The army of bustling secretaries in the erstwhile corporate era has now been replaced by executive assistants, mainly reserved for senior management. Smartphones in your palms and laptops to work on the go have gotten managers self-sufficient. 

Moreover, in New York City, businesses have been under intense pressure to cut costs. Many organizations had to decrease expenses, lay off employees, and simplify organizational hierarchies. Twitter recently laid off 10% of its employees!

Most corporations have decreased the average number of associates at lower organizational levels. However, it's not a sustainable option because productive assistants can significantly increase production across the board for an organization.

A skilled assistant is the one thing that can bring a huge difference in the efficiency of senior-level decision-makers. The returns on investment in executive assistants are exponential. Regular and concurrent inputs in the administrative chores of the seniors can help them manage the more important things. 

A skilled executive assistant is inevitable for senior officials to progress in their careers. 

Why Is The Post of an Executive Assistant So Important?

An executive assistant is a skilled professional who is tasked with maintaining and managing schedules and the exchange of information for key senior members in an organization, like CEOs and presidents. They are an essential cog in the wheel of the organization you work for. 

As assistants, they schedule meetings, manage their boss’s daily appointment calendar, oversee and optimize travel arrangements, keep track of important documents, and carry out other duties ad hoc. The duties depend on the organization and its scope of work. 

As per studies conducted by Zippia, around 86% of executive assistants are females.

The executive assistant is also a medium of knowledge transfer for a new manager. They then act as a very important onboarding resource, helping the manager wade through difficult waters in the initial days.

Data on compensation compiled by the Salary Expert indicate that over the next five years, the earning potential for an executive assistant in NYC is expected to rise by 21%.

Look For Agencies That Exclusively Hire Executive Assistants

Be careful when skimming through and selecting agencies that offer executive assistant recruitment services. The skill set and competencies that are needed for an executive assistant are different from other administrative assistants. 

These intangible assets are difficult to assess in the beginning. Therefore, if a business is headquartered in New York City, it's imperative that you understand the type of assistance you will receive while you search for executive assistant staffing in NYC. 

A New York City-based executive assistant staffing firm, like C-Suite Assistants,  will have networks and relationships in the city's financial services, media, fintech, and manufacturing sectors. They are aligned to skim the right talent with optimum competencies.

What Are The Essential Skills You Should Look for?

The competencies of executive assistants(EAs) help them to perform at the highest level. The most important skills that an EA must possess are being dynamic and open to learning, organizational skills, and influencing and managing people. 

Here is a list of other essential skills that differentiate the best from the good:

Organizational Skills

An executive assistant’s job profile demands that they be adept at organizing their schedule and commitments. A small glitch on their part can result in a very important meeting going turtle. Without an order in place, executive assistants are likely to miss out on deadlines or lose track of important information.

They have to be answerable to a gamut of questions that, in most cases, span a plethora of verticals. An organized professional will be more at ease with the ocean of data and will also aid the smooth functioning of future workflows. 

Time Management

Time management is one of the most sensitive competencies for an executive assistant wanting to make it big in NYC. With continuous streams of work flowing in at any given time of the day, prioritizing the tasks becomes inevitable. They cannot afford to err with appointments and deadlines. 

Optimum time management assures smooth operations and less confusion in the team. Delegation of jobs that are time-consuming becomes very important.

Communication Skills

An executive assistant needs to have a good hold over the language that is used by the organization for their modes of communication. In general, English is the widely accepted language for oral and written communication, and proficiency in it is a non-negotiable. 

Executive assistants need to be very particular about the emails being drafted, the articles being shared, and the tonality of the content being presented to the executives and senior members. With Friday evenings generally serving as a warm-up for the exciting week ahead in New York, clear communication about deadlines is an inevitable task. 

Experienced assistants know what tone would accomplish what line of work. They are adept at shifting from, say, a personal gratitude tone to a more serious formal tonality with ease. 

People Management

This skill is one of the most important skills if one wishes to succeed in this line of work. An executive assistant is bound to interact with a number of people, both via calls and in person. They have to be likable for people to come to them and do favors. 

Building a rapport with the clients, with colleagues, and most importantly, with the bosses can go a long way in helping them progress. The assistant will be dealing with a number of verticals, each of which comes with its own ideas and beliefs. For smooth operations, they need to be able to manage everyone in a way that they all feel content and there is no bitterness among contemporaries.

Presence Of Mind (Composure)

As an executive assistant, one cannot buckle under pressure. No one, in reality, wants to hear excuses–they all want end results. When faced with such a competitive work profile, they need to be calm and composed. They need to have mental clarity in tense situations to be able to make well-informed decisions. 

It is likely that the boss will fall back on their assistant in tense organizational crises. This makes the assistant in charge of the proceedings, albeit indirectly. They cannot let loose and let their emotions take the better of them. Staying calm, approachable, empathetic, and positive are his trump cards in states of distress. 

Conclusion

In simple words, a skilled executive assistant is indispensable. No software or AI can pacify an enraged manager, undo a client crisis, or automatically rearrange meetings knowing the boss’s mood very well. 

You need the essence of the human touch and the competencies of an executive assistant for things to flow. They are the faces that represent the company and the boss to the inner and the outer world.