Any Executive Assistants who have taken a career break or are now looking for a new job, many work how has the pandemic changed Executive Assistant Jobs. The style of work the work pressures and many other areas of daily life have changed for many Executive Assistants.
Many Executive Assistants have witnessed changes during the pandemic. One of the biggest changes is the move toward Executive Assistants Jobs being increasingly remote, with a work from home policy for part or all of the role. This can be positive as it could include more flexible working and a more family-friendly working environment. This also poses potential issues for an Executive Assistant who is keen to form a close working relationship with their Executive manager.
Working From Home
Working from home is something that was growing in popularity pre-pandemic, but was generally only used for a couple of days of a week. Following the pandemic, it has been more common to have more days working from home, if not all days working from home. The first complaint that many Executive Assistants had was the lack of direct contact with their managers. The forging of a strong working partnership with your manager is an integral part of being an Executive Assistant. This is impeded when you lack the day to day interaction.
This issue can be overcome by setting up Teams or Zoom meetings with your manager, in order to ensure that you will be able to touch base with your manager and keep working in a close partnership. Some Executive Assistants actually found that the clear requirement for this catch up when working from home enabled them to have a more productive meeting with their managers than before the pandemic. Unfortunately, there is mixed feedback, with some Executive Assistants saying they had less contact with their manager when working from home.
Working from home means that you often need to work more independently. This means that you need to be fully confident with the prioritisation of your work, without as much direction. This is a valuable part of being a successful Executive Assistant, but many were pushed to take this skill on more when working from home.
How has the pandemic changed Executive Assistant Jobs?
There is far more need for good IT skills when you are working remotely. You will need to be comfortable with cloud-based systems for accessing and sharing work. For example, Office365, SharePoint and Teams and many more have become vital. Our Microsoft Office Diploma for Executive Assistants was updated to ensure that these types of skills are now included in your skillset.
Therefore, there is a need to update your technical skills and the way you run your role. Additionally, the dynamic of your relationship and working partnership with your manager may need a new and amended approach.