts and keep him apprise of pertinent items on Facebook.
- Manage administrative support for CEO and SVP; conduct market research, compile, analyze and report on variety of data.
- Manage payroll and benefits, credit card reconciliation and travel reimbursements
- Compile, manage and organize travel and expense reports processing and submitting reports using PeopleSoft for reimbursement.
- Provide administrative support to SVP, VP, directors and managers (travel, project schedules, communications, agendas).
- Resolve accounting issues regarding invoicing and payroll.
- Transfer e-room documents into department SharePoint site.
- Serve as owner/manager of department SharePoint site.
- Reconcile personal and business checking accounts and prepare various QuickBooks reports.
- Compile all research materials and populate all PowerPoint presentations for executives and teams.
- Entrust with founder's personal accounting, consistently executing all in-person banking and online transactions utilizing QuickBooks.
- Develop and maintain PowerPoint presentations for board meetings and other sensitive meetings while maintaining heavy calendar for company principals.
- Do any errands including FedEx, USPS, banking, office supplies, etc.
- Maintain a very organize and functional filing system of all invoices, customer orders, contacts, and FedEx shipments.
- Support Humana's market position by using strategic negotiation and relationship building in working with physicians, hospitals and ancillary providers.
Executive/personal assistant skills and personality traits
We calculated that 8% of Executive/Personal Assistants are proficient in Financial Statements, PowerPoint, and Calendar Management. They’re also known for soft skills such as Interpersonal skills, Organizational skills, and Writing skills.
We break down the percentage of Executive/Personal Assistants that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Financial Statements, 8%
Proofed and edited client financial statements to ensure accuracy, consistency, and overall presentation.
- PowerPoint, 7%
Developed and maintained PowerPoint presentations for board meetings and other sensitive meetings while maintaining heavy calendar for company principals.
- Calendar Management, 7%
Experience with calendar management, international/domestic travel arrangements and scheduling, handling phone and email correspondence and general administrative duties.
- Event Planning, 7%
Managed personal needs involving extensive travel, personal shopping, estate management, calendar coordination and event planning.
- Real Estate, 7%
Involved in five residential real estate transactions, including contract negotiations, advertising, requisitioning tradesman, and client/agent/attorney liaison.
- Payroll, 6%
Company Travel Coordinator/Maintain CEO/Management Staff Daily Calendar/Company liaison between Executive Staff and Venues/Interface with Legal Business Affairs for Show Productions/Talent Payroll.
Common skills that an executive/personal assistant uses to do their job include "financial statements," "powerpoint," and "calendar management." You can find details on the most important executive/personal assistant responsibilities below.
Interpersonal skills. One of the key soft skills for an executive/personal assistant to have is interpersonal skills. You can see how this relates to what executive/personal assistants do because "secretaries and administrative assistants interact with clients, customers, or staff." Additionally, an executive/personal assistant resume shows how executive/personal assistants use interpersonal skills: "utilized first-rate interpersonal and customer service skills to proactively contact prospects and generate new clientele. "
Organizational skills. Another essential skill to perform executive/personal assistant duties is organizational skills. Executive/personal assistants responsibilities require that "secretaries and administrative assistants keep files, folders, and schedules in order so that an office runs efficiently." Executive/personal assistants also use organizational skills in their role according to a real resume snippet: "composed organizational charts and powerpoint presentations for model divisions and companies. "
Writing skills. This is an important skill for executive/personal assistants to perform their duties. For an example of how executive/personal assistant responsibilities depend on this skill, consider that "secretaries and administrative assistants write memos and emails when communicating with managers, employees, and customers." This excerpt from a resume also shows how vital it is to everyday roles and responsibilities of an executive/personal assistant: "handled email correspondences and letter writing. ".
The three companies that hire the most executive/personal assistants are:
- Beacon Hill Staffing Group23 executive/personal assistants jobs
- Go! Retail Group8 executive/personal assistants jobs
- Hold Brothers Capital4 executive/personal assistants jobs
Choose from 10+ customizable executive/personal assistant resume templates
Build a professional executive/personal assistant resume in minutes. Our AI resume writing assistant will guide you through every step of the process, and you can choose from 10+ resume templates to create your executive/personal assistant resume.Compare different executive/personal assistants
Executive/personal assistant vs. Assistant secretary
An assistant secretary is responsible for performing administrative and clerical duties to support the daily operations of various departments and management personnel and ensure the efficiency of business functions. Assistant secretaries usually assist in business communications, responding to customers' inquiries and concerns, reaching out to existing clients to schedule appointments, welcoming guests on the office, and routing calls to the appropriate department. They also handle data entry procedures, updating customer information on the database, as well as creating reports on business and financial transactions.
There are some key differences in the responsibilities of each position. For example, executive/personal assistant responsibilities require skills like "calendar management," "conference calls," "travel itineraries," and "ground transportation." Meanwhile a typical assistant secretary has skills in areas such as "computer system," "front desk," "direct calls," and "federal agencies." This difference in skills reveals the differences in what each career does.
Assistant secretaries tend to reach similar levels of education than executive/personal assistants. In fact, assistant secretaries are 2.4% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 2.0% more likely to have a Doctoral Degree.Executive/personal assistant vs. Assistant executive director
An Assistant Executive Director helps the director in planning and monitoring the progress of the department. They ensure compliance with regulations and internal policies, participate in budgeting and monitoring expenses, and create reports and submit them to the director.
While some skills are similar in these professions, other skills aren't so similar. For example, resumes show us that executive/personal assistant responsibilities requires skills like "financial statements," "powerpoint," "calendar management," and "real estate." But an assistant executive director might use other skills in their typical duties, such as, "customer service," "healthcare," "oversight," and "nursing home."
Assistant executive directors earn higher levels of education than executive/personal assistants in general. They're 14.5% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 2.0% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Executive/personal assistant vs. Administrative professional
An administrative professional specializes in performing administrative support and clerical tasks in a company or office, ensuring accuracy and smooth workflow. Their responsibilities typically revolve around managing schedules, arranging appointments and meetings, producing progress reports and presentations, delegating tasks, and attending meetings on behalf of executives or staff. There are also instances when an administrative assistant must answer calls and correspondence, respond to inquiries and concerns, welcome guests, relay messages, and provide staff with any support tasks or documents.
There are many key differences between these two careers, including some of the skills required to perform responsibilities within each role. For example, an executive/personal assistant is likely to be skilled in "real estate," "travel itineraries," "ground transportation," and "hr," while a typical administrative professional is skilled in "customer service," "data entry," "travel arrangements," and "sharepoint."
Most administrative professionals achieve a similar degree level compared to executive/personal assistants. For example, they're 3.2% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 0.4% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Executive/personal assistant vs. Assistant to executive vice president
Assistants to executive vice presidents are responsible for managing the day to day operation and administrative activities of the executive vice presidents. They have varied roles and responsibilities, which include organizing the workflow of the executive vice president, preparing for meetings, and monitoring schedule. They are also expected to respond to the electronic mail as per the VP's request, prepare papers and documents, and handle all aspects of the VP's vacation and travel. This position is essential in helping the VP manage and prioritize competing demands for attention and time.
Even though a few skill sets overlap between executive/personal assistants and assistants to executive vice president, there are some differences that are important to note. For one, an executive/personal assistant might have more use for skills like "financial statements," "scheduling appointments," "quickbooks," and "property management." Meanwhile, some responsibilities of assistants to executive vice president require skills like "travel arrangements," "financial reports," "svp," and "evp. "
In general, assistants to executive vice president earn the most working in the technology industry, with an average salary of $62,845. The highest-paying industry for an executive/personal assistant is the finance industry.The average resume of assistants to executive vice president showed that they earn similar levels of education compared to executive/personal assistants. So much so that theyacirc;euro;trade;re 0.5% more likely to earn a Master's Degree and more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree by 0.1%.Updated January 8, 2025











