What are the differences between an Admin., Exec., and Personal Assistant?

[Stewart]

Hi, I am trying to clarify this for a group of assistants who all believe they are one or the other. What do you think and what is the standard to go by?

[Stewart]

Hi, I am trying to clarify this for a group of assistants who all believe they are one or the other. What do you think and what is the standard to go by?

[Atlanta Z3]

My USA definitions with the caveat that titles are what companies make them

Executive Assistant - C-level support, seasoned admin, handles projects, makes decisions for executive, will have greater working knowledge of company and industry, usualy supporting one or two executives only, works with sensitive or confidential information, extensive travel planning, budgets, strong computer skills and ability to interact with all level of exective's team or board, supervise support staff and be flexible.

Administrative Assistant - supporting a team or several lower managers, telephone support, filing, data entry, receiving visitors, software skills, internet research, customer support, fill in for receptionist

Personal Assistant - does everything: balance check book, picks up kids or dry cleaning, personal shopping, second spouse on duty 24-7

[msmarieh]

I concur with Atlanta's assessment. That is pretty much the expectation in the US as far as I know.

[sanpet]

Agreed.

If I am right though, in the UK a PA is more like an Exec Assistant, not the "personal" tasks.

[peaches2160]

I agree with Atlanta.

[DenaS]

From a UK point of view the titles tend to be somewhat ambiguous, for various reasons.

To my mind a PA is the original title for an Assistant that provides 1 on 1 support. These days, with budgetary constraints leading to merging of jobs, the title of PA has become more of an umbrella title and covers everything from office admin and serving tea to line management and being a true right hand support to a top level Exec. There appear to be a number of "Team PA" roles advertised, the title of which almost seems to be an oxymron.

Executive Assistant still seems to be more of a US term but would well describe a team assistant at a higher level (i.e. "Team PA" as mentioned above). Exec Assistants also seem to undertake PA roles in American companies in the UK.

Admin Assistant would denote a lower grade support role, in terms of both duties and responsibilities, and probaby supporting a team lower than Exec. This role would definitely support more than one person.

[jkavanagh]

To me, job titles are not relevant nor do they reflect the role. For example, I am a team secretary, and I had an administrator/team secretary reporting to me. She replaced an admin assistant.

Now my role includes doing some of the tasks the admin assistant used to do, such as filing and archiving, printing drawings, and the administrator/team secretary has just been given an admin assistant to help her, which makes her a manager.

To add insult to injury I have 30 years experience and am a qualified secretary, whilst the a/ts is 23 and has had no formal training.

We have an EA to the Chairman (I'd call her a Private Secretary)  , but she doesn't handle projects, the Chairman has Executive Associates for that  , nor can she make decisions in the Chairman's absence. No-one can do that, not even the other directors   

Finally, we have Directors Secretaries, who work on a one-to-one basis, one of whom is also a manager (with a team secretary and an admin assistant). But we have an admin assistant who works for a director, because his secretary was made redundant, and a director who has no support at all!

So, all in all the job title probably reflects the attitude of management, the size of the company, rather than the role performed. Ultimately, we are all admin assistants, and all bosses are managers.

[crackerjack]

Nothing. Most managers think you are glorified gofer at best.

I take my job seriously but don't get hung up on job title anymore.

[claudiamag]

"Nothing. Most managers think you are glorified gofer at best."

Wow, really?  I've actually found that most of my managers treat my position with respect and acknowledge that I am an important part of the team.  There is always the odd person who seems to think I am their personal maid, but my boss is always quick to correct them on that.  As far as I can remember, all of my past managers/bosses treated me well with one very rare exception.  He was let go after 2 months (not because of how he treated me, he was generally incompetent).  I think I have been very luck in that area.

[msmarieh]

I agree with claudia. I would set any manager straight right quick if they implied any such thing. I am a professional and expect to be treated as such.

[Katie G]

My USA definitions with the caveat that titles are what companies make them

That's about the size of it where I am.  We have people doing essentially the same jobs being called Executive Assistants, Administrators, Coordinators, Administrative Coordinators, Departmental Associates...it all depends on what your boss wants you to be called and how much they can bump your salary, but has very little to do with the work being done.

[tIvana]

How about Admin assistant and Office Manager? I am a qualified Exec PA and completed NVQ 3 in Management and support a team of 5, can I ask my job title to be updated?

[Atlanta Z3]

To me a true office manager is the small business office manager who really manages the office.  Accounting (invoices, ap, ar, month end reporting, reports to CPA for taxes etc.), Payroll ( including 401k or pension plan administration), HR, Property Management, Vendor Contracts, Sales & Marketing and has the receptionist reporting to them.  I held this position in a boutique architect firm with revenue of approximately $1M a year. 
Larger companies give office manager titles to those who manage the building, break rooms, office moves, vendors COI etc.

Titles really are relative to the company.  It would be nice if there was a definitive description for titles.

[tIvana]

Thank you Atlanta Z3.
I work for a large commercial property organisation, but am a part of a small team on site, with a building manager and another 3 managers for hard and soft services. Our HR is in another building and responsible for the whole country but I am the one dealing with accounts, marketing, holiday and training of the team. Also have a team of receptionist reporting on to me/my line manager. Just thought they will not increase my salary or position in the next year and I am experienced and formally qualified to be office manager. Also involved in tendering, SLAs+KPIs, office moves, presentations etc.
A bit annoying that if they not give me an opportunity to progress I will have to look for another 'Administrator' job again ...