How to Advance as an EA

Career progression for EAs can be difficult. How can you stand out and break through? This episode offers advice and insights to help you chart your path forward.

Recorded at EA Ignite Fall 2024 and produced by the American Society of Administrative Professionals - ASAP. Learn more and submit a listener question at asaporg.com/podcast.

Leah Warwick: Hi, everyone. I'm Leah Warwick, and you're listening to "The Admin Edge." Here at the American Society of Administrative Professionals, our mission is to provide professional development training and resources to all admins, including executive assistants. At our in-person event, EA Ignite, career progression is a key focus area, which is why we're sharing this conversation between ASAP Advisory Board Member Yesenia Hernandez-Brito and trainer Jennifer Maffei. Take a listen.

00:00:39                     

Yesenia Hernandez: Hi, I'm Yesenia Hernandez-Brito, Director of the Executive Office and Board Affairs at the Healthcare Businesswomen's Association, and my guest today is Jennifer Maffei, Founder and Present of Maffei Recruiting & Consulting. Welcome to the podcast, Jennifer.

Jennifer Maffei: Hi, Yesenia. Glad to be here.

Yesenia Hernandez: So I have a few questions for you. I will say that your session today was amazing.

Jennifer Maffei: Thank you.

Yesenia Hernandez: I took so many key takeaways from your session, and I have a few questions for you. What are some of the biggest obstacles EAs face when trying to advance in their careers, and how can they overcome them?

00:01:14                     

Jennifer Maffei: Well, we talked a little bit about this in some of the sessions we did today. We're going to start with this one. First, executives are concerned when someone comes up to them, their executive assistant, who they trust and rely on more than anything, and says, "I want more." Their first reaction is, "I don't want to lose what I have." So it's super important for EAs to reassure their executives, when trying to take on more or move forward in their careers that their executive isn't going to get left behind, and that nothing is going to get missed.

And then I see another issue: the misconception of what EAs do. We've got EAs at all levels of the spectrum, people that are chiefs of staff being called EAs, people that are receptionists being called EAs, so really level-setting that within your org, with your executive: What does this title convey? What is it that they do for you? 

00:02:08

Coming into those two obstacles and looking to overcome those two items is the first step, in my opinion. Those are non-negotiables. [chuckles] And then we can go on forward as we talk in this conversation about upskilling and more courses and things like that that need to be happening. 

Yesenia Hernandez: What advice would you give to the EAs who want to take on more strategic responsibilities but feel stuck in the daily administrative tasks?

Jennifer Maffei: I think there's a couple of ways that we can do this. The first is proving that you can. Again, going back to that nothing gets left behind. That's where we own automation, not fear it, so we can take off the things that are minutia and see how we can make that more efficient and effective – for not just ourselves but our teams and our executives.

00:02:56

You're going to have to prove that you've earned [it]. You can't say, "Okay, well, give me the title and then I'm going to do the work." You have to do it first and the title is rewarded to you. I think that that is really a key. We've seen that become more in a high-level EA role, that they understand that. I know five and ten years ago that wasn't the same sort of perception. It was "I want the title, then I'll do the work." Mm-mm. Now it's a reward. 

Yesenia Hernandez: And I also agree. I know one of the panelists made a comment on the chief of staff role, where traditionally now they're telling EAs, "Okay, from EA you transition into chief of staff." That is a role that I thought I could transition into, but after learning about my skillsets and what I'm passionate about, I realized that's not a step that I want to take. So what advice do you have when an EA would ask you, "Okay, so my next step – is it chief of staff? I want to be a chief of staff." They're not looking at other options, other titles, because we have so many other titles that we could transition into.

00:03:59                     

Jennifer Maffei: Absolutely. My first response to someone asking me that would be: Yesenia, why do you want the chief of staff title? Is it the only way you think that there's a path forward, or is it that role that you actually want? It might be you're going into operations instead, or you've grown up in marketing and so you're going to go into that, project management. There are a lot of avenues, other than chief of staff, so I want to make sure that the person actually understands that that is the title and the role that they're going for, going into it eyes wide open is what I always want to make sure that people do. It's a great thing to do, getting that chief of staff title. If that is what you want, go for it. We can talk about ways to actually make that happen. Approaching the role in the right way, but understanding that there are tradeoffs.

