Executive Assistant Interview Questions

The below-given executive assistant interview questions provide a snapshot of what type of questions to ask during the interview in order to assess the skills, approach, and knowledge required for the profile. Similar designations include Executive Receptionist, Assistant to the CEO, Executive Secretary, and Executive Administrative Assistant.  

Considerations for Hiring an Executive Assistant

Executive Assistants are responsible for a number of professional and personal, coordination for executives. Generally, experienced Executive Assistants have high salary expectations. However, if you are working on a tight budget, you can look for fresher candidates who are organized, resourceful and motivated or someone with lesser experience.

One of the most important responsibilities of Executive Assistants is to manage the appointments of their seniors. This can also include making bookings for travel and meetings. Executive Assistants also help executives with presentations, reports, and other correspondence. They need to have deep knowledge of software skills (Excel, PowerPoint, etc.) and strong written communication skills. Executive Assistants also act as Personal Representatives. Your Executive Assistant will have access to a huge amount of confidential information. Use the following interview questions for an Executive Assistant to know if they can maintain confidentiality at work.

With these Executive Assistant interview questions, you can understand the candidates’ technical skills, interpersonal skills, communication skills, problem-solving skills, and work process. These questions are situational and open-ended, prepared to help you find the best candidate for your company.

Operational and Situational Questions

• What do you know about this industry and our company?
• Rate your ability to work with difficult people.
• Tell me about a time when you disagreed with your colleagues about the execution of a project. How did you resolve it?
• Describe the step-by-step process to arrange a meeting.
• Share your experience of booking domestic and international travel.
• Name the software programs that you use in your day-to-day work life.
• Rate your computer skills.
• Rate your ability to maintain confidentiality on a scale of 1 to 10.
• Your Supervisor shares sensitive information about an expected collaboration with another company. One of your colleagues asks you about the same. What would you tell them?
• Describe a complex project you worked on that involved a number of team members. What were the project and the final result?
• What type of communications and reports did you work on for your CEO or Supervisor?
• What would you do if two people you support gave you contradictory guidelines?
• Do you assist more than one person? What type of difficulties do you face?
• Walk me through your typical day at work. How do you prioritize your tasks?
• Do you have any relevant work experience?