Should You Re-invent or Change your Career as an EA to make more Money?

As the saying goes in work circles, if you ever want a good raise for your job, quit and work elsewhere, then come back!

I got into a debate once with an HR director that supported our line of business regarding Executive Assistant compensation/range and level. She was trying to convince me at the time that the organization pays Executive Assistant’s salaries at the same level as other equitable organizations. I challenged her information by showing her job postings and recruiters reaching out to me with opportunities at a higher salary level than my current compensation. She would not accept the debate, but after reviewing the information offered, she is more competitive in her claim.

She went on to inform me that those wages only apply to those who are in the ‘Expert’ category. You would have to be within the 5% of all employees to see salaries like that. She informed me that there is a ‘cap’ on my roles’ wages anyway (which, for the record, is quite a bit higher than what I was currently making at the time). I was a bit confused, though, as I have seen new Executive Assistants’ starting wages at or above my current salary. She then added that if I wanted a substantial pay increase, I would have to leave my current role and seek another position within the organization or leave the company entirely.

Well, now my boss and I are sitting one month later for my annual review and salary increase discussion. Imagine my surprise as my boss informs me that this year has been tight, and my increase will reflect this and be classed as ‘experienced.’ He went on to state that only 5% of employees ever see ‘expert’ status, and if I wanted to see a substantial increase in pay over the ‘cap’ in salary already, I would need to leave my role or seek employment elsewhere. Wow, Deja Vu or what!!

He added that the only way as an Executive Assistant to get more compensation would be to work in the CEO’s office.

After a long list of companies and recruiters I interviewed, within the financial industry and outside of it – my findings are as follows:

• Private, large corporate companies generally pay more than major financial institutions.
• Various roles of an Executive Assistant can support two or more executives and oversee admin staff at the same time at a higher salary with a more significant opportunity to achieve respectful increases annually.
• Some companies act on the balance between salaries/benefits/training and development/vacations and target bonuses to help Executive Assistants continuously upgrade their skills and cost of living expenses. (They saw a value in the Executive Assistants role)
• Some companies had different levels of Executive Assistants based on various levels of experience/skill sets and based on those components; salary expectations were set.
• Some companies and executives who understand the value of an Executive Assistant role seem to offer reasonable compensations, specifically the ones with a particular area of specialty.

My non-scientific list could get lengthy, given every time different recruiters and companies interviewed me, they all had different approaches to Executive Assistant compensation. I thought the above was a fair comparison to my situation at the time.

The truth is if the decision maker doesn’t understand how to utilize the Executive Assistant role in their operations, this could spell problems. Beyond the popular yet inaccurate day-to-day assumed generalized admin tasks, it is guaranteed they don’t see value in the role. This leads to the position being viewed as a “nice to have” versus a “need to have,” so chances are high that salary expectations will be set at the lower end of the competitive set (if any set was researched). Alongside this runs a lack of education and understanding of what the role can do and how far you can stretch their skill set.

In my quest to find how far an Executive Assistant range can go, this research has enlightened me and helped me understand my worth and value seen from the outside (we always give ourselves greater worth and weight). At the same time, I have stumbled upon excellent development resources, websites, and conferences that will help me grow further as an Executive Assistant. This shows any future employer my commitment as a career Executive Assistant and my seriousness in pursuing the role further. Either way, you look at it, with all the resources I have found, should I choose to make a career change from my Executive Assistant role in the future, I could easily transition to any of the following with continued learning:

• Office Manager
• Chief of staff
• Communication manager
• Project manager
• Project control officer
• Event manager
• Business Coordinator
• Director of business management
• Director of business operations
• Director of business effectiveness

If you have asked yourself, should I re-invent or change my career as an Executive Assistant to make more money? The answer to that varies for different people. There are some primary considerations to look at before you make your decision.

• Take a look at the bigger picture down the road
• Do you love your job AND the company? – If it is both, then often, people who are happy at work stay at work because of their social circle and common interests with colleagues.
• Is it money or job satisfaction that is making you look elsewhere?
• Similar to above, if its job satisfaction – Most want to stay because of the social circles developed.
• Is it the boss? – This is one of the most common reasons people will change jobs, bar none
• Is it money? – Your choice here. Ask yourself. Are you living beyond your means or falling behind the annual cost increases? We all suffer from “they don’t pay me enough,” so put that aside if you are not far behind competitive company compensation packages.
• Is it time? – Commuting, changes to family structure, social life, etc., all weigh heavily here. If you want a raise but live in the suburbs, you will need to look at a smaller wage a bit differently, as you would no longer need to commute daily

The answer is, “Why would I leave a job that I am passionate about and great at doing so that I can take a detour for something else?” For some, that works. For me, not so much! Passion is everything, and this is my passion. I would not trade it for a completely different career unless the road map has come to an end on Executive Assistant roles globally. Therefore, in the meantime, I will stick to what I know how to do best and for a job that I feel genuinely passionate about doing.

With that said, I decided on the following path:

• Join new organization
• Support 2 or more executives
• Polish and upgrade my skills by joining webinars, reading books, attending conferences, and participating in Executive Assistant forums/summits
• Build a network of administrative professionals outside of my industry
• Leverage my LinkedIn profile
• Help new Executive Assistants who are just starting in this beautiful and fulfilling industry
• Get certifications such as CAP, PACE, etc.
• Start blogging and sharing my experiences.

Lastly, I will leave you with a list of personal favorites for my learning and development, for when I needed to feel energized and motivated – conferences to keep on your radar for the future across different cities.

• Administrative Professionals Conference Canada, Toronto, Canada
• IAAP Summit
• World Administrators’ Summit
• Conference for administrative excellence

Continuous development is something that so many stellar assistants have in common. It can be hard to carve out time for education; however, finding self-paced online courses makes it much more manageable. Here are some fantastic free (or almost free) online options that cover a variety of subjects. However, if you’d like a course certificate, that does require a fee.

• IAAP Learn
• com – Monthly Free Webinars
• com has over 1,600; some are free courses from the time I last looked.
• com
• Microsoft Office Training Center

This link gives access to training on all Microsoft products, such as Excel, OneNote, and PowerPoint. They highlight their newest offerings, so you can always see the latest lessons that have been added.