Assistants have a wide range of responsibilities and skills. Administrative assistants, for example, might handle phone and email correspondence, data entry, scheduling, meeting support, research, and event planning, sometimes all in one day.
Executive assistants who provide high-level administrative support to C-suite executives or senior leaders tend to have more specialized skills in executive relationship management, strategic planning, business writing, and project management.
Whether the job supports an office, administrative team, or senior leadership, assistants are the backbones of their organizations. They keep the business running smoothly and are indispensable for success.
Unfortunately, assistants are not always seen as valuable team members. Too often, administrative assistants are underpaid and underappreciated for their consistent and complex work. Meanwhile, executive assistants are members of senior leadership teams but are not always treated that way or given a seat at the table.
The best office and executive support assistants are more than just assistants. They are strategic business partners, and they are recognized as such.
Read on for ways in which assistants can prove their value at work and advance to the highest level.
Expand Your Skill Set
To be an administrative business partner, you must possess all administrative assistance skills and prove that you can think and execute like a senior leader. You must be able to plan and strategize, with strong critical thinking, communication, problem-solving, and decision-making skills. You also need to stay current and proficient in the latest technology, including AI tools.
If you need to gain new skills, there are several ways you can add to your arsenal.
- Join a professional association for instant, easy access to community resources, webinars, courses, templates, and more.
- Attend an administrative professional event to network and upskill across areas in which you would like to improve.
- Take virtual or in-person classes, many of which have certificates of completion you can share with your supervisor.
Not every skill can be learned on the job. Make a list of the skills that are required for the position you want and make a detailed plan to acquire them.
Get Certified
Once you know what skills you need to advance, you might find that certification is the best path to getting there.
The top certifications for administrative and executive assistants are the Professional Administrative Certification of Excellence (PACE) and the Certified Administrative Professional (CAP). If you would like to gain expertise in a specific area, a certification such as the Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM) or Microsoft Office Specialist Certification (MOS) might be a good fit.
A certification usually involves studying and taking an exam to prove your mastery of role-specific skills. For working professionals, getting certified is a sound alternative to a college degree, and usually far less expensive.
Certified professionals also have an edge in hiring, compensation, and promotions. Yes, having letters after your name confers prestige and increases your value to current and future employers.
Know Your Worth
Even if you are highly skilled and certified, you might still be inclined to downplay your achievements. Since admins are frequently underrecognized in the workplace, you might also feel that your value equals how you are currently treated or compensated.
Joining a community of other assistants through an administrative professional association or an online group is crucial to knowing your worth. You might be the only assistant at your company or feel like you are, as the others are spread across the organization. By moving from an island of one to a community of many other assistants across companies and industry sectors, you will have a clearer picture of where you stand and what your value truly is, should you choose to advance in your workplace or apply to other jobs.
Resources such as the annual State of the Profession Survey from the American Society of Administrative Professionals (ASAP) can show you how your skills, salary, benefits, and professional development budget (or lack thereof) measure up to others.
When you have the facts to prove your worth and the community to support you, your self-esteem is likely to improve, helping you land the job you want.
Advocate for Yourself
When it’s time to voice what you bring to the table—whether in an annual review with your current supervisor or in a job interview with a potential employer—you must know how to connect your strengths to the goals of the person you are negotiating with and the company.
Selena Rezvani, leadership author and keynote speaker at the EA Ignite Spring 2023 event for executive and senior-level assistants, has a good strategy for styling your pitch when negotiating. She calls it “GPS.”
- Goals: State the short and long-term objectives that go with your pitch.
- Passions: Tie your pitch to the causes your company and the person you are negotiating with care about.
- Struggles: Bring up the obstacles and commitments that may be holding them back and how your pitch helps to solve them.
Using “GPS” in your pitch moves the conversation from “me” to “we.” In other words, “Here’s how we are both going to gain in some way from this plan.” For example, by increasing your professional development budget to attend a training event for your role, you will come back with X skills to solve X problems and achieve X solutions for the company, benefiting you both.
Finally, embody success in the room. If you project confidence in your abilities, people will treat you as confident and capable.
“We teach people how to treat us through what we allow, what we reject, and what we reinforce,” Rezvani said. “Good things do not come to those who wait. Good things come to those who ask for and advocate.”
Takeaways
As an assistant, you have more skills, value, and leverage to advance than you may realize. To capitalize on potential opportunities, remember to:
- Continually grow your skill set through events, courses, webinars, or membership in a professional association.
- Consider an administrative professional certification to develop further and prove your abilities.
- Join an administrative professional community and use statistical resources to understand better and maximize your work value.
- Bring confidence and supporting evidence to the negotiating table to land the high-level, strategic business partner role you deserve.
