What computer systems do you have experience with?

"My current employer has elected to use G-Suite tools. I use these tools with expert knowledge and have developed training modules to ensure that other employees use them at an expert level. While my employer prefers G-Suite, I have a history of utilizing all Microsoft programs and have taken an Excel masterclass to ensure my skills stay sharp. Additionally, I'm comfortable with Slack, Adobe, and WordPress. Are these common tools for this position? Are there any others I should become familiar with?"

When asking this question, interviewers evaluate to see if you are skilled with their current software platforms and computer systems. Additionally, they are checking to see how familiar you are with each of these systems. Some standard computer systems that an Executive Assistant uses are:Microsoft Programs (Word, Excel, PowerPoint) Outlook/Gmail G-Suit Tools (Sheets, Docs, Forms, Slides) Slack Adobe WordPress

"I am familiar with and proficient with various computer programs. Some of which include; Microsoft Office Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. Other programs include Docusign, Box, Concur, and Zoom."

Can you tell me about some common reports you prepare and their intended purpose?

"In my current role, I'm responsible for all business reports and presentation of the content. These reports range from travel expenses, file expense reports, monthly business reviews, and productivity reporting. I'm very familiar with these reports' general content, which makes errors or failing metrics easy to identify. From there, I partner with executives to build programs to improve those metrics or correct the reporting."

Interviewers ask this for several reasons. They want to validate how you handle data sources, presentation skills, organizational skills, and general business acumen. By answering this question thoughtfully, you can demonstrate your abilities around reporting best practices and how knowledgeable you are around business reports in general.

"Some common reports I create would be travel and entertainment reports. They are submitted to the department to close out any division expenses for travel and entertainment and also include reimbursement for a physician's travel."

Why do you want to leave your current employer?

"I've been in my current position for four years now. During this time, I have served over 25 executives, developed processes, and launched Executive Assistant development programs. I have thoroughly enjoyed my time with ABC Company, but having achieved all of the major milestones I have set for myself, I am now looking to be challenged and developed in a new venue."

There are many reasons an employer may ask this question. They are looking to see if you were let go or if you quit jobs often. The costs and effort of onboarding a new employee are fairly high, so when an interviewer asks this question, they are trying to figure out how long they think you will stay with the company. The importance here is to keep it positive. People rarely leave their employers because things are going well. Be honest but never speak poorly of your boss, peers, colleagues, or the company. This is also an opportunity to highlight all of your remarkable achievements.

"My current employer is fantastic, however, I came across this opportunity as an EA and I couldn't pass it up. The EA role is where I see my career when I can assist and help executives."

How do you organize your daily schedule?

"There are many approaches I use in managing my day and my workload. However, I have found the most effective to be a numerical assignment approach. With this strategy, I create a list with my daily responsibilities and assign them each a numerical value based on importance. I address the higher numbers first and have mid-morning and mid-day check-ins to update my list as new tasks arise. Additionally, I proactively add time blocks to my calendar to account for repetitive tasks such as record filing and email management."

Interviewers often ask this question because they want to make sure that you can self-manage and operate productively. Most Executives wish to avoid micromanagement and don't want to get too deep in the weeds with your work. They prefer to use high-level and manage overall strategy versus day-to-day operations.

"I organize my daily schedule using my Outlook calendar along with the electronic notes using Tasks where I can coordinate my list by high priority to low priority and check off items as they are completed."

Tell me about a time you dealt with a difficult client and how you managed that.

"We recently had a client who was angry that she could not reach out to the director by phone. Our director is not client-facing, but she felt he was the only one who would solve her problem. She called for him several times a day and got the same answer each time, that he was not available to take her call. She became more and more escalated each time she called, and no one could calm her down. I requested to take her call, and I utilized the Three R technique. Through this technique, you recognize their problem, relate to them, and reassure them that you will do what you can to help. Using this technique, I was able to calm her down and help her toward a solution."

