Six Figures for an “Executive Assistant”

[Anonymous]

OP there aren't that many nouveau lesbian EAs around and someone probably has told her the suckup who ordered food deliveries is trashing her so your days are numbered and not with six figure$

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:EAs are underpaid.


It's amazing how departments would absolutely blow up of it weren't for admin staff and EAs. Senior staff are clueless trying to arrange flights, optimal travel, hotels, dealing with Visa requirements, arranging schedules, paying for things, making reservations for restaurants with important clients, etc. absolutely nothing would function without good EAs. A good EA is worth their weight in gold.

Worth a higher salary than a doctor in residency? They also work long hours under stress

Yes. A resident is well educated but is basically as useful as any other entry-level employee. Same as a first year associate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP there aren't that many nouveau lesbian EAs around and someone probably has told her the suckup who ordered food deliveries is trashing her so your days are numbered and not with six figure$

Suck up? She told me she was dying with COVID and couldn’t get out of bed and was broke because the org “freezed her pay”. Then, days later, I see her at a bar

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:EAs are underpaid.


It's amazing how departments would absolutely blow up of it weren't for admin staff and EAs. Senior staff are clueless trying to arrange flights, optimal travel, hotels, dealing with Visa requirements, arranging schedules, paying for things, making reservations for restaurants with important clients, etc. absolutely nothing would function without good EAs. A good EA is worth their weight in gold.

A good EA *is* worth their weight in gold, but - like household help - are exceedingly hard to come by.

My husband and I talk about this often: the qualities that make a good EA good are the same qualities that make someone a good executive - decisive, firm, organized, forward-thinking, able to put the pieces together, high EQ etc. I think that because these roles tend to be filled by women, and because women have so many (better, higher-paying) career options today, it's really hard to find someone with all of the above qualities who wouldn't instead opt for a better role. Frankly.

+1 to all of this.

A good EA basically manages the executive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:EAs are underpaid.


It's amazing how departments would absolutely blow up of it weren't for admin staff and EAs. Senior staff are clueless trying to arrange flights, optimal travel, hotels, dealing with Visa requirements, arranging schedules, paying for things, making reservations for restaurants with important clients, etc. absolutely nothing would function without good EAs. A good EA is worth their weight in gold.

Worth a higher salary than a doctor in residency? They also work long hours under stress

Yes. A resident is well educated but is basically as useful as any other entry-level employee. Same as a first year associate.

I am in administration (for now) and I don’t think an EA deserves more than an entry level doctor or lawyer or professor. They go to school for years and come out with debt just to make less than a round the clock Secretary?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:EAs are underpaid.


It's amazing how departments would absolutely blow up of it weren't for admin staff and EAs. Senior staff are clueless trying to arrange flights, optimal travel, hotels, dealing with Visa requirements, arranging schedules, paying for things, making reservations for restaurants with important clients, etc. absolutely nothing would function without good EAs. A good EA is worth their weight in gold.

Worth a higher salary than a doctor in residency? They also work long hours under stress

It's irrelevant what they are "worth." In the DC market, absolutely. Even an hour outside of DC an EA makes $40,000. It's like real estate. You pay what the market dictates. You can try to hire an excellent EA for less. Good luck finding one though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:EAs are underpaid.


It's amazing how departments would absolutely blow up of it weren't for admin staff and EAs. Senior staff are clueless trying to arrange flights, optimal travel, hotels, dealing with Visa requirements, arranging schedules, paying for things, making reservations for restaurants with important clients, etc. absolutely nothing would function without good EAs. A good EA is worth their weight in gold.

A good EA *is* worth their weight in gold, but - like household help - are exceedingly hard to come by.

My husband and I talk about this often: the qualities that make a good EA good are the same qualities that make someone a good executive - decisive, firm, organized, forward-thinking, able to put the pieces together, high EQ etc. I think that because these roles tend to be filled by women, and because women have so many (better, higher-paying) career options today, it's really hard to find someone with all of the above qualities who wouldn't instead opt for a better role. Frankly.

