Any Executive Assistants who have taken a career break or are now looking for a new job many work on how 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 most significant 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 poses potential issues for an Executive Assistant keen to form a close working relationship with their Executive manager.
Working From Home
Working from home was growing in popularity pre-pandemic but was generally only used a few days 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 many Executive Assistants had was the lack of direct contact with their managers. Forging a solid working partnership with your manager is an integral part of being an Executive Assistant. This is impeded when you lack day-to-day interaction.
This issue can be overcome by setting up Teams or Zoom meetings with your manager to ensure you can chat with your manager and keep working in a close partnership. Some Executive Assistants found that the explicit 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 prioritising 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 working remotely. You must be comfortable with cloud-based systems for accessing and sharing work. For example, Office365, SharePoint, Teams, and many more have become vital. Our Microsoft Office Diploma for Executive Assistants was updated to ensure that these skills are included in your skillset.
Therefore, you need to update your technical skills and how you run your role. Additionally, the dynamic of your relationship and working partnership with your manager may need a new and amended approach.