As an Executive Assistant, it's not uncommon to deal with difficult clients or coworkers, for that matter. Interviewers ask this question to gauge your maturity level and assess how you behave when others are difficult. They also want to know that you will manage situations like these without reflecting poorly on the company. Especially in the age of social media, navigating difficult clients mitigates public risk for the company. When answering this question, be sure to highlight a positive outcome of the situation.

"A difficult person I had to deal with, was actually an ex-partner of one of my colleagues. He attempted to reach her several times via our office phone and eventually showed up at our office demanding to see her. I remained calm and expressed to him that she is not available and kindly told him it would be best that he left the premises. Shortly after he left I called campus security and asked our office to provide a description and to call If he returned."

Can you share your approach to record keeping?

"While record-keeping may be seen as a low-level task, there are significant complexities that come with record keeping. My main priority in record-keeping is prioritizing security and privacy while creating and implementing a record management strategy. Additionally, I run a quarterly audit to ensure that all records are accounted for and current with all relevant information. Lastly, before I dispose of records appropriately at the end of life, I make sure that a digital copy is accessible on a drive."

Record keeping is vital to any career, but especially an Executive Assistant role. Not only are you responsible for accurately keeping track of essential documents, but you are also responsible for strategically storing records in a way that you can easily retrieve them when needed. In many cases, businesses must keep documents for over a decade, creating many files to organize. Demonstrating your ability to design a record-keeping approach is a great way to show you are an asset as an Executive Assistant.

"I like to keep everything very organized and keep everything in various electronic folders for easy retrieval. Our division is a fully electronic file system."

Can you share what qualities you feel are the most valuable as an Executive Assistant?

"While many characteristics make up a great Executive Assistant, I find that the most valuable is superb organizational skills. As an Executive Assistant, you are responsible for a broad scope of work, and becoming disorganized is a surefire way to create chaos and make mistakes. I also find that the more organized I am, the more productive I am. In my current position, I'm responsible for creating standard operating procedures that focus on organization strategies and their benefits."

Interviewers often ask questions such as these to ensure that you align with the qualities that they value. Additionally, they validate that you have a strong understanding of the competencies required to succeed in this role. Some of the qualities that are must-haves in this position are excellent communication skills, organizational skills, extreme professionalism, collaborative skills, autonomy, and a willingness to learn.As a best practice, select one or two that you have excellent examples for so that you can tie it back to the role.

"Most valuable qualities of an EA1. Organization-keeping documents and files organized for quick retrieval 2. Ability to multitask: answering calls, and scheduling meetings, all while working on reports3. Adaptability- the ability to change tasks at a moment's notice due to tasks urgency"

What approach do you use to stay on top of email management?

"Email volume can be quite high and can become unmanageable very quickly. To ensure that I stay on top of email volume, I approach the inbox as a to-do list. Nothing is removed from the inbox until I have actioned or responded to that particular email. Once I have addressed an email, I file the email in the appropriate folder so that it is available to reference, if needed, at a later date."

The Executive Assistant role's critical function is ensuring that the company and executive inboxes are being managed and responded to appropriately. Interviewers want to ensure that you will be able to manage emails promptly, regardless of how many come through. Email management is essential since emailing is generally the central hub for all communications.

"I go through my emails at the start of the day and flag/highlight each email based on importance. I will then go back through the emails mid and end of the day and mark them as complete once they have been done. Once the email and task are completed I will file them away in a folder for easy retrieval if I need to reference again."

Can you share best practices for written work and ensuring accuracy?

"When creating correspondence, I employ several techniques to ensure my work is free of grammatical errors and confirm its accuracy. I make the first draft using spell check tools or Grammarly. Then, I read it backward to highlight any immediate errors. Next, I go through to confirm that all data points are correct. This includes dates, names, times, time zones, phone numbers, and addresses. Lastly, if given the opportunity, I have a peer review my work."

