An executive assistant with more than fifteen years in corporate roles resigned in late September. She had nothing lined up.
Her post got more attention than anything else in the community that week. Here is a line from it:
"The more you demonstrate you can handle, the more that somehow becomes yours to handle."
She ended with a real question for the room:
"How do you tell the difference between being burnt out by a particular executive/company and being genuinely finished with the profession itself?"
Another EA in the same week wrote that she runs a department's operations, submits grants, and manages an office relocation. A third wrote that she does business operations and project management for an EA salary. A fourth said that once your resume reads "Executive Assistant," every recruiter wants to place you in another EA role.
Those posts describe one problem. The work grew. The title did not. Your resume still describes the job you were hired to do.
This issue gives you a two-week test for her question, and a translation that fixes the resume problem.
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1. Sort your drains: a two-week energy log
Burnt out by a person and finished with the work feel the same on a Sunday night. They have different fixes. A new executive solves the first. A new function solves the second.
For ten working days, keep a note open. Every time a task leaves you drained or lit up, add one line with three tags:
- Feel: drain, neutral or fuel
- Source: the executive's habits, the organisation's habits, or the type of work
- Type of work: reactive logistics (calendar, travel, urgent reschedules), coordination (events, projects, vendors), analysis or writing (briefs, board packs, reports), or people support
At the end of ten days, count.
- If the drains cluster under executive or organisation, the work itself holds up. A different executive or a different employer is the fix. Take the translation below into that search.
- If the drains cluster under reactive logistics whoever the executive is, the function is the problem. Look at roles where that share is smaller. The translation below is your map.
- If the fuel cluster sits under coordination or analysis, that is the direction to move toward.
Be honest about the limit. Ten days is a small sample. A bad fortnight skews it. