Annual Salary
£28,000 to £60,000
Average UK salary in 2023 was £34,963
(source Office for National Statistics)
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Executive assistants support senior managers in an organisation, helping with projects, client communications and decision making.
Average UK salary in 2023 was £34,963
(source Office for National Statistics)
You could work: evenings; occasionally
There will be
7.5% fewer Executive assistant jobs in 2029.
Your exact duties will depend on your role and responsibilities.
For example, as an executive assistant you could:
As a personal assistant, you would:
You may need to wear smart business clothes.
You could work in an office.
You can get into this job through:
You could do a foundation degree, higher national diploma or degree in:
Employers will usually accept qualifications in other subjects, providing you have the qualities they are looking for, such as communication, organisational and IT skills.
You'll usually need:
You could study for a college qualification, which may help you to get a job as a junior executive assistant or personal assistant.
Courses include:
Entry requirements for these courses vary.
You could apply to do a Business Administrator Level 3 Advanced Apprenticeship with an organisation.
This can take up to 2 years to complete. You'll do on-the-job training and spend time with a college or training provider.
You'll usually need:
You could find a temporary job through a personal or executive assistant recruitment agency to get administration experience. You could then apply for permanent roles.
If you're already working as a business support administrator or secretary, you could move into this role through company training and promotion.
To get work, you'll usually need GCSEs at grades 9 to 4 (A* to C) in English and maths, A levels, or equivalent qualifications. Employers will also expect you to be well organised and have strong communication skills.
You could do training courses with a private training provider before applying for work.
You may also find that recruitment agencies that specialise in placing executive assistants will offer training to help you into employment when you join them.
You’ll be expected to have excellent IT skills and knowledge of the main business software packages.
You can find some useful IT courses in The Skills Toolkit that help to develop those skills.
You can find out more about a career as an executive assistant from the Institute of Administrative Management and the Executive and Personal Assistants Association.
With experience, you could work for a more senior manager or move to a larger organisation. You might also become a senior executive, with greater responsibility in business operations.
If you have specific industry knowledge like legal, medical or financial expertise, you could take on specialist executive assistant roles or become a company secretary.
You'll need: