Profession executive assistant

Executive secretaries provide high-level administrative support to executives by handling information requests and performing clerical functions, such as preparing correspondence, receiving visitors, arranging meetings and managing schedules. May also supervise lower-level clerical staff.

Personality Type

• Conventional / Social

Tasks executive assistant

• Answer, screen and direct telephone calls, take messages and handle enquiries and requests.
• Greet visitors and direct them to the appropriate persons.
• Open, sort and distribute incoming correspondence, including faxes and email, and prepare responses to correspondence containing routine enquiries.
• Read and analyze incoming memos, submissions and reports to determine their significance and plan their distribution.
• Produce correspondence, memos, reports, presentations and other documents from drafts, handwritten copies, machine dictation, etc., e.g. using computers with a variety of software packages.
• File and retrieve documents, correspondence, records and reports, and set up filing systems.
• Manage and maintain executives' schedules.
• Organize travel arrangements, business itineraries, conferences and social functions for executives.
• Prepare agendas and make arrangements for meetings (e.g. committee and board meetings), attend meetings and take minutes.
• Make information searches and compile information for executives.
• Perform general office duties such as ordering supplies, serving refreshments and reporting about non-functioning office equipment.
• Supervise other office workers and delegate work to them.

Related professions secretary

• Administrative secretary
• Legal secretary
• Medical secretary or receptionist
• Minutes secretary
• Office manager
• Personal assistant
• Project secretary
• Secretary
• Secretary, all other
• Team or department secretary

Knowledge

• Company policies

  The set of rules that govern the activity of a company.

Skills

• Process commissioned instructions

  Process instructions, usually oral ones, provided by managers and directives on actions required to be made. Take note, inquire, and take action on the commissioned requests.

• Maintain register of shareholders

  Keep an accurate register of shareholders and monitoring changes in share ownership of the company.

• Use different communication channels

  Make use of various types of communication channels such as verbal, handwritten, digital and telephonic communication with the purpose of constructing and sharing ideas or information.

• Fix meetings

  Fix and schedule professional appointments or meetings for clients or superiors.

• Translate keywords into full texts

  Draft e-mails, letters and other written documents on the basis of keywords or key concepts outlining the content. Choose the appropriate format and language style according to the type of document.

• Communicate schedules to the people concerned

  Convey relevant scheduling information. Present the schedule to the persons concerned, and inform them of any schedule changes. Approve the schedules and verify that everyone has understood the information sent to them.

• Manage personnel agenda

  Schedule and confirm appointments for the personnel of the office, mostly managers and directive employees, with external parties.

• Apply information security policies

  Implement policies, methods and regulations for data and information security in order to respect confidentiality, integrity and availability principles.

• Perform business research

  Search and collect information relevant for the development of businesses in different fields ranging from legal, accounting, finance, up to commercial matters.

• Disseminate messages to people

  Receive, process, and pass messages to people coming from phone calls, faxes, postal, and emails.

• Manage office facility systems

  Keep management and service ability of the various office systems needed for the smooth and daily operation of the office facilities such as internal communication systems, softwares of common use inside the company, and office networks.

• Draft corporate emails

  Prepare, compile, and write mails with the adequate information and an appropriate language to make internal or external communications.

• Use office systems

  Make appropriate and timely use of office systems used in business facilities depending on the aim, whether for the collection of messages, client information storage, or agenda scheduling. It includes administration of systems such as customer relationship management, vendor management, storage, and voicemail systems.

• Coordinate events

  Lead events by managing budget, logistics, event support, security, emergency plans and follow up.

• Perform clerical duties

  Perform administrative tasks such as filing, typing up reports and maintaining mail correspondence.

• Build business relationships

  Establish a positive, long-term relationship between organisations and interested third parties such as suppliers, distributors, shareholders and other stakeholders in order to inform them of the organisation and its objectives.

• Observe confidentiality

  Observe the set of rules establishing the nondisclosure of information except to another authorised person.

• Organise travel arrangements for staff

  Plan all arrangements for business travels including preparing schedules and booking transportation, dinners and accommodation.

• Liaise with managers

  Liaise with managers of other departments ensuring effective service and communication, i.e. sales, planning, purchasing, trading, distribution and technical.

Optional knowledge and skills

Source: Sisyphus ODB