Run the calendar, inbox and travel of a senior leader. You are the person who makes their week work.
Click through it
Pay, the path, pros and cons and the facts on one printable page. Counsellors: send it to a student from your own email in one click.
Programs in the fields this career usually comes through. Each has its own page: what it takes to get in, the courses you need and what it costs.
The median pay is about $72,000 a year. Across everyone in the job it runs from about $54,000 at the lower end to about $102,000 at the upper end. The source is listed under Sources at the end of this page.
2 to 5 years after high school, on the usual route.
$5,600 to $48,500 all in for tuition, fees, exams and kit. Living costs are not counted.
No. There is no licence to hold, though many employers still ask for training or a certificate.
Moderate demand nationally, from government outlook data. Demand varies by region, so check your area.
Or read the whole thing here
What you earn and what it costs to get there.
Median
$72,000
Lower end
$54,000
Upper end
$102,000
Job Bank's national median is $34.62 an hour, about $72,000 a year full time. The lower and upper ends are Job Bank's low and high wages for everyone in the group, $25.85 and $49 an hour.
$47.94 an hour
The median in Nunavut, the highest in Canada
The Northwest Territories follow at $40.31. British Columbia is the highest province at $36.79 and Prince Edward Island the lowest at $28.72. Few people start as an executive assistant straight out of school. The usual route is 2 to 4 years as an administrative assistant first.
Roughly, all in
$5,600 to $48,500
Tuition, fees, exams and kit. Not rent, food or travel
The low end is a two year office administration diploma at a college charging around two thousand eight hundred dollars a year, which is where most executive assistants actually start. The high end is a four year business degree at a more expensive university, which some employers prefer but few require, plus the optional CAP (Certified Administrative Professional) exam. This is one of the cheapest office careers to train for and many people finish with little or no debt. Laptops and software are supplied by the employer, so they are not counted.
This is one of the cheapest office careers to train for. Many people finish school with little or no debt.
Health, dental and pension
Standard at the big employers that hire executive assistants: banks, hospitals, universities, government.
Bonus
Some corporate assistants get a yearly bonus tied to the executive's or company's results.
Travel and perks
You sometimes travel with the executive, and often get the same event tickets and meals.
Access
You see how decisions get made at the top. Many executive assistants move into operations, project or people roles.
The exact path from high school to qualified.
Short schooling, then experience is what gets you the executive title.
High school diploma
Grade 12
English and computer courses matter most. Typing speed and clean writing are real hiring factors.
College diploma
2 years
A 2-year Office Administration, Executive diploma (Durham, Conestoga, Algonquin, Fanshawe and others) or a similar program like the Administrative Information Management diploma at SAIT (Southern Alberta Institute of Technology). Most include a work placement.
Administrative assistant
2 to 4 years
Support a team or department. Learn the company, the software and the politics.
Executive assistant
After 2 to 5 years
Support one senior leader or a small executive team. Job Bank says employers usually want related administrative experience, and some ask for a degree.
English
You draft emails and letters in someone else's voice.
Computer studies or business technology
Word, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint. Speed matters.
Business studies
How companies are organized.
French or another language
Many jobs in Ottawa, Montreal and federal offices need both English and French.
Job Bank confirms this occupation is not regulated in Canada. Anyone can be hired as an executive assistant. The CAP (Certified Administrative Professional) credential from the IAAP (International Association of Administrative Professionals) is voluntary. It signals skill on a resume but no employer legally needs it.
Quebec trains office assistants through a vocational diploma, the DEP (Diploma of Vocational Studies) in Secretarial Studies, or a 3 year program at CEGEP (public college).
Secondary IV credits or a diploma
From age 16
The DEP (Diploma of Vocational Studies) needs a high school diploma, or age 16 by 30 September with Secondary IV language, second language and math.
DEP in Secretarial Studies (5857)
About 15 months
1,485 hours at a public vocational centre. In English at centres of the English Montreal, Lester B. Pearson, Riverside and Eastern Townships school boards, and in the Pontiac.
Or a college DEC (Diploma of College Studies)
3 years
Office System Technology (412.A0), 3 years, has been offered at John Abbott, Champlain and Vanier. From fall 2026 it is being merged into Administration and Management Technology (410.G0).
Administrative assistant
2 to 4 years
The province lists administrative and executive assistant among the jobs the DEP leads to. Most people support a team for a few years first.
Executive assistant
After 2 to 5 years
Support one senior leader or a small executive team, the same as elsewhere in Canada.
Things you don't need, but that help.
CAP (Certified Administrative Professional)
A voluntary exam from the IAAP (International Association of Administrative Professionals). Shows you have the full skill set.
Project management basics
Job Bank notes some employers ask for project management training. It is the bridge to a coordinator or operations job.
Board and minute-taking experience
Supporting a board of directors is a step up in responsibility, and the experience is hard to replace.
Bookkeeping
Expense reports, budgets and invoices. Small companies want an assistant who can handle money.
Fast, accurate typing
Still tested at many interviews.
A second language
French for government and Quebec, others for global companies.
Discretion
You will read confidential things every day. A reputation for keeping quiet is worth more than any course.
Calm under pressure
A cancelled flight at 6 am is your problem to fix.
Day to day, pros and cons, where you'd work.
In before the executive. Clear the inbox, flag what needs a decision, fix the calendar where two meetings collide. Book a flight and hotel for next week. Prepare the slides and briefing notes for a 10 am board call. Greet visitors, order lunch for a meeting, take minutes. Afternoon: chase people for answers the executive is waiting on, process expense claims, plan a team event. Quiet stretches, then bursts of urgent changes.
The good
The hard parts
Things people don't tell you.
The job used to be called secretary. Today an executive assistant often manages budgets, plans events for hundreds of people and sits in on confidential meetings. Some large companies now call the most senior version chief of staff.
Job Bank counted about 41,500 executive assistants in Canada in 2023, and 43% of them were 50 or older, so retirements will open jobs over the next decade.
Many Ontario colleges offer a 1-year Office Administration, General certificate that ladders straight into the second year of the 2-year Executive diploma. Conestoga's costs about $5,800 in 2026.
Every list is built from the same numbers shown above, so you can see where this career sits next to the others.
People and operations first, then the rest of the field. See every career in business and money.
Last checked October 2026. Pay figures are typical full-time annual amounts in Canadian dollars, based on Government of Canada Job Bank wage data and published salary grids. They vary by province, employer and experience. Tuition is for domestic students. How every figure on this site is sourced and checked.
Tell us about this page. A person reads every message.
No email app on this device? Use Gmail instead: report a mistake in Gmail or say what you like in Gmail.