Career Profile: Executive Secretaries and Executive Administrative Assistants

Salary and Outlook

According to the US Department of Labor, there are 508,000 people employed as executive secretaries and executive administrative assistants in the United States. The median annual salary is $62,060. Entry level employees earn approximately $38,620 per year and senior employees earn approximately $98,280 per year.

Estimates do not include other potential benefits such as health insurance, overtime, or retirement benefits that may be offered by employers.

Job Duties

• Manage and maintain executives' schedules.
• Make travel arrangements for executives.
• Prepare invoices, reports, memos, letters, financial statements, and other documents, using word processing, spreadsheet, database, or presentation software.
• Coordinate and direct office services, such as records, departmental finances, budget preparation, personnel issues, and housekeeping, to aid executives.
• Answer phone calls and direct calls to appropriate parties or take messages.
• Prepare responses to correspondence containing routine inquiries.
• Open, sort, and distribute incoming correspondence, including faxes and email.
• Greet visitors and determine whether they should be given access to specific individuals.
• Prepare agendas and make arrangements, such as coordinating catering for luncheons, for committee, board, and other meetings.
• Conduct research, compile data, and prepare papers for consideration and presentation by executives, committees, and boards of directors.
• Perform general office duties, such as ordering supplies, maintaining records management database systems, and performing basic bookkeeping work.
• File and retrieve corporate documents, records, and reports.
• Read and analyze incoming memos, submissions, and reports to determine their significance and plan their distribution.
• Provide clerical support to other departments.
• Attend meetings to record minutes.
• Process payroll information.
• Interpret administrative and operating policies and procedures for employees.
• Set up and oversee administrative policies and procedures for offices or organizations.
• Meet with individuals, special interest groups, and others on behalf of executives, committees, and boards of directors.
• Compile, transcribe, and distribute minutes of meetings.
• Supervise and train other clerical staff and arrange for employee training by scheduling training or organizing training material.
• Review operating practices and procedures to determine whether improvements can be made in areas such as workflow, reporting procedures, or expenditures.

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