A Day in the life of an Executive PA

My Career

I am an Executive PA in a prestigious corporate company. I have been working here for the last 12 years and I am extremely happy and proud of my role in this organisation. My boss is the CEO with envious management skills. He is well respected in the office and the business world. We are a good team and he mentioned, a while ago, that I am his right hand and left hand EA (his words). I treasure these words.

                                  Author photostock and Image courtesy of freedigitalphotos.net

I aim to visit the gym at least 3 mornings per week. This invigorates me as it clears my mind and body. I find that evening sessions at the gym are not ideal for me as I am quite tired at the end of the day.

My Day: The Morning

I usually check my emails while on the train as this updates me. After an early morning trip to the gym, I had a call from my boss stating that he had an emergency at home and should be in the office just before lunch time. He had a 9:00 meeting with the manager from an out of town branch which he needed to postpone for the afternoon. I suggested that I can arrange for him to have a tour around the offices and speak to the managers; this won his approval.

  

My first priority at the office was to get the managers’ co-operation and delegate one of the team to escort and introduce the visitor. There was another pressing problem as there was a problem with the Dubai branch and one of the IT team had to travel immediately. He needed approval from the CEO. I knew approval would be granted so I instructed the travel agent to start the process. Then I phoned my boss for his approval and emailed details of the problem. I phoned the agent to go ahead with issuing the ticket, which I forwarded onto the IT personnel on receipt of the approval. I also made hotel reservation in Dubai for him and emailed the details to both the Dubai office and the traveller.

Author photostock and Image courtesy of freedigitalphotos.net

My Day: The Afternoon

One of the PAs had to go home as she came down with suspected food poisoning. She had to take the minutes at a meeting and they were stuck. The Chair asked me to step in her place. I had no lunch at 2:00 so I grabbed a sandwich which I had while I went over the agenda with the Chair. A quick freshening up of make-up and I was ready for the 2:30 meeting.

I was back at my desk at 4:00 where I had a quick catch up with my boss, deal with emails, reply to letters and faxes, update diaries, plan and prioritise the next day’s activities.

                                   Author photostock and Image courtesy of freedigitalphotos.net

 

At 6:00 I left the office, satisfied with my day’s work, as I had it all under control including planning the next day’s work.

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