For employers hiring an Executive Assistant

The executive assistant assessment that shows you how a candidate actually works.

Before you hire, your shortlisted candidate sits a realistic 97-minute EA working day. A specialist reviewer scores it against five pillars, and within 48 hours you have the level they demonstrated, a hire recommendation and the questions to ask at the next interview. £495 +VAT per candidate, commissioned online.

Watch the overview

Commission an assessment See a sample report

Built and reviewed by a specialist EA recruiter who has placed hundreds of executive assistants, and a former C‑suite EA. Every report is signed by a named reviewer.

Inside the assessment

What the executive assistant assessment actually tests.

A candidate can interview with poise and fall apart in the first week. A CV shows where someone has been and an interview shows how they present, so the assessment shows the thing neither can: how they work. The candidate is dropped into a realistic EA working day at a venture-backed software business, nine modules in the order a real day throws them, and has to decide, write and prioritise under a running clock. No multiple choice, no typing test, nothing to rehearse. See the full day, module by module →

1

Inbox triage

A full inbox and twelve minutes. What goes to the principal now, what waits, what gets ignored, and why.

2

A diary that falls apart

Three things change before the principal arrives. Rebuild the morning without dropping what matters.

3

Writing in the principal’s voice

A reply to a frustrated client, in their name. Tone, clarity and judgement under pressure.

4

Judgement with AI and data

An AI draft with a flaw buried in it, and a set of numbers with a decision inside. Do they catch it?

Every module is scored 0 to 100 against five pillars: Prioritisation, Judgement, Communication, Execution and Partnership. Senior work is also scored on AI Fluency, Judgement & Ethics and Data Interpretation, the dimensions that separate an EA to senior leadership from an operational one. Read how each pillar is scored →

How it works

Three steps. A report in 48 hours.

Commissioning is self-serve. You do the first step; we handle the rest.

01

Commission

Pay £495 +VAT online and send us a name and an email. We invite your candidate the same day.

02

They sit the simulation

A realistic EA working day, 97 minutes with a hard stop. The same scenario, every candidate.

03

You get the report

An expert‑reviewed report in your inbox within 48 hours: the level they demonstrated, a hire recommendation and interview probes.

First time with us? First Look is three modules in 30 minutes for £195 +VAT, deducted in full from EA Hire on the same candidate within 30 days. Assessing the EAs you already employ? See Benchmark Your Team. Prefer to talk first? Book a 15‑minute walkthrough →

The Employer Deliverable

Send a link. Get a competency report.

The Core Standard.
Report for: Alex Morgan
Date: 14 March 2026
Overall Rating
Strong Core Standard Fit
Prioritisation
92
Judgement
78
Communication
85
Execution
88
Partnership
83
Narrative

Sequenced the morning around the board papers without being asked, and flagged the diary clash before it reached the principal. Calm, clear written voice under pressure.

Assessor Notes

Strong triage instinct. Handled the curveball without escalating prematurely. Ready for a step up.

Recommendation
Strong hire. Placed at Level 2, EA to Senior Leadership
The Employer Report

Comprehensive Insight

Your candidate sits the simulation; you get a written report that breaks down how someone performed across the five core pillars: not just what someone chose, but how they approached it. Expert-reviewed and in your inbox within 48 hours, built to sit alongside your interview notes and references.

Each of the five pillars is scored 0 to 100, alongside narrative feedback on how the candidate made decisions, the level their work demonstrated (Operational EA, EA to Senior Leadership or Executive Business Partner), a reviewer recommendation, and the questions worth asking at the next stage. Read a report page by page →

See a full sample report
Compared with an interview or a psychometric
Interview
Tests how someone presents.
  • Rehearsed answers
  • Confidence under low pressure
  • Past experience, narrated
  • No live decision-making
  • No tangible artefact
Psychometric
Tests personality traits.
  • Self-reported tendencies
  • No real-world context
  • Generic across roles
  • No behavioural evidence
  • Algorithmically scored only
The Core Standard
Tests how someone actually works.
  • Live decisions, time pressure
  • EA-specific, reviewer-scored
  • Behavioural evidence captured
  • Expert reviewed
  • Detailed competency report

EAs who sat it, in their words.