Executive Assistants (EA) are responsible for writing correspondence and communications on behalf of executives. If an EA has inadequate writing/grammar skills, those reflect poorly on the executive. The interviewer needs to know that they can count on you to compose messages to present them in a favorable light. Additionally, they won't have time to proofread every communication that goes out, so they need to know that you have processes in place to mitigate errors.

"When writing work documents I like to use the Grammarly software for accuracy. I will also reread the document again to ensure everything looks correct prior to submitting it."

What details do you pay attention to when executing administrative tasks?

"As an Executive Assistant, my day is predominately comprised of managing key details. Some of these details include emails, logging client information, taking minutes in meetings, and sending post agenda follow-up correspondence. In managing these crucial functions, I have to be mindful of the audience, the information, dates, and discretion. If any of those are compromised, it can create many issues, some of them detrimental."

A slip in misinformation can cause many problems. As an Executive Assistant, you manage so many details, and missing any of them can be problematic. These mistakes could be transposing numbers, sending an email to someone on accident, or addressing a client by the wrong name. Interviewers ask this question because they want to understand what parameters you put in place to protect yourself from missing key details.

"When executing administrative tasks I look at key information. For instance, when I am scheduling a meeting I look to see who should be included on the meeting invite (including admin support) zoom information, meeting location, agenda, and any other documents that may need to be included in the email and calendar invite."

Tell me about a time you had to provide difficult feedback to a leader.

"I recently worked with an executive officer who often complained about the company in front of clients. I felt this painted the company poorly and was concerned if he continued, it would make the clients hesitant about using us and damage his personal brand. I asked him if we could speak privately and explained my concerns regarding his frustrations. I recognized that he was experiencing a lot of frustration and negativity with the company and asked if there was anything I could do to support him in making this shift. He originally said no but later circled back and asked me to make him aware if he did it again because he didn't realize when it was happening."

With this question, interviewers are evaluating your managerial courage. Working with high-level executives, interviewers want to ensure you won't to be easily intimidated or shy away from having difficult conversations for the betterment of the business. Additionally, they are evaluating your approach in providing feedback to ensure that you are tactful and diplomatic while delivering a difficult message.

Tell me about a time you experienced a roadblock when booking travel. How did you correct it?

"In my previous role, I booked travel for over 100 employees for a business conference to Las Vegas. During onboarding, our director realized he left his ID at home, which was over an hour away, and the flight would be boarding at that point. Knowing that he wasn't going to get on this flight, I immediately booked the next flight for him and sent a courier to his residence to collect his ID and bring it to him at the airport before his next flight."

Interviewers ask this because mistakes happen. When those mistakes arise, they want to know that you have the problem-solving skills to correct those mistakes if you can. Traveling for work can come with many stress-inducing situations, and errors in travel amplify those stress factors. While we aim to be error-free, especially when booking travel, mistakes happen, and interviewers want to ensure that you can act quickly and strategically when something goes wrong.

"I booked a flight for my executive to present at a conference in Hawaii. We were notified the flight there was canceled and the flight the airline rebooked him on was later and he would have missed his presentation. In order to get him to the conference on time we canceled his flights with the original airline and booked with another company and he made it to his conference successfully."

What best practices do you use in coordinating travel arrangements?

"When preparing to book travel, I first document all travelers, time zones, budgetary constraints, and itineraries for travelers. After I understand where everyone needs to be and when they need to be there, I can methodically develop travel plans for lodging, plane tickets, meal budgets, and car transfer. I ensure I'm mindful of layover time and shop several travel sites to ensure that I get the best deals for the company."

As an Executive Assistant, you are responsible for making travel arrangements. Many complexities come into play when booking travel, such as weather, time zones, varying schedules, budget, etc. The interviewer is looking to see if you can anticipate others' needs and forecast any hiccups that may happen. They want to ensure that you pay attention to detail and do your best to mitigate any annoyances or delays in travel booking. When traveling for business, the company is paying for employees to travel. If you book a flight with too many layovers, the company pays for that time. It's essential to be mindful of the many travel components.

