Executive assistant CV guides · by Lily Shippen, EA recruiter

The senior executive assistant CV: what "senior" actually looks like on the page

Written by Lily Shippen, founder of the Lily Shippen EA, PA and chief of staff recruitment agency. Thirteen years of shortlisting, tens of thousands of CVs read, and every rule on this page is one I use at my own desk. Who I am

A senior executive assistant CV isn't a long one, and it isn't one with a big number of years at the top, because it reads as senior through four things: how senior your principal is and at what scale, the decisions you take in their name without checking, the people or the office you run, and something you built that outlasted you. Years of service don't do it on their own, since fifteen years of diary management reads as fifteen years of diary management, whereas one year running a chief executive's office with a signing limit, a board cycle and two assistants reporting to you reads as senior on the very first read.

I place senior EAs with chief executives, chairs, founders and boards, and the brief from the client is nearly always the same even when they can't quite put it into words, which is that they want someone who can run the office rather than just support it. The CVs that get those interviews show the running, whereas most senior EA CVs I see show the years instead, and I'd love to tell you those are the same thing but they aren't. I think a lot of very good EAs have been quietly undersold by a CV that leads with "over 15 years' experience" and then never says what actually happened in them.

The four things I read for

The principal and the scale means chief executive, chair, founder or managing partner, of what size of business, with how many people reporting in and with what in the diary, so that a line like "EA to the Chief Executive of a 2,000-person retailer" sets the level in one go because I know what that office looks like.
Authority is what you decide and what you sign, from meetings declined in the principal's name and spend approved up to a limit to correspondence sent as them and priorities set without a conversation. A signing limit, which just means the amount you can approve on your own signature, is the clearest single marker of seniority I know, and a senior EA CV has it on page one.
People and the office covers assistants managed, the executive office run, the team assistants' appraisals held and cover arranged, and if you manage anyone at all that deserves a heading in your current role rather than a bullet buried at the bottom.
Building is the board cycle rebuilt, the travel contract renegotiated or the executive office set up from nothing after a merger, meaning the thing that wasn't there before you and carried on after, because running an office means leaving things better than you found them and this is where you show it.

The profile that reads as senior

The profile is the paragraph at the top, and here's the same person written twice.

Before

Senior Executive Assistant with over 15 years' experience supporting C-suite executives in fast-paced corporate environments. Proven track record of discretion, stakeholder management and delivering under pressure.

After

I run the Chief Executive's office at a 2,000-person retailer: her diary of about 50 meetings a week, the board and its three committees, and the two executive assistants who support the rest of the executive team. I decide what reaches her, sign off spend to £10,000 and act in her name with the board and the City when she is unreachable. I want to do the same for a chief executive or chair in a listed or private equity backed business in London.

The second version names the scale, the authority and the people in three sentences, and "proven track record" has gone, which I'd ask you to take out of yours too, because the record should be on the page where I can see it rather than asserted at the top. The first version tells me the writer is experienced, whereas the second tells me what she'd do on her first Monday in my client's office.

Key achievements at senior level

The key achievements section sits after the profile and before the first job, with five or six lines that each carry a figure, and at senior level I'd choose them because they show running rather than supporting, meaning something you set up, something you changed or something you held together when it mattered.

Set up the executive office from nothing after the 2022 merger: two assistants recruited and trained, one diary standard across the executive team of nine, in place within three months.
Rebuilt the board cycle for eight meetings and three committees a year: papers from the night before to seven days ahead, no late paper in three years.
Renegotiated the group travel contract across about 400 trips a year, saving £85,000 in the first year.
Ran the chief executive's office through a four-month leave of absence, holding the executive team's weekly agenda with the Chief Financial Officer and the board correspondence.
Managed the executive team's offsite for 60 people on a £120,000 budget three years running, each under budget.
Line manage two executive assistants and a team assistant: appraisals, development plans and one promotion to EA in 2024.