The day felt realistic. There are times when your exec isn’t available and actions need to be made in their absence, and the tasks were all scenarios I deal with on a regular basis. It challenged me in a good way.
Sarah Martin Legal EA · 10+ years · sat TCS Certified
“Specific and encouraging” “New and revolutionary” 10 / 10 to recommend
It didn’t feel like a series of separate exercises. It felt like one realistic day where earlier choices had consequences. What surprised me most was how real the pressure felt, even knowing it was a test.
Alice Garside EA Manager · 10+ years · sat TCS Certified
“A genuinely accurate version of the role” “The report is fantastic” Would use it to hire
Lily Shippen, Co-Founder of The Core Standard Emily Partridge, Co-Founder of The Core Standard

Built by the people who hire and do the job.

The Core Standard was built by Lily Shippen, the specialist EA recruiter behind Lily Shippen Recruitment, who has placed hundreds of executive assistants at every level, and Emily Partridge, a former C‑suite EA and EA team manager who co‑authored the rubric. Every employer report is reviewed and signed off personally. About the founders →

Guides for employers

How to hire and assess an executive assistant.

Written by a specialist EA recruiter, not a content team. Read these before you commission anything, from us or anyone else.

Buyer guide

How to hire an Executive Assistant in 2026

Why CV-plus-interview stopped working for EA hires, and a process that does.

9 min read
Buyer guide

How to assess an Executive Assistant before you hire

Four assessment methods compared: what each one shows you, and what it misses.

8 min read
Do it yourself

The executive assistant in-tray exercise

Three tasks, time limits and a scoring sheet you can run on your own shortlist.

10 min read
Interviewing

Executive Assistant interview questions that work

Questions that reveal judgement rather than rehearsed answers, and what a strong reply sounds like.

7 min read
Before the search

How to write an EA job description that attracts the right level

Name the decisions the EA will make on their own, put the salary in, take out the personality lines.

8 min read
The report

Anatomy of a Core Standard report

A page-by-page walk-through of what lands in your inbox, and how to read it in ten minutes.

6 min read

All guides and insights

Common questions

What employers ask before they commission.

A structured way to see how a candidate does the job before you hire them. The Core Standard is a scenario-based one: the candidate works through a realistic 97-minute EA working day covering inbox triage, a diary that falls apart, writing in the principal’s voice, a stakeholder dilemma and judgement with AI and data. A specialist reviewer scores it against five pillars, Prioritisation, Judgement, Communication, Execution and Partnership, on a published rubric. It is not a typing test, a multiple-choice quiz or a personality questionnaire.
Interviews show how someone presents. Psychometrics describe self-reported tendencies. Neither captures what a person would do with your inbox at 9am. The Core Standard captures behaviour, in real scenarios, under a running clock. Most clients use it between first and final interview rather than instead of either. Read how to assess an executive assistant before you hire for the four methods compared.
EA Hire is £495 +VAT per candidate, paid online. Within 48 hours of the candidate finishing you receive a written report: every pillar scored 0 to 100, the level their work demonstrated, a reviewer’s narrative with evidence quoted from the day, a hire recommendation, and the questions to ask at the next interview. First Look, a 30-minute three-module version, is £195 +VAT and is deducted from EA Hire on the same candidate within 30 days.
The candidate sits it in their own time, on a laptop, within 14 days of the invitation. The session is 97 minutes with a hard stop. Setup on your side takes under five minutes. It works best on a shortlist of three to five after first-round interviews and before offer, when you need certainty rather than volume.
Yes. Every candidate sits the same day, and the report places them at the level their work demonstrated: Operational EA, EA to Senior Leadership or Executive Business Partner. You do not choose a level when you commission. If you are hiring a senior EA the report also scores AI Fluency, Judgement & Ethics and Data Interpretation, the dimensions that separate those seats.
It is built to reflect the real job, so strong EAs tend to take it seriously rather than take offence. Every candidate sees the same scenario, the rubric is published, and a named reviewer signs the report. Candidates are told you receive the report, and they keep their own copy and a TCS Certified certificate at the level they reached, whether or not you hire them. Accommodations for neurodivergence and disability add 25% to the session on request.

Scoring, fairness, data handling and what the candidate sees are covered in full on the FAQ page.

Read every question
The Core Standard.
The benchmark. Not the average.

See what interviews can't.

One executive assistant assessment. 97 minutes. A reviewer-signed report within 48 hours. £495 +VAT per candidate.

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