"When coordinating travel arrangements I look at the following items 1. Date and location of conference or meeting 2. Hotels near or at the meeting3. Flights 4. Rental car5. Conference or meeting agenda 5. Book arrangements according to executives' likes and preferences"

What strategies do you use when managing competing priorities?

"I leverage a variation of prioritization techniques depending on the tasks at hand. For daily task management, I like to use the Moscow Technique. With the Moscow technique, I focus on must-have time, should-have time, could-have time, and will not have time. This approach allows me to strategically bucket my workload in relation to risk, impact, and project size. However, when I prioritize a project's tasks, I find that the Ivy Lee Method is the best approach. This method keeps me on task for six specific actions, not moving on to new tasks or adding until my task list until the initial six are complete. I believe it's important to utilize different techniques depending on what I'm prioritizing."

As an Executive Assistant (EA), your ability to prioritize effectively is a vital component of the EA role. Your interviewer is qualifying your ability to successfully manage competing priorities with a systematic approach. They want to ensure that you can demonstrate the ability to autonomously prioritize your responsibilities and tasks with little to no intervention. They want to validate that you are capable of working independently so that they are free to manage their own high-level tasks. Lastly, they want to be certain that they trust your decision-making skills around prioritization. By providing answers with concrete frameworks, you demonstrate your skills around prioritization and when it's best to leverage each framework. Prioritization framework methods: Force Ranking Hundred Dollar Method Moscow Technique Numerical Assignment Grouping Ivy Lee Method

"As a Department Coordinator, you have to manage many projects all at once. I really enjoy having a list. I write as much as I can, everything gets added to a list. I use the MOSCOW method by creating my list by rank what I must complete, should complete, could complete, and won't complete. Also at the end of the day, I use the Ivy Lee Method and make sure to list tasks for the next day. While also using the MOSCOW method."

Tell me about a time you had to oversee coordination of many moving pieces.

"In my current role, I was responsible for communication and coordination of over ten clients in one day. They all had different needs, timelines, and preferred communication methods. To ensure I was managing them all appropriately, I leveraged a project management platform to track what phase each client was in and what support they needed at any given time. This process also allowed me to enter notes and documentation related to each client, ensuring that their documentation did not mix up. This process kept our engagement with them very organized and allowed us to engage with them quickly and promptly based on their specific needs."

This competency is for interviewers because as an Executive Assistant, you maintain ownership of many different responsibilities. They want to ensure that the work is getting done, that time is allocated appropriately, prioritized well, and that information from various projects is not getting mixed up.

"I recently took on the ______ fellowship coordinator role-this program is in its inaugural year and I am building the program from the ground up, so there are many moving pieces. 1. Recruitment and interview fellows2. Meet with key stakeholders for site locations3. Building schedule 4. Onboarding fellows5. Building curriculum and canvas site"

What strategies do you use in coordinating a meeting with many stakeholders with varying calendars?

"In my current role, I'm responsible for booking goal planning meetings. In these meetings, we book over 50 individuals for several-hour time blocks. I first collect the list for all attendees, determine how much time will need to be blocked off, and figure out a timeframe for when this meeting is required. Knowing that calendars will never completely align for 50 individuals, I connect with them to find out which times absolutely will not work for them. Next, I compare their calendars simultaneously to see if there is a time that works for the majority. After that time is identified, I connect with the ones it didn't work for to see if they can move some things around."

A vital responsibility for an Executive Assistant is booking meetings. An interviewer will ask this question to evaluate your knowledge around the complexity of meeting management. When booking meetings for others, you play a large part in their day and essentially plan their day for them. The interviewer wants to make sure that you are methodically booking invites and coordinating multiple employees thoughtfully.

"First, if I have access to multiple calendars, I will compare availability and then will use those majority dates to create a doodle poll where individuals can provide their availability. If I am having a hard time finding a date I will reach out and see if we can move things around."

