Optional · 1 of 2
Skills worth building
Complex travel and calendars
Juggling time zones, visas and last-minute changes for several people at once is the skill that separates senior assistants from the rest.
Board work
Preparing board packets and taking formal minutes. Specialized and hard to hire for.
Budgets and expenses
Owning a departmental budget moves you from assistant toward operations.
Project management
Running the office move, the offsite, the new system rollout. The usual route to a chief of staff title.
Absolute discretion
You will know about layoffs, deals and illnesses before anyone. It is the core requirement of the job, not a bonus.