Executive Assistant
What Does a Professional in this Career Do?
An Executive Assistant provides skilled administrative support for a company executive or professional staff at an organization. Schedules meetings, calls and travel, manages correspondence, handles outside information requests and staff communications; may assist with preparing presentations.
Job Outlook
There were 1499 Executive Assistant job postings in North Carolina in the past year and 68721 in the United States.
In combination with other careers in the Executive Assistant industry, which includes the Executive Assistant career, the following graph shows the number of people employed for each year since 2015:
Salary
Many new Executive Assistant jobs have salaries estimated to be in the following ranges, based on the requirements and responsibilities listed in job postings from the past year.
National
The average estimated salary in the United States for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $72,266.
State
The average estimated salary in North Carolina for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $68,195.
Percentiles represent the percentage that is lower than the value. For example, 25% of estimated salaries for Executive Assistant postings in the United States in the past year were lower than $61,522.
Education and Experience
Posted Executive Assistant jobs typically require the following level of education. The numbers below are based on job postings in the United States from the past year. Not all job postings list education requirements.
| Education Level | Percentage |
|---|---|
| Associate's Degree | 0% |
| Bachelor's Degree | 43.93% |
| Master's Degree | 3.39% |
| Doctoral Degree | 0.7% |
| Other | 21.46% |
Posted Executive Assistant jobs typically require the following number of years of experience. The numbers below are based on job postings in the United States from the past year. Not all job postings list experience requirements.
| Years of Experience | Percentage |
|---|---|
| 0 to 2 years | 23.29% |
| 3 to 5 years | 61% |
| 6 to 8 years | 10.28% |
| 9+ years | 5.42% |
Skills
Below are listings of the most common general and specialized skills Executive Assistant positions expect applicants to have as well as the most common skills that distinguish individuals from their peers. The percentage of job postings that specifically mention each skill is also listed.
Baseline Skills
A skill that is required across a broad range of occupations, including this one.
- Communication (62.52%)
- Detail Oriented (45.98%)
- Microsoft Office (41.33%)
- Microsoft Excel (37.92%)
- Scheduling (37.38%)
- Management (37.23%)
- Presentations (36.8%)
- Coordinating (35.8%)
- Microsoft PowerPoint (35.3%)
- Administrative Functions (34.17%)
Defining Skills
A core skill for this occupation, it occurs frequently in job postings.
- Administrative Support (52.26%)
- Calendar Management (19.53%)
- Expense Reports (28.14%)
- Executive Information Systems (10.01%)
- Travel Arrangements (44.72%)
Necessary Skills
A skill that is requested frequently in this occupation but isn’t specific to it.
- Office Supply Management (13.4%)
- Office Equipment (10.13%)
- Office Administration (3.59%)
- Proofreading (13.6%)
- Marketing (9.6%)
- Invoicing (15.85%)
- Taking Meeting Minutes (10.71%)
- Event Planning (10.98%)
- Data Entry (8.57%)
- Microsoft SharePoint (5.7%)
- Office Management (14.63%)
- Finance (8.03%)
- Google Workspace (8.54%)
- Project Management (19.15%)
Distinguishing Skills
A skill that may distinguish a subset of the occupation.
- SAP Concur (Travel And Invoice Software) (5.48%)
Salary Boosting Skills
A professional who wishes to excel in this career path may consider developing the following highly valued skills. The percentage of job postings that specifically mention each skill is listed.
- Calendar Management (41.91%)
- Expense Reports (60.38%)
- SAP Concur (Travel And Invoice Software) (11.75%)
- Executive Information Systems (21.47%)
Alternative Job Titles
Sometimes employers post jobs with Executive Assistant skills but a different job title. Some common alternative job titles include:
- Executive Administrative Assistant
- Executive Assistant to the Chief Executive Officer
- Executive Assistant to the Chief Operating Officer
- Executive/Personal Assistant
- Executive Assistant to the President
- Executive Office Assistant
- Executive Assistant/Office Manager
- Assistant Executive Director
- Real Estate Executive Assistant
Similar Occupations
If you are interested in exploring occupations with similar skills, you may want to research the following job titles. Note that we only list occupations that have at least one corresponding NC State Online and Distance Education program.
Common Employers
Here are the employers that have posted the most Executive Assistant jobs in the past year along with how many they have posted.
United States
- Robert Half (1463)
- Beacon Hill Staffing Group (831)
- Amazon (668)
- Randstad (472)
- Aston Carter (371)
- Target (360)
- Career Group (284)
- JPMorgan Chase (251)
- Insight Global (208)
- University of California (207)
North Carolina
- University of North Carolina (33)
- Robert Half (20)
- State of North Carolina (19)
- UNC Health (17)
- North Carolina State University (16)
- Adecco (15)
- Aston Carter (14)
- Duke University (13)
- Novant Health (12)
- Target (12)
NC State Programs Relevant to this Career
If you are interested in preparing for a career in this field, the following NC State Online and Distance Education programs offer a great place to start!
- Leadership in the Public Sector Undergraduate Certificates
- Leadership in the Public Sector Undergraduate Degrees
All wages, job posting statistics, employment trend projections, and information about skill desirability on this page represents historical data and does not guarantee future conditions. Data is provided by and downloaded regularly from Lightcast. For more information about how Lightcast gathers data and what it represents, see Lightcast Data: Basic Overview on Lightcast's Knowledge Base website.