In short: Work out which level you’re hiring at before you write anything, because most of the time an Operational EA, an EA to Senior Leadership and an Executive Business Partner all manage a diary, so a list of tasks won’t tell them apart. Say what the role is for in a paragraph, name the decisions the EA will make without checking, name the people they’ll be dealing with, describe what a good first year looks like, and put the salary in. Then take out anything that describes a personality rather than a job.
I’ve been recruiting executive assistants for over a decade, and if I had to pick the point where a search most often goes wrong, it would be the job description. The brief I take from a client is usually clear. By the time it’s been turned into something to publish, it has often become a list of tasks carried over from the last version, with the salary taken out and the word “proactive” put in. Lots of people apply. Only a handful are the right level, and they can’t tell from reading it that the role is for them, so some of them don’t apply at all, and you spend days going through everyone else.
Better adjectives won’t fix that. What does is describing the job by the judgement and the softer skills it needs, because that’s what varies between EA roles, and it’s what a strong candidate is looking for when they read your advert.
Why a list of tasks doesn’t work
Most of the time an EA manages a busy diary, runs an inbox, books travel and gets the executive ready for meetings. You could write those lines about the EA to a divisional director and about the EA to a FTSE chief executive, and they’d be true of both. That’s the problem. The list tells you what both of them touch and nothing about what either of them decides.
What actually separates them is what happens when the executive can’t be reached. One EA holds the request until the executive is back. The other declines it, moves it or escalates it in the executive’s name and mentions it afterwards. Both are doing the job well, at different levels, and if your description doesn’t say which one you’re hiring, you’ll interview both and have no fair way of choosing.
Decide the level first
The Core Standard assesses EAs at three levels, and I find they’re a useful way to write a job description because each one describes a different amount of trust. Pick the one that matches the seat and write to it.
Operational EA
The executive sets the priorities and the EA runs them with accuracy and care, so nothing slips. If that’s the role, say so. A reliable, well-organised assistant who keeps a busy executive’s day running and escalates anything that needs a decision is a good job, and in my experience it gets advertised as something grander far more often than the other way round.
EA to Senior Leadership
The EA anticipates, prioritises and manages the executive’s stakeholders, and holds things together when the day comes apart. This is the level most senior executives actually need, and it’s the one job descriptions tend to describe worst, because what separates it from the level below is the softer skills: the acumen, the judgement, the communication and the reading of people, which are the things The Core Standard assesses. Your description needs to name the decisions the EA will be making on their own.
Executive Business Partner
The EA reads the commercial picture behind the inbox and operates as an extension of the executive. If this is what you’re hiring, the description should read like a leadership role, because it is one. Talk about the board, the investors, the numbers and the decisions the EA will shape, rather than the travel.
If you’re not sure which level the seat needs, look back over the last month. How often did the current assistant, or the executive, make a call that would have cost money, time or a relationship if it had gone wrong? If the answer is hardly ever, you’re hiring an Operational EA and should say so. If it’s most days, you’re not. The three levels are explained in full here.
What to put in, and in what order
1. What the role is for, in one paragraph
Who the executive is, what they’re responsible for, and what the EA is there to make possible. Not “to provide high-level administrative support”, but something closer to: “The Chief Operating Officer runs a 400-person operations function across three sites. You’ll run the COO’s working week so that their time goes on the decisions only they can make, and you’ll be the person the leadership team and the board’s office come to first.” A candidate can picture that job. Nobody can picture high-level administrative support.
2. The decisions the EA will make without asking
This is the part most descriptions leave out, and it’s the part that tells a candidate the level, so try to name three. Which meeting requests to decline on the executive’s behalf, and how. What they can spend without sign-off, with the number. Which direct report gets the slot when two of them want it. If you can’t think of three, the role is probably Operational, and the description should say the EA escalates decisions rather than makes them. That’s an accurate advert rather than a weaker one.
3. The people
Name the stakeholders the EA will be dealing with in the executive’s name: the board’s office, investors, customers, family, the other assistants. The hardest part of a senior EA role is reading people the executive doesn’t have time to explain, so a candidate needs to know who they are before they can judge whether the role is right for them.
4. What a good first year looks like
A line or two is enough. “By the end of the first year the executive no longer looks at the diary, the leadership team routes requests through you by default, and the board pack goes out on time every quarter without anyone chasing it.” It gives you and the EA the same thing to measure against a year later, and it’s what the performance review should come back to. If you’d like help with that review, this is how I’d run it.
