The Complete Guide to Becoming An Executive Secretary and Executive Administrative Assistant

I was two weeks away from enrolling in a $3,000 administrative assistant certification program when I read this. Chapter 3 showed me that the certificate wasn't worth half that for this specific career path, and that my current office receptionist job could actually be my way in. The first chapter alone - just the raw description of what the job really is - saved me from making a costly mistake. Super grateful.

Solid, honest guide. I appreciated that it didn't try to sell me on the career - it laid out the good and the bad. The salary table in Chapter 4 confirmed what I suspected: I'd take a pay cut at entry level, but the senior ceiling is much higher than where I am now in retail. The interview questions in Chapter 5 were eerily accurate, too. Only knock is I wanted more detail on the chief of staff transition in Chapter 7.

Useful in parts, but I felt Chapter 1 spent a lot of words describing what I could have gotten from a 10-minute YouTube video. That said, Chapter 2's self-assessment checklist was eye-opening - I realized I'm too easily frustrated by interruptions, and that's the core of this job. Probably saved me from a miserable year. The chapters on education and pay were solid. It's a decent read, just a bit longer than it needed to be.

As someone coming from food service, the salary numbers in Chapter 4 were a reality check. I expected better pay for the stress. The book is honest about the ceiling too - it's not a path to six figures unless you go the chief of staff route, which the author admits is rare. I appreciated the realism, but it cooled my enthusiasm quite a bit. Still recommend it for anyone considering this, because you need to know this before you commit.

The hour-by-hour day in Chapter 6 made me realize I've been doing half this job already as an office coordinator without the title. That was the push I needed to start applying for executive assistant roles. The chapter on breaking in was practical too - I rewrote my resume using their tips and got three interviews in two weeks. My only wish is that they had gone deeper on the technology skills part, but it's a great starting point.

Wish I'd had this before I spent two years and $15,000 on a business degree I didn't need. Chapter 3 spells it out: for this career, an associate's degree plus good references beats a bachelor's plus nothing. The book is blunt about the hard parts - the constant interruptions, the emotional load of managing a difficult executive, the fact that you'll clean up other people's messes - but that's exactly why I trust it. Read this before you spend a dime on any program.

It's fine. A lot of the content, especially the first two chapters, felt like common sense to me - of course you need discretion, of course you'll manage a calendar. The salary data was helpful to see in one place. But this felt more like a long article than a complete guide, and the tone is occasionally a little condescending, like it expects readers to be naive. A decent primer, but I wouldn't call it comprehensive.