Executive Assistant  

ESSENCE OF THE ROLE:

The Executive Assistant to the CEO is an extension of the CEO, and the purpose of the job is to make the CEO a better, faster, stronger and more effective leader by creating capacity for her to focus on the most important things. As EA, you will be exposed to an extremely wide range of responsibilities. You will help drive special projects, participate in selected external meetings with clients and partners, conduct research, lead new initiatives, manage HR processes, assist in operations, and manage schedules.

The best person for this role is an individual that sees that there is no ceiling to what they can accomplish and learn in this role. The right individual for this job is highly ambitious in his/her pursuit of growth and achieving excellence. They know that their ability to grow and take on more responsibility will result in more opportunities for growth and greater responsibility.

RESPONSIBILITIES INCLUDE BUT ARE NOT LIMITED TO:

• Manage the CEO’s workflow and priorities by managing her schedule and anticipating steps ahead.
• Prepare for and follow up on internal and external meetings. When needed, participating directly in external meetings and following up with the relevant parties.
• Provide members of the Executive Leadership Team leverage in moving projects forward by assisting with information gathering, communicating with different parties, developing and monitoring plans, keeping track of responsibilities, and so on.
• Manage special projects assigned by the CEO.
• Prioritize and manage multiple projects simultaneously and following through on issues in a timely manner.
• Proactively identify ways to improve the efficiency and efficacy of the leadership team.
• Assist in day-to-day operations and staff services, which may include and are not limited to bookkeeping, finance, HR, travel and event logistics.
• Anticipate needs from the team and identifying opportunities to create processes and systems to streamline office flow.

This position requires the applicant to be interested in the structure and process of communications as well as interest in public affairs.

Ambition, integrity, trust and confidentiality are essential values.

Key Competencies

• Organizational and planning skills
• Communication skills
• Information gathering and monitoring skills
• Problem analysis and problem solving skills
• Judgment and decision-making ability
• Initiative
• Confidentiality
• Team player
• Attention to detail and accuracy
• Adaptability

KEY ATTRIBUTES:

• You are known for your integrity. You always choose to make the right decision versus the easy decision. You know what information is sensitive, and you will protect it accordingly. You take your reputation very seriously.
• You have excellent judgment. You have the rare combination of being able to make quick decisions with your gut and measured decisions with your head. You can pull on your strong analytical abilities or your instincts at the right times to make the right judgment call.
• You have a positive, rolls-up-your-sleeves mindset and are willing to take on “lower-level” and “higher level” work based on what needs to be done.
• You take ownership. You constantly seek opportunities to optimize processes and improve efficiency. You’re communicative and comfortable working with and through a range of different people and builds relationships quickly.
• You are resilient and flexible. You seek out direct feedback and see every challenge as opportunity to grow.
• You are thoughtful and intentional. You always think steps ahead. Before asking questions, you prepare your own answers, even if they are just first draft thoughts.
• You are resourceful and practical. You are able to take different kinds of input, quickly and effectively sort out action plans.
• You are an effective communicator. You are an exceptional communicator in every sense of the word. You are an especially astute listener and you pick up subtle cues that others may miss. You are effective in your spoken and written communication. You can be diplomatic, firm, gentle, and even pushy when you need to be to accomplish the goal.
• You are empathetic and a keen people reader. You have a knack for reading people. You have a keen sense of people’s motivations and you understanding how to influence their behavior.
• You are incredibly mature and even keeled. You are wise beyond your years and can handle the most stressful situations with grace. In an emergency you are the calmest individual in the room and can think with your head on straight.
• You are detail oriented and contentious. You cringe at typos, and you are the first to identify a formatting error. You obsess about the details (in a healthy way).
• You are a big picture thinker. Despite all the details that you manage, you constantly “helicopter up” to see the big picture to help inform your thinking and prioritization.