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Executive Assistant Interview Questions
Executive Assistants are responsible for a variety of professional, and sometimes personal, low-level coordination for executives. Typically, experienced Executive Assistants command a high salary. But, if you’re working with a leaner budget, you can also hire a motivated, resourceful, and organized new graduate or someone with fewer years of experience.
One major responsibility of Executive Assistants is managing the schedules of their superiors. This extends to booking appointments and travel. Executive Assistants also frequently help executives with reports, presentations, and other correspondence and must have strong written communication skills and intermediate office software skills (Powerpoint, Excel). Your Executive Assistant will also act as your gatekeeper and personal representative. You should be able to trust them to screen calls and requests for meetings with a pleasant and professional demeanor. Finally, Executive Assistants have access to a great deal of sensitive information. Use these interview questions for an executive assistant as an opportunity to find out if they can maintain a high level of confidentiality.
These sample executive assistant interview questions questions are written to help you dig deeper into your candidate’s work process, problem-solving skills, interpersonal communication skills, and technical skills. The questions are open-ended and situational, written to help you differentiate hands-on experience from theoretical experience. The best candidates will have smart, spontaneous questions of their own to ask, and will have done their research on your company and industry.
Operational and Situational questions
- Talk about any work experience you have that is relevant for this role.
- Describe your typical workday as an Executive Assistant. How do you prioritize your tasks?
- Do you support more than one person? If so, how do you prioritize your tasks?
- What would you do if two people you support gave you conflicting directions?
- What kinds of reports and communications did you work on for your superior or CEO?
- Recall a time you worked on a challenging project with multiple people. What was the project? What was the outcome?
- Your CEO has given you sensitive information about a possible merger with another company. Another executive asks you what you know about these plans. How do you handle it?
- How would you rate your ability to maintain confidentiality?
- How would you rate your computer skills?
- What specific software programs do you feel are essential to your day-to-day work?
- Describe your experience with booking international and domestic travel.
- What process would you use to set up a meeting?
- Recall a time you disagreed with your colleagues about how to execute a project. How did you resolve it?
- How would you rate your ability to work with difficult personalities?
- How much do you know about this company and industry?
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Executive assistant interview questions that you are likely to face in your next job interview include a mix of questions about your technical skills and experience, your relevant work competencies and your motivation and understanding of the job.
Use our expert interview answer help to be well prepared and come across as a professional and poised executive assistant job
candidate.
Expect a couple of interview questions about your task-related skills.
Executive Assistant Interview Questions - your technical skills
What computer packages are you familiar with?
Describe the programs you have used and give examples of what you have accomplished with technology such as complex presentations and data collection and analysis.
Can you tell me about the operational support you provided to the executive team?
Discuss the core functions you performed on a daily basis. What did you accomplish on a daily basis? What did you do that went beyond your job description and made you such an effective executive assistant?
The executive assistant job description will assist you with answering this question.
5 Essential Behavioral Executive Assistant Interview Questions
These behavioral interview questions explore the behaviors that are core to getting the job done effectively.
Tell me about a time you recently had to prioritize your work to meet multiple strict deadlines.
Organizational skills are key to success as an executive assistant. Multiple responsibilities demand efficient prioritizing and time management. In your interview answer focus on:
- how you decide on the importance and urgency of each task
- how you evaluate available resources and deadlines to determine which tasks to focus on first
Be specific in discussing the methods you used to schedule your activities such as worksheets or specific software.
Good time management interview questions and answers
Can you describe a situation where a co-worker asked you for information that you knew to be confidential?
Executive assistants are entrusted with confidential business information. Your ability to be diplomatically assertive in not sharing these type of details is important.
How have you dealt with competing demands in your job?
Discuss your ability to be sufficiently adaptable to meet changing priorities. Focus on how you calmly clarify the urgency of each demand in order to make a well-informed decision on how to prioritize.
Can you give me an example in your previous position where you had to make an important independent judgment call?
Focus on a situation where you had to use your judgment and decision-making ability to prevent a negative outcome. Possible contexts include:
- anticipating a problem
- solving a problem
- dealing with a client or co-worker
- responding to a request
- providing information
Tell me about a complex problem you recently had to handle in your job.
Highlight your ability to collect all the necessary information to accurately identify the cause of the problem. Outline the steps you took to resolve the problem.
Executive Assistant Interview Questions - your motivational fit with the job
Are you not only able to do the job but willing to give your all to it? These executive assistant interview questions evaluate your motivation and understanding of the position.
What do you consider the most important qualities for a successful executive assistant?
Core competencies include communication skills, problem analysis and solving, organizational and planning skills, judgment and decision-making and adaptability.
Make sure you target your answer to the specific job requirements. For example:
"Organizational skills are essential to successfully schedule multiple demands and tasks and prioritize effectively to meet deadlines"
What are your greatest strengths as an executive assistant?
Go through this comprehensive list of workplace strengths and determine which applies to you. Again, select strengths that are relevant to the job opportunity. Discuss how you display that strength in your job.
For example:
"I consider my communication skills to be one of my strengths. I have been commended for the clarity of my reports and correspondence and for my ability to provide information in a concise and articulate manner."
Executive Assistant Strengths and Weaknesses
What frustrated you most in your previous job?
It is advisable to focus on the working environment and company culture rather than on the people you worked with and for.
Before answering this question consider the new job and how it will improve your working environment. This will provide you with a good starting point for your answer.
"I found it frustrating that there was a reluctance in the company to fully utilize technology. There were some aspects of my job that I could have done faster and more efficiently with the right software. When I put forward a proposal to the relevant department concerning this, they were unwilling to proceed with any changes."
Why should we hire you as an executive assistant?
Link your experience and skills to the job requirements in a clear and concise manner. An in-depth understanding of the job and the company is essential to providing a convincing answer.
Give concrete examples of how your skills will be of value in the job. Sample interview answers.
How else do I prepare for my executive assistant interview?
You will be asked a number of
common interview questions. View these interview questions and use the sample interview answers to be ready with your own winning interview answers.
How should I dress for an executive assistant interview?
Your appearance as a professional and well put-together candidate is important in the executive assistant interview.
Find out how to dress for your interview.
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Be ready for any interview question.
Executive assistant interview questions to ask the employer
Asking the interviewer well-considered and insightful questions during the interview is key to success.
Use this list of good interview questions to ask the employer to prepare for this.
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