5. The practicals, honestly
The hours, and whether they really are the hours. Where the executive is, and so where the EA needs to be. How many days in the office, as a number. The strongest candidates have options, and in my experience they don’t apply to roles that leave the practicals out, because they assume the answer is bad.
6. The salary
Put it in. The best candidates are usually already well paid, and what they want to know is whether your role pays more, so “competitive” gives them no reason to apply. A range is fine. Leaving the number out can cost you the top of the shortlist and doesn’t save you anything.
Lines I’d take out
“Gatekeeper.” The role has moved on. A senior EA decides how and when people reach the executive and makes things happen for them, which isn’t the same as being a wall. Candidates at the level you want tend to read the word as a sign the executive hasn’t updated their view of the job.
“Must be able to multitask under pressure.” Most descriptions say it, so it tells the reader nothing. Replace it with the decision you actually need made under pressure.
“No task too small.” Usually true, and usually a sign the role has been written as a catch-all. If the EA will also be covering reception, say so plainly and price it in.
“Thick skin”, “resilient”, “can handle a demanding personality”. These describe the executive’s problem as the candidate’s requirement. Good candidates know what they mean and often go elsewhere.
“Degree-educated.” It can screen out strong EAs, and in my experience it tells you very little about how someone will perform in the seat.
The same role, written both ways
Before: “Executive Assistant to CEO. Complex diary management, inbox management, travel booking, expenses, meeting preparation, minute taking, ad hoc projects. Must be proactive, discreet, able to multitask under pressure. Gatekeeper to the CEO. Degree-educated. Competitive salary.”
After: “Executive Assistant to the CEO of a 180-person software company, reporting to the board quarterly and raising a funding round this year. You’ll run the CEO’s week so that their time goes on customers, investors and the leadership team. You’ll decline and reschedule in the CEO’s name, spend up to £2,000 without sign-off, and decide which of five direct reports gets the slot when two ask for the same one. You’ll deal directly with the chair’s office, two investors and the heads of the leadership team. By the end of year one the CEO no longer looks at the diary and the board pack leaves on time without anyone chasing it. Four days in the office in Manchester, 8:30 to 5:30 with occasional evenings around board dates. £52,000 to £58,000.”
The second version is written for an EA to Senior Leadership and says so in every line. An Operational EA reads it and knows it isn’t the right step yet, an Executive Business Partner reads it and knows it’s a step down, and the people you actually want read it and apply.
Then test for it at shortlist
Once the description names the level, you’ve got something to assess against. That’s the point of a scenario-based assessment before the final interview. Your shortlist sits a realistic working day at the level you wrote, with the inbox, the stakeholders and the decisions you described, and you see which of them makes those decisions the way you need them made. The interview then becomes a conversation about what they did, rather than a test of who describes the job best.
Assess your shortlist at the level you wrote
EA Hire puts each shortlisted candidate through a realistic working day at Operational EA, EA to Senior Leadership or Executive Business Partner, scored on a published rubric and reviewed by a specialist. Reports within 48 hours, from £495 +VAT.
See EA Hire →Common questions
How long should an executive assistant job description be?
Long enough to cover the level, the decisions, the people, what a good first year looks like and the practicals, which usually fits on a page. Anything longer is normally a task list that could be cut.
Should I include the salary in an EA job description?
Yes, as a number or a range. The strongest candidates are usually already well paid and won’t apply just to find out whether your role pays more. In my experience leaving the salary out can cost you the top of the shortlist and doesn’t save you anything.
What is the difference between an executive assistant and a senior executive assistant job description?
The decisions. A senior role names the calls the EA makes without asking, the stakeholders they handle in the executive’s name and the authority they carry, such as a spend limit. If the only difference in your description is the salary and the word “senior”, candidates can’t tell them apart.
Should I ask for a degree?
Not unless the role genuinely needs one. It can screen out strong EAs and, in my experience, tells you very little about how a candidate will perform in the seat. Assess how they actually work instead.
Lily Shippen
Founder, The Core Standard
Lily has been recruiting Executive Assistants and PAs at the highest level for over a decade, having founded Lily Shippen Recruitment at 22. She built The Core Standard to give employers evidence of how a candidate actually works. Connect on LinkedIn.