In PA Life Spring 2025 issue‘s Ask Abi column, Abigail Jones, a career EA, coach and mentor answers burning questions relating to the Assistants’ careers and roles sent to us by our readers. As a coach to EA’s and PA’s, the topic Abi is asked most about is how to start a job hunt, what to expect, and how to prepare for interviews…
How to ensure I’m well prepared for a job interview?
Firstly, get your CV ready.
Even if you are not job hunting, it’s good to update your CV regularly.
If it’s over 12 months old, it’s worth giving it a spruce up. Add in your accomplishments, any professional courses, and highlight your skills and achievements. Perhaps you’ve delivered a difficult project, ran some events, saved the company money, took part in interviewing candidates, or led a team. You may want to make different versions of your CV- for example, skills led or achievements led.
How will you approach job hunting?
Through recruitment agents, personal networks, online job boards, or reaching out directly to employers? At some point, you are going to have to interview – first either with the recruitment agent or HR, or with another EA recruiting for their replacement.
Prepare for your job interview
Now is a great time to practise answering basic questions like ‘why are you looking for a new role?’, ‘tell me about yourself’. The more you practice the better, out loud. (You can practise with the following list of ‘expected questions’ ). If you get nervous, you can take a paper copy of your CV and your answers to some of these questions into the interview with you. Job hunting takes resilience, you are likely to experience rejection, and all you can do is keep going. However, don’t let the fear of failure put you off trying. The right role is out there, you just have to find each other.
Experience and background:
- Can you describe your previous experience in supporting senior executives? What tasks did you handle on a daily basis?
- What do you think is the most important quality an EA should possess? How do you demonstrate this in your work?
Organisational skills:
- Tell us about a time when you had to manage conflicting priorities. How did you determine what tasks took precedence?
- How do you stay organised when juggling multiple tasks with tight deadlines?
Problem-solving:
- Can you give an example of a challenging situation you’ve faced in your role as an EA, and how you handled it?
- If your executive asked you to prepare an urgent report with limited information, what steps would you take to ensure it’s accurate and delivered on time?
Communication and relationship building:
- How do you ensure smooth communication between your executive and various stakeholders, both internal and external?
- How would you handle a situation where you had to deliver difficult news to an executive?
Technological proficiency:
- What office software are you most proficient in? How do you use technology to enhance productivity and efficiency in your role?
- Have you had experience managing virtual meetings or organising remote work schedules? How do you ensure seamless operations when working remotely or across different time zones?
Cultural fit:
- How do you adapt to working with different personalities? How would you describe your ideal working relationship with an executive?
- Can you share an example of how you’ve contributed to a positive and collaborative team environment in the past?
Do you have a burning career question for Abi?
You can send your questions to be features in our bext issue, in total confidence of anonymity being protected, to our editor at editroial@palife.co.uk, with subject ‘Ask Abi’.
Follow Abi on Instagram @thepacoach