Yesenia Hernandez: How can EAs build and showcase their leadership capabilities, even if they're not officially in a leadership role?

00:04:59                     

Jennifer Maffei: I think that we need to sort of view this role less as an executive assistant and more as an assistant executive, so you really have to start thinking that leadership way. Understanding the KPIs, understanding the metrics, doing the work that your executives are doing – not being told to do it, but diving in and learning everything about the company, and developing your expertise and sharing your knowledge.

So every single person that's at EA Ignite this week should be making sure that you divide and conquer. You would take one topic. I would take another. Then we're going to become the subject matter expert on it. We're going to share that back. That's what executives do. That's what we need to be doing as EAs in our teams and in our roles. Dividing and conquering allows you to build a great, strong bench, and it allows you to cross-train, and it allows you grow the entire team in a way that prepares them for future leadership. 

00:05:52                     

Yesenia Hernandez: Jennifer, I recently was promoted to director of the executive office and board affairs. I was the executive officer manager and global board manager. Initial conversations that my CEO would have was like – she would introduce me to everyone as the chief of staff. At first, it's a nice title to have and you feel important, right? And then I began to kind of look into the role and see that it would not fit my job description, meaning what I do on a daily basis, which is manage our board of directors, and it's something that I'm passionate about. We had conversations back and forth.

I think EAs should see what they're passionate about. I always, like when I talk to EAs that ask for advice: "Well, how do I get to be a director of board affairs or director of HR?" I say, "Find what you are passionate about." It could be HR. It could be finance. It could be governance, nonprofits, banking. Do you give that same advice? I feel like, yes, you can be an EA, but you have to be passionate about who you're going to support. 

00:06:59                     

Jennifer Maffei: You do. You have to be passionate about who you're going to support, but I think more importantly is to understand your skillset and where you excel naturally. I've been doing this for – well, I won't say how many decades because I don't want to age myself, but when you've trained and coached and managed EAs as long as I have, before more on to do my own business, the next step isn't necessarily the best step. They look at people sometimes (managers) and say, "Oh, they're doing so well in this role. Then the next step for them is management." And now they're operating in a position of weakness and they fail and they don't know why.

So passion is super important, but the skillset… So I encourage every listener to go through and actually do a self-audit and say, "Where do I excel naturally?" Then fill in those gaps where it's maybe not so natural, but it is a natural extension of your existing skillset. 

00:07:58

So building out so that [you have] that right picture and that right total framework for yourself is key to moving on. We have these fabulous opportunities now to grow and learn on LinkedIn Learning and Coursera, to name a couple. There are a lot of EDU Extensions that you can go to.

I want to put my own little plug out there. If you don't have a college degree or you don't have that sort of certificate right now, do not let that hold you back. 

Yesenia Hernandez: Yes, I agree.

Jennifer Maffei: You are valuable. When you get past a couple of years – let's be honest – you don't need the college degree. You've proven you can do it. So don't let that hold you back in our head.

Yesenia Hernandez: That's great advice. How should EAs approach salary and title negotiations as they grow in their roles?

00:08:41                     

Jennifer Maffei: So I think, again, we're going to wrap it back down to the research and understanding what the role is and understanding that you have to do the role a little bit beforehand, but definitely knowing your zone is important. You need to come data-focused when you're approaching. These. You can't just say, "Well, hey, I want this salary," or "I want a salary increase because I've been here for three years." Well, no. That doesn't add more value to the company. A tech guy, who shall not be named but is a household name, had that conversation with his EA years ago, where they came and demanded a salary increase, and he said, "Well, what are you doing extra for it?" And then realized that they actually hadn't done anything new. Now he has a new EA. [laughter]

So we've got to be careful. It's not an entitlement to get a salary increase. We have to create a plan. So what I would suggest is you actually have a conversation with your manager or your executive (however your supporting and reporting structure works) to say, "This is where I would like to be. This is what I would like to earn. This is the title I would like to have. If there's no room for me here, that's fine. I still want to gain these skills. But what skills do I need to present to you to show that value, where you would be comfortable giving me XYZ?" Approach it like an executive does. 