The current role: run, not supported

Your current role takes about a third of the CV, and I'd group the bullets under headings so the four things above are easy to find, because a hiring manager looking for board experience or line management should find it in one glance, and honestly one glance is all the time they'll give it before deciding whether to read on.

Current role, grouped

The chief executive's office. Diary of about 50 meetings a week across London, Manchester and the stores, rebuilt weekly. Around 300 messages a day, most answered in her name, about 20 passed to her. Decline, move or accept on my own judgement, including the board's requests for her time.

Board and executive team. Eight board meetings and three committees a year, papers seven days ahead, minutes within 48 hours. Executive team agenda and actions weekly with the Chief Financial Officer.

People. Line manage two executive assistants and a team assistant. Hold the executive office's cover rota, appraisals and development plans.

Money and authority. Sign off spend to £10,000. Hold the executive office budget of £400,000 a year against forecast. Act in the chief executive's name with the board, the brokers and the group's largest suppliers when she is unreachable.

Where senior EA CVs go wrong

Years as the evidence. "Over 15 years" in the first line and nothing else leaves me wanting to know what you ran rather than how long you've been there, because years tell me you stayed and figures tell me why they kept you.
The current role squeezed. Fifteen years of roles each given equal space means the one you're being hired on gets six lines, so give the current role a third of the CV and let anything older than ten years be a line each, because nobody will think less of you for it.
No signing limit, no line management. If you have either they belong on page one, and if you have neither the CV reads as experienced rather than senior, which is a different shortlist with a different salary.
"Stakeholder management". Name them instead, whether that's the board, the chair, the brokers, the regulator or the family, because "stakeholders" is a word that hides your evidence behind a job-description phrase.
A skills list with no level on it. At senior level "diary management, board papers, stakeholder management" reads as filler, because I expect you to have the skills and I want to see the scale you do them at, so a line like "Board support: eight meetings and three committees a year, papers seven days ahead" is a skills line I'll read, and the skills guide covers the eight things I read for and how to write each one.

Senior EA, chief of staff, or both

If your current role includes projects you run for the principal, decisions you prepare rather than schedule and a seat at the executive table, you may be holding a chief of staff CV with an EA title, and that's worth knowing before you apply for anything. The chief of staff guide covers how to tell the difference and how to write it, and the EA to CEO guide covers the chief executive's office in more detail.

The free Word template carries this structure with a note in every section, and the free checker marks yours out of 100 against it in about ten seconds, scoring five things separately, of which the one called trust is the one that tells a senior EA whether the CV is reading at the level they work. If it comes back lower than you expected, that's the page rather than you, and the page is the easy thing to fix.

Common questions

How many years make an executive assistant senior?

There's no particular number, because I read seniority from the principal, the authority, the people managed and the things built rather than from the years, and one year running a chief executive's office with a signing limit reads as more senior than fifteen years of diary management.

Should a senior EA CV be longer than two pages?

It can be whatever length the good content needs, because I don't believe page count is the measure, as long as every line carries a figure or a decision and nothing is there for the sake of it. Give the current role the most room and let roles older than ten years shrink to a line each, because you're being hired for the job you do now.

Should I include line management on an EA CV?

Yes, as its own heading in the current role and as a key achievement if you've developed or promoted anyone, because it's one of the four things that make a CV read as senior and most senior EAs bury it in a bullet.

What salary should a senior EA CV target?

Your CV shouldn't mention salary at all, because if you show the scale, the authority and the people, the level of role and salary follows, and salary belongs in the conversation with the recruiter, who'll tell you honestly what the evidence on the page supports.

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Lily Shippen

FOUNDER, LILY SHIPPEN, EA, PA AND CHIEF OF STAFF RECRUITMENT · THIRTEEN YEARS PLACING EAS

Lily has read tens of thousands of EA CVs and shortlisted the ones that worked. Margot is her screening interview, written down. About Lily and this site