Tell me about a time when you had to make a decision but didn't have all the information you needed. How did you approach that situation?

"My supervisor alerted me that a client was experiencing an issue on the app, but they didn't have many details. When I am operating on limited information, the first thing I like to do is collect the data points we do have. Next, I want to witness the issue first hand if I can. In this situation, I logged into the app myself to see if there were any broad issues or if this was a one-off. After seeing that everything was working as intended, I contacted the client to gain more insight. We ultimately figured out that the client needed to update her software."

Interviewers need to know that you are resourceful. They want to know that they can hand you two pieces to a puzzle and that you can take the appropriate steps to put the rest of the puzzle together. They want to know you can independently find the information you need and that they won't have to spend time putting all of the pieces together for you.

What approaches do you use to stay motivated and how do you course correct when you get off track?

"I find that motivation often leaves you, and it's vital to leverage my discipline in conjunction with motivation. Some techniques that I use to stay motivated are creating small task items from more significant goals. This task list allows me to achieve quick wins that keep me engaged throughout my day. Additionally, I reflect on my impact on the company and consider what would happen if I don't stay motivated. If I find myself getting off track, I regroup and use prioritization methods to identify what needs my immediate attention to course correct."

When asking this question, interviewers are quantifying how often they are going to have to coach you. They want someone who can be self-motivated and build an action plan when they get off track. This assessment is also a measure of self-awareness and shows your interviewer that you can work independently with little intervention.

"I like to create a list and review it each day. As I complete each task it motivates me to knock out more tasks. I also stay motivated each day knowing that my job has a huge impact on how our institution operates and that without my contribution things would not operate smoothly."

Tell me about a time, you used a creative solution to solve a really difficult problem.

"My current team collaborates with our data team closely. The data team has an exceptionally high workload, and they have a continual backlog. Knowing that it would be a while before they could get to our teams' requests, I found a course online that taught the basics of building a data set. I then launched it to our team to upskill everyone. This upskilling allowed us to do the lower-level tasks before passing them to the data team, and our data requests took half the time."

Interviewers want to know that you are capable of solving unique problems. If you aren't able to solve problems creatively and quickly, the executive staff has to get involved, which takes time away from managing the business at a high level. Knowing you can creatively solve problems gives the interviewer confidence that they won't need to micro-manage or handhold in complex situations.

Can you tell me about a time a peer was failing and how you supported them?

"I had a peer who was struggling to meet her productivity goals each month. Thus, the rest of the team had to do more work to make up for productivity loss. I had a private conversation with them and made them aware that I noticed they were struggling and asked if there was anything I could do to support them. They shared that they weren't familiar with a tool that was slowing them down. To support them, I built an informational guide and put together a video tutorial to provide them additional training. I also offered to have them shadow me to learn best practices. Since then, they have become an expert on this particular tool and have increased their productivity scores."

Employers are looking for you to be autonomous and independent. They want to know that if you have peer issues, you will manage those with minimal involvement. Additionally, they want to know that you will be a support mechanism for your teammates to move the company forward. The main call out here is to keep it positive and focus on the process, not the person. Additionally, any peer conversations should come from a place of support and less about finger-pointing.

Tell me about a time you dealt with constant change.

"I currently work in a heavily regulated environment, and with that comes frequent guidance changes from regulators. When Covid hit, there were a significant number of changes that came through, and I was required to oversee my department's changes. The team felt a lot of frustration around the constant change and knowing how contagious negativity can be, I was quick to redirect my peers and offer my support to help them transition through the changes. In providing that support, we found effective ways to track the updates to keep everyone in the know. Additionally, we built out a framework to launch future changes and conducted post mortems to improve those launches each time."

Interviewers ask this because they want to make sure you aren't heavily impacted when things change, which is always. In a business environment, change is inevitable, and they want to be sure you are flexible and can maintain positivity in the face of transition. More importantly, employers are looking for change-makers who help move the company along when things change, instead of dragging their feet and complaining.

