How to hire an Executive Assistant
What the role does, the job description, the interview questions, and the 40-minute screening pack that tells you who can do the job before you book a single interview.
The role
What an Executive Assistant does
A Executive Assistant sits in the Operations function. The sections below give you the job description, the interview questions and the screening pack for the role.
Screen before you interview
The Executive Assistant screening pack
Judgement, precision, communication and tools, plus discretion. Every applicant gets one link. You get one ranked report.
- 1
Two executives need you at the same time. How do you decide?
- 2
Describe how you manage a calendar across three time zones.
- 3
Tell us about a confidential situation you handled.
- 4
How do you prepare an executive for a week of travel?
- 5
What do you do when you spot a mistake in something your executive is about to send?
Interview questions
Executive Assistant interview questions
For the candidates who pass the pack. Each comes with a sample answer on the full page.
Ask these after the screening pack, not instead of it. A candidate who has already scored on Executive Assistant, Attention to Detail, Communication, Microsoft 365 has shown they can do the work, which frees the interview to do what a test cannot: find out how they think, how they explain themselves, and how they behave when something goes wrong.
- Ask every Executive Assistant candidate the same questions in the same order. Comparable answers are the whole point; a different conversation with each person tells you who you liked, not who was strongest.
- Look for a specific example with a result, not a description of how the candidate would approach it in principle. Follow up once with “what happened next?” and stop talking.
- Score each answer before moving to the next question, and write down what was said rather than the impression it left.
- At volume, record the first 4 of these instead of calling. Candidates answer on their own time, the answers are transcribed and scored, and you keep live interviews for the shortlist.
The pack takes a candidate about 40 minutes, so a Executive Assistant applicant arrives at this interview already measured on the parts you can measure without a meeting.
- 01
What do you find rewarding about being an executive assistant?
- 02
Who have you supported before and at what level?
- 03
How do you handle the confidential nature of this role?
- 04
Why are you interested in supporting our leadership?
- 05
How do you manage a complex, constantly changing executive calendar?
- 06
Describe how you coordinate complex domestic and international travel.
- 07
How do you prepare an executive for a busy day or an important meeting?
- 08
What is your approach to managing an executive's email and communications?
Frequently asked questions
Send every applicant one link that carries 4 skills tests (Executive Assistant, Attention to Detail, Communication, Microsoft 365), 2 personality inventories and 5 one-way video questions. springhire scores everything automatically and ranks the candidates, so you interview the top few. The free plan covers 10 candidates a month.
About 40 minutes for the tests, plus 10 to 15 minutes for the video questions. Candidates complete it on their own time, on any device.
A short brief, key responsibilities, must-have and nice-to-have skills and the requirements. The JD generator writes one for this role in a minute.
Questions that ask for a specific past example and a walkthrough of how the candidate thinks. This page lists 8 with sample answers, and the full bank has more.
Yes. The free plan includes every screening tool with 10 candidate credits a month and no card. Paid plans start at $39 a month.
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