Executive Assistant Salary

The average Executive Assistant Salary is around $50,000 annually, but you can actually make significantly more than this depending on your personal experience and education levels and the size of the company for which you work. Many administrative assistants, who comparably make around $35,000 per year, aspire to work their way up to an executive assistant position because of the increased pay and respect.

How to Earn Highest Wage

To earn the highest executive assistant salary, you will likely need to spend many years working as an administrative assistant. During this time, you will hone your office and managerial skills and learn how to handle virtually any business situation. As you prepare for your future career, focus on proving your skills in the following areas:

1. Leadership – Try to be the person other administrative assistants go to for help and the one they look at as an example of the right way to do things. Yes, it will put more pressure on you, but these are the types of demands you will experience as an executive assistant.
2. Be a team player – Although you want to exemplify your leadership skills, you also want to prove you are first and foremost a team player. You need to show the boss you consider the success of the company as your own success, and because of that, you will do your best to help all the staff meet their goals.
3. Show Initiative – Executive assistants are expected to work intuitively and without supervision. You should have an innate sense about what needs to be done and should do it without being told. Additionally, you should know how to manage your time well enough that you are able to meet deadlines without stress or holdups.
4. Trustworthy and Confidential – Senior executives and other managers share a great deal of inside company information with their assistants, and expect it to remain private. Don’t get a reputation as being the office gossip or you will probably never earn a higher position.
5. In-depth Knowledge of Industry – Executive assistant do much more than clerical work and are often responsible for creating reports, conducting research, giving presentations, and acting as a source of information. To ensure their assistants have proper knowledge of the field in which they work, most employers prefer their executive assistants to have at least a bachelor’s degree and several years of related work experience.

There are many administrative assistants who are skilled at organizing, computer work, correspondence, and other basic office skills, but to standout as executive assistant worthy, you must demonstrate you also have the characteristics listed above.

Where to Start

If you aspire to have a career as an executive assistant, you should first take the time to get an education. There are some that earn their full bachelor’s or master’s degree before entering the workforce, but most begin this career by earning an associate’s degree and then adding additional degrees after finding a job as an administrative assistant.

Online schools are a great way to earn your degree since it is easier to work while completing your online classes in the evenings or during your other free time. Also, showing you have the skills to juggle work and school will prove to your boss you are self-motivated and are effective at time management (both useful skills for an executive assistant). Simultaneously gaining work experience and getting an education will help you to reach your goals faster so you can start making the profitable executive assistant salary.