OP is a troll, but speaking as an EA who makes six figures without being on call 24/7, the bolded is a big part of it. You have to be pretty much ego-free. I’ve done it because frankly, it’s allowed me good work/life balance, and I’ve worked for outstanding humans who’ve offered me enough cool side projects to keep it interesting. They make my value clear and trust my judgment (seeking it out because they know I can give them a read on how corporate decisions will go over with rank and file staff). In my experience, it’s generally people lower down on the totem pole who don’t understand the role.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:EA Salaries have fallen a lot. Pre widspread use of Internet and Email. They were the gatekeepers and paid very well.

My Sister was an EA briefly at Goldman Sachs in late 90s, In the May 1999 IPO of Goldman many EA took home 200K.

My first job out of school the seasoned EAs at my Investment Bank made a ton of money.

But remember no cell phones or emails they were tied to that desk while Investment Banker or CEO was off making deals. Their bosses worked 60-70 hour weeks. The EA was there for everything And weekends, well if a client had a party, or client short on a golf outing one person, or boss forgot something they jump. I recall our EA the boss forgot the documents on day trip to Chicago and yelled at EA get my stuff and jump on first plane. Kinda like the Devil wears Prada type sweathsop work.

And they were all top of the class Katherine Gibbs graduates. This was a well paid profession up to around the year 2000.

I would not do it now.

Uh, we had the internet and e-mail. I'm old enough to remember the panic about Y2K

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP there aren't that many nouveau lesbian EAs around and someone probably has told her the suckup who ordered food deliveries is trashing her so your days are numbered and not with six figure$

Suck up? She told me she was dying with COVID and couldn’t get out of bed and was broke because the org “freezed her pay”. Then, days later, I see her at a bar

Your cat is out of the bag. Wait and see.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP there aren't that many nouveau lesbian EAs around and someone probably has told her the suckup who ordered food deliveries is trashing her so your days are numbered and not with six figure$

Suck up? She told me she was dying with COVID and couldn’t get out of bed and was broke because the org “freezed her pay”. Then, days later, I see her at a bar

Your cat is out of the bag. Wait and see.

I don’t work there, sweetheart.

[Anonymous]

Sounds about right to me. That isn't a relaxing job and requires folks to be pretty detail oriented -- and most people are not. It's not easy to find a good assistant, and when you do, you pay them 6 figures.

Not sure what that has to do with you, OP?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:She doesn’t have a college degree FYI. She watches Netflix and barely does her work. Is this the new trend?

How do you people get these high paying administrative gigs?

Hmm.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This doesn’t surprise me. Good EAs are hard to come by.

She took a month off 4 months after starting due to an ADHD diagnosis and COVID but then I saw her at a bar in Georgetown.

OMG, OP. You sound stalkerish. Stop obsessing over other people. It is super creepy and bitter.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:EAs are underpaid.


It's amazing how departments would absolutely blow up of it weren't for admin staff and EAs. Senior staff are clueless trying to arrange flights, optimal travel, hotels, dealing with Visa requirements, arranging schedules, paying for things, making reservations for restaurants with important clients, etc. absolutely nothing would function without good EAs. A good EA is worth their weight in gold.

Worth a higher salary than a doctor in residency? They also work long hours under stress

It's irrelevant what they are "worth." In the DC market, absolutely. Even an hour outside of DC an EA makes $40,000. It's like real estate. You pay what the market dictates. You can try to hire an excellent EA for less. Good luck finding one though.

OP here but I still don’t get it. A teacher, policeman, soldier, accountant, resident doctor, attorney, or nurse deserves 80k-100k at best or less while a Secretary deserves 140k-200k?

I don’t think being an EA is that hard. Again, I’m in administration and can’t wait to get out. Anyone with basic executive functioning skills can do this job.

I’m on here and social media all day and still get my work done. I can’t do that as a cop, can I?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sounds about right to me. That isn't a relaxing job and requires folks to be pretty detail oriented -- and most people are not. It's not easy to find a good assistant, and when you do, you pay them 6 figures.

Not sure what that has to do with you, OP?

It is a relaxing job for her given she works most of the weeks at home due to “long COVID”. I don’t care she’s taking the crrunchy granola boss for a ride but I’m making a general assessment about the inequities in pay for more serious jobs like resident doctors, nurses, professors, policemen.

Seems rather surprising to me any exec assistant can soar past 150k+