If you are a company executive, an executive admin is essential in what you plan to achieve daily. Hiring a skilled professional will boost your career by helping you achieve your goals faster and efficiently. Although executive administrators’ duties are mainly similar to those of other office assistants, the former is considered a senior office staff that operates exclusively in the echelons of the company’s top executives.
What do executive admins do?
An executive administrator is responsible for several administrative tasks of company executives. The ideal executive admin provides personalized secretarial and administrative support to the top managers in a timely and professional manner. The admin should possess a friendly disposition, top-notch organizational skills, and relevant experience to meet the demands of the job. The following are some of the primary duties of an executive admin:
- Play the role of a primary point of contact between the top-level managers and internal or external contacts, including company clients.
- Maintain a robust daily journal, including electronic calendars, and schedules for the executives. The admin is responsible for arranging meetings and appointments, scheduling corporate events, holidays, and vacations for the executives.
- Coordinate write edit and distribute electronic communication to members of staff and company stakeholders.
- Arrange travel schedules and bookings for the executives when needed
- Take minutes of meetings.
- Produce company documents such as reports, presentation, and briefs when needed
- Develop an ideal documentation and filing system for paper and electronic records
Supervise
- Other members of the team and delegate tasks accordingly
- Monitor office supplies and makes new orders when need be
- Handles and replies emails, request, queries, and feedback on behalf of the boss
What kinds of businesses hire executive admins?
Executive administrators are hired in big corporations, factories, and institutions. They manage projects and activities for the senior staff and committees. They also manage and write correspondence and other communications for the top-level managers.
Insourcing or outsourcing; how to know which is right for your company?
Insourcing is using your company’s own personnel to accomplish the duties of the executive administrator. Insourcing provides you with an opportunity to identify exceptional talent, skills, and expertise to help your organizations grow. You also manage your HR operations in your own unique way as it allows you to control HR processes and procedures. On the other hand, outsourcing means contracting a company or virtual executive administrator who operates outside your business premises. Outsourcing comes with several benefits. For one, the recruitment process leads to reduced hiring costs. The recruitment costs usually spiral out of control with headhunters and high turnover. The other benefit is time. As a busy executive, you hardly have time to sit through interviews. Outsourcing also provides cost-effective opportunities for the company. You stand to reduce labor costs and other direct costs associated with office maintenance. To outsource or not will depend on several variables like the type of projects at hand. Some projects are confidential and sensitive and thus need to be handled by an in-house team.
Hiring Tips for insourcing an executive admin
The relevant candidate must possess several critical skills and experiences that enable them to conduct their duties professionally. Look out for the following when insourcing an administrative admin:
- The right candidate must demonstrate an ability to multitask and prioritize tasks
- The candidate should possess essential time management skills and well developed organizational skills
- Executive admins should be attentive to detail and must possess excellent verbal and written communication skills
- The right candidate must have an in-depth knowledge of MS office suite
- The candidate should be able to meet deadlines in a fast-paced environment
- They should be a great problem solver with strong decision-making skills
- The candidate must demonstrate high-level integrity due to their job’s nature that exposes them to confidential and sensitive company information
- They should be street smart with the ability to understand when to solve an issue and when to involve high-level decision-makers
Hiring Tips for outsourcing an executive admin
The best virtual administrative executive must possess the skills listed above. If you plan on recruiting a virtual administrator who works remotely, the following tips will help you net the right candidate:
- Decide on job details- Before you hire the executive, first decide on the types of duties, you will delegate to the candidate. You should also determine the number of working hours per day, the skillset you are looking for, the equipment and devices at their disposal, and their values.
- Consider location- although the difference and location rarely matter for a virtual executive job, you should still make sure you and your assistant can meet online and discuss issues whenever they arise.
- Consider the budget- you should also have a budget in mind to avoid wasting time on candidates whose rates you can’t afford. You also need to agree on payment methods. You should decide whether to pay on an hourly, per project, or fixed-price basis.
Bottom line
Being part of top management gives you a responsibility to ensure the company achieves its goals. To be productive, you need an effective executive admin to ensure you stay organized and on top of what matters. This article gives you all the important information to help you hire the best talent out there.