"I work with patient care doctors-these doctors are the ones on the front line caring for sick patients. We have a backup system for when people are out sick, and with the pandemic, we were constantly getting calls out without a proper backup, so we added additional backup. During this time there were a lot of schedule changes with me calling in backup for coverage."

Tell me about a time you received difficult feedback and your action plan in addressing that feedback.

"In my previous role, my leader gave me feedback about my tone and delivery. My understanding was that I was speaking firmly and confidently, but unfortunately, it was not perceived in that way, and they felt I was coming off cold and rigid. I was grateful for the feedback and understood that perception could be interpreted as reality. Some steps that I took to improve my tone and delivery were recording myself speaking to see my delivery and hear my tone from a different perspective. I also asked my peers for support and asked them to make me aware if I did it again. Lastly, I read professional development books around public speaking and body language. I am now a mentor for others who struggle with tone and delivery."

Interviewers want to know that you are coachable and if they invest in your development, you have a growth mindset and are willing to take that feedback and action it. This question can be tricky because you don't want to provide feedback that could be alarming or cause concern upon your employment. A good piece of feedback to focus on is something that you have already implemented an action plan for and have improved.

What is your approach when you aren't able to share a full story with a colleague?

"When I need to speak about discrete topics, I want to be certain that I don't inadvertently share information that I shouldn't. Some approaches that I use are creating a list of information that is safe to share. Additionally, suppose I have to share information with a colleague but want to avoid oversharing. In that case, I scrub the documents for all relevant information and only refer to the person as 'a client.' I also maintain firm boundaries around client information. If a colleague presses, I am prompt in reminding them that only certain information can be shared for the well-being of our clients."

Interviewers need to know if you are capable of being discrete while still completing tasks. There will be times when you will need to have a conversation around a discrete topic and only share the minimum information necessary. Additionally, they need to know that they can trust you to manage sensitive information and only access that information when you absolutely have to.

"Since I manage adjunct faculty there have been situations that we need to terminate their employment. Only details are expressed to the Department Chair, the Dean, and Human Resources. All other colleagues if they ask questions I simply respond with they no longer work for the institution, is there anything I can help you with? If colleagues ask what happen and keep pressing the situation I simply state I cannot disclose any details."

Tell me about a time you had to manage many different details.

"In my current role, I am responsible for maintaining information for over 200 clients. I have to be certain that these client records are never comingled because this would be a violation of privacy and could create a lot of confusion. To ensure I handle client information with care, I only access one client's information at a time and make sure always to file loose documents immediately. I also ensure that all digital files are labeled specifically and promptly to avoid any confusion. Lastly, I always double-check all files to make sure that documents are not assigned to the wrong client folder."

Interviewers ask this because, as an Executive Assitant, you manage a significant amount of data in many forms. This data could be files, emails, reports, etc. They want to ensure that you have a keen attention to detail and successfully keep different data sources segmented.

"As the Department Coordinator for the School of Education, I manage approximately 150 adjunct faculty. I manage their contracts make sure we have a signed copy and forward it to the Human Resources Department. I verify all contracts and make sure all courses have instructor assignments for the entire academic year."

"Recruitment- I managed many different details from candidates' interview packets, and interview panels, sending email correspondence and calendar invites, travel arrangements, lunch orders, and onboarding packets."

Tell me about a time you had to deliver communications to multiple people? What methods did you use?

"One of my current responsibilities is messaging our discussions and decisions from our monthly business review. The monthly business review is not appropriate for all employees, as it contains sensitive information. When drafting my communication, I bucket the updates based on which employees need specific information on an as-needed basis. Next, I ensure that the email list includes only relevant parties. Lastly, I add a disclaimer to each communication group, explaining what information is appropriate to share and which information is sensitive. This disclaimer helps in ensuring that information is not inadvertently shared."