00:10:06                     

Yesenia Hernandez: And what would you say to an executive who wouldn't know the skills, if they have no idea what the EA does? Because many do not know what we do on a daily basis, right? They're not aware. They just think calendar, travel, the tactical things, the administrative, clerical.

Jennifer Maffei: Really, if they don't know, then it's our job to educate them and to lean in and say – look, not waiting tactically for the work, being strategic and saying, "This is what I can take off your plate. Let me have a run at this and show you what I can do." You might hit it out of the park. You might get partway there and need more work, but you're showing initiative and you're showing strategic thinking, and that goes a long ways to creating that play or that path for yourself to be able to get those roles and the pay that goes with it.

00:10:59                     

Yesenia Hernandez: Last question. So what role do professional certifications or continued education play in helping EAs advance?

Jennifer Maffei: Right now, I think, with the way the world is changing with AI and automation, I think the first thing we need to look at is strategic thinking, which means analyzing data. Executive presence is going to be key. You are going to have to act more like a peer – yes, a servant leadership peer, but a peer – to your executives. We're going to need to work on analysis and we're also going to need to work on project management. A lot can be automated, so what we need to look at are the things that cannot be automated. Where is the EAs' value that can't be replicated by a computer program?

00:11:47

Again, talking about executive presence, project management, data analysis – you have to be able to read your executive's programs and your executive's life and his KPIs and his metrics and his budgets the way he or she does. 

Yesenia Hernandez: Yes, exactly. Know the business. It's great advice. Know the finance. Know the budget, especially nonprofits. Know the strategic plan. What is the goal of your executive? What is their five to ten-year plan? In my opinion, that is the way to become valuable to your executive.

Jennifer Maffei: Absolutely. Invaluable.

Yesenia Hernandez: We have a listener question submitted by one of our community members. What are some ways to show strategic thinking skills when much of the work we did is detail oriented?

Jennifer Maffei: I think that's a really great question and one that we really need to dive into. I think part of the thing we need to do is get back to automation and AI and efficiencies and effectiveness.

00:12:51

By taking some of these day-to-day, tedious tasks that we do – if that's all we do, that's all we're going to be seen for. So once you've managed to identify all those efficiencies and things that need to be done, then taking that to your executive and saying, "We can do this better" is going to be where we can be the strategic thinker. You're not being reactive. You're not saying, "Well, I can't do this because everything is so manual and so tactical." You're saying, "How would we do this better? How can we make this more effective? By the way, this is going to save time not just in my org, but in the other orgs," especially if you're in large companies. And that shows strategic thinking. You're not waiting to be told. You're saying, "There's a challenge here. I'm coming to you with a solution and an implementation plan of how to make that happen." 

00:13:39                     

Yesenia Hernandez: So it was great meeting you, Jennifer, and having this conversation. I am just left with one statement that after your session was chanted all over the room: I am not just an EA. That really resonated with me. The members were just walking out. I saw some in tears. Some were like motivated, "What can I do? I want to be a strategic business partner?" So thank you, once again.

Jennifer Maffei: Oh, I'm so thankful.

Yesenia Hernandez: Thank you for joining us on "The Admin Edge." Where can our listeners find you?

Jennifer Maffei: My company page, Maffei Recruiting & Consulting, is maffei-rc.com. I'm always on LinkedIn, so if you connect with me and you ask, I'm going to connect back, or at least talk to you on LinkedIn.

[music playing]

Leah Warwick: Thank you for listening to "The Admin Edge," produced by the American Society of Administrative Professionals, original music and audio editing by Warwick Productions, with video and audio production at our events by 5Tool Productions. If you like this podcast, please leave us a nice review, five stars, and subscribe. If you'd like to submit a listener question, you may do so on our website at ASAPorg.com/podcast.