Executive Assistant or Personal Assistant: what’s in a job title? 

There has always been much debate and controversy, over the Executive Assistant job title and that of a Personal Assistant. Adam Fidler has been training assistants for over 10 years and is still witnessing the job titles being a bone of contention, acknowledging the challenge of finding the ‘right’ title for everyone in the business support role… 

Personal Assistant title in decline 

I have seen a gradual decline in the use of the title Personal Assistant. This is due to most assistants today, who operate in that space, no longer having a role purely focussed on providing personal duties to their superior. They have broader scope and more responsibility in their role now.  

The Executive Assistant job title: what’s in the role

I feel confident in saying that no one has championed and defined the role of the Executive Assistant more than I have. It’s important to be clear that the job title Executive Assistant was never simply a new name for an Executive PA; the EA role was always something different, and it might surprise readers to learn that the EA role was never a ‘secretarial’ role. Far from it! 

The EA role has always been a management role, and performed by someone who didn’t necessarily undertake transactional work such as diaries and booking travel. The world, however, moves on, and we accept that in a modern business world most people who offer leaders operational and administrative support are, in the main, are now called Executive Assistants.  

Does your job title matter to you?

I was talking to some of my students just this week, who were in agreement on their job title being on little importance to them. To them being called PA or EA it didn’t matter; what was important was the scope of their job and their ability to work beyond their job description. Autonomy, and freedom to create the role is one of the joys and privileges of being the EA. (Notice, I didn’t use the word PA, there deliberately; PAs had less freedom and their work was more at the bequest of their bosses, whereas EAs should have a level of independence).   

I also have students who disagree and say that their title is of paramount importance.  Without being called an EA, they feel their role appears old-fashioned, and is a backward step. History reminds me that many secretaries became offended by that title (and who uses the title today?), so insisted they were called PAs. PAs now want to be called EAs. And, those who are doing EA work with much more responsibility, such as project or line management, are often called Business Support Managers or Executive Support Managers. The debate, I am sure, will continue for many years, and we may never find a title that suits the majority!    

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