The Core Standard.
Level 2 · Director EA
Simulation Active
47:12
Modules
Scenario Brief
2
Inbox Triage
3
Priority Ranking
4
Stakeholder Dilemma
5
Written Response
6
Mindset & Instinct
Inbox · 5 new messages
Scenario Brief
The Hartwell Group
You are EA to Sophie Hartwell, Managing Partner. She is in back-to-back client meetings until 3pm. You are her filter, her memory, and her judgment when she's unavailable.
Your principal Sophie Hartwell
Availability Unavailable until 3pm
Today's priority Q2 board pack
Time remaining 47:12
This is not an interview

Interviews show you who presents well.
This shows you who performs.

The Core Standard is an online simulation of a realistic EA working day. Employers use it to see how candidates actually think before hiring. EAs use it to prove what interviews never capture.

Join the waitlist for 20% off at launch + help shape the product.

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The Problem

A candidate can interview beautifully and fall apart in the first week.

What interviews test
Confidence. Presentation. Rehearsed answers to predictable questions.
What CVs show
Where someone has been. Titles they've held. Nothing about how they actually operated.
What you're left with
A gut feeling. Three months to find out if it was right.
What the simulation captures
Priority logic. Discretion under pressure. The instinct to protect your principal's time without being told to.
What you actually see
How they triage when everything is urgent. Whether they escalate or absorb. How they write when it matters.
What you walk away with
A detailed competency report. Scored. Benchmarked. Before you've spent a single hour interviewing.
How It Works

An online simulation of a realistic EA working day.

A candidate receives a scenario brief: a company, a principal, a day that's already in motion. Emails land. Priorities collide. Stakeholders need answers. The clock is ticking. There are no "right" answers. We capture approach, judgment, composure, and communication.

1
Inbox Triage
Conflicting emails arrive. What's truly urgent vs what just feels urgent?
2
Priority Ranking
Competing demands. Rank them. Then explain the logic.
3
Stakeholder Dilemma
Your principal's instruction conflicts with an opportunity. Choose. Justify.
4
Written Communication
Draft a response under pressure. Tone matters. Clarity matters more.
5
Mindset & Instinct
How do they think about the role? What drives their decisions?
For Employers

Send a link. Get a competency report.

You send a candidate the simulation link. They complete it online. You receive a detailed report, scored across priority logic, discretion, ownership, and composure, before you've spent a single hour interviewing.

No more relying on gut feeling. No more polished interviewers who fall apart in week one. You see how they actually think.

6
Modules per simulation, from inbox triage to stakeholder dilemmas
4
Competencies scored: priority logic, discretion, ownership, composure
30
Years of EA placement experience behind every scenario
Module 4 · Stakeholder Dilemma 31:44
Your principal said: "Don't let anyone into my diary this week." The CEO's EA has just called. The CEO wants 30 minutes tomorrow. It's clearly important.
A
Protect the diary. The principal's instruction is absolute.
B
Offer the CEO's EA two options outside this week, but flag the request to your principal at the next break.
C
Book it in. The CEO outranks your principal. This takes priority.
Now explain your reasoning
"I'd protect Sophie's boundary while keeping the door open. The CEO's request matters, but Sophie told me no meetings, and she trusts me to hold that line..."
For EAs

Prove it before the interview.

You don't need an employer to send you this. Take the simulation yourself, receive a full competency report, and get a recruiter summary. A one-page credential you can attach to applications or share with any recruiter or hiring manager.

Every CV says "proactive, discreet, detail-oriented." This is the proof.

1
Take the simulation online, in your own time
2
Get your report scored across priority logic, discretion, ownership, and composure
3
Share your recruiter summary attach it to direct applications or send it to any recruiter alongside your CV
The Core Standard.
Recruiter Summary
Alexandra Chen
TCS Certified · Level 2 (Director EA)
Overall Rating
Strong Core Fit
Priority Logic
8.8
Discretion
8.2
Ownership
9.1
Composure
8.5
Built by experts

In 15 years of specialist EA recruitment, the question I was asked more than any other by clients was: "How do you test your candidates?" At Lily Shippen we heavily vet every candidate we place, but there was always a missing piece.

Interviews test confidence and presentation. They don't reveal how someone triages a chaotic inbox at 8am, handles a last minute board paper, or navigates a sensitive situation with a difficult stakeholder.

The Core Standard fills that gap. Every assessment is a simulation of a realistic working day, designed from real situations we've seen play out across hundreds of placements. It's built on what actually predicts success in the role, not what looks good across a desk.

Lily Shippen recruits. eavolve develops. The Core Standard assesses. Together, an ecosystem that supports EAs and the businesses that rely on them, from hire, through development, to measurable performance.

Lily Shippen & Emily Partridge, Co-creators of The Core Standard

See what interviews can't.

The Core Standard launches soon. Waitlist members get 20% off at launch and early input into how the product takes shape.

No spam. Just early access, your discount, and launch updates.