When asking this question, interviewers are validating that you are knowledgeable about communication best practices. They want to know that you can effectively communicate to large groups and know when specific populations should be communicated to differently. They may also be looking to confirm that you know who to communicate to and when. Not all messages are intended for all audiences.

"As the Department Coordinator, I have weekly communications for the adjunct faculty. Certain communications involve all adjunct faculty such as the academic calendar, policy/procedures, and grading instructions. While other communications are from different departments and are for specific adjuncts in each department. I make sure to section my communication by who gets what communication. Making sure to cross-check my list. I also make sure all links are opening correctly and surveys/forms direct correctly as well."

"During interviews, I send calendar invites and email correspondence to both the interview panel and the candidates.When this is done I send two separate correspondences since there will be documentation the candidate cannot see and other documents the interview panel will not need."

Executive Assistant Interview Questions

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1. What computer systems do you have experience with?
2. Can you tell me about some common reports you prepare and their intended purpose?
3. Why do you want to leave your current employer?
4. How do you organize your daily schedule?
5. Tell me about a time you dealt with a difficult client and how you managed that.
6. Can you share your approach to record keeping?
7. Can you share what qualities you feel are the most valuable as an Executive Assistant?
8. What approach do you use to stay on top of email management?
9. Can you share best practices for written work and ensuring accuracy?
10. What details do you pay attention to when executing administrative tasks?
11. Tell me about a time you had to provide difficult feedback to a leader.
12. Tell me about a time you experienced a roadblock when booking travel. How did you correct it?
13. What best practices do you use in coordinating travel arrangements?
14. What strategies do you use when managing competing priorities?
15. Tell me about a time you had to oversee coordination of many moving pieces.
16. What strategies do you use in coordinating a meeting with many stakeholders with varying calendars?
17. Tell me about a time when you had to make a decision but didn't have all the information you needed. How did you approach that situation?
18. What approaches do you use to stay motivated and how do you course correct when you get off track?
19. Tell me about a time, you used a creative solution to solve a really difficult problem.
20. Can you tell me about a time a peer was failing and how you supported them?
21. Tell me about a time you dealt with constant change.
22. Tell me about a time you received difficult feedback and your action plan in addressing that feedback.
23. What is your approach when you aren't able to share a full story with a colleague?
24. Tell me about a time you had to manage many different details.
25. Tell me about a time you had to deliver communications to multiple people? What methods did you use?

Executive Assistant Interview Questions

1. What computer systems do you have experience with?

2. Can you tell me about some common reports you prepare and their intended purpose?

3. Why do you want to leave your current employer?

4. How do you organize your daily schedule?

5. Tell me about a time you dealt with a difficult client and how you managed that.

6. Can you share your approach to record keeping?

7. Can you share what qualities you feel are the most valuable as an Executive Assistant?

8. What approach do you use to stay on top of email management?

9. Can you share best practices for written work and ensuring accuracy?

10. What details do you pay attention to when executing administrative tasks?

11. Tell me about a time you had to provide difficult feedback to a leader.

12. Tell me about a time you experienced a roadblock when booking travel. How did you correct it?

13. What best practices do you use in coordinating travel arrangements?

14. What strategies do you use when managing competing priorities?

15. Tell me about a time you had to oversee coordination of many moving pieces.

16. What strategies do you use in coordinating a meeting with many stakeholders with varying calendars?

17. Tell me about a time when you had to make a decision but didn't have all the information you needed. How did you approach that situation?

18. What approaches do you use to stay motivated and how do you course correct when you get off track?

19. Tell me about a time, you used a creative solution to solve a really difficult problem.

20. Can you tell me about a time a peer was failing and how you supported them?

21. Tell me about a time you dealt with constant change.

22. Tell me about a time you received difficult feedback and your action plan in addressing that feedback.

23. What is your approach when you aren't able to share a full story with a colleague?

24. Tell me about a time you had to manage many different details.

25. Tell me about a time you had to deliver communications to multiple people? What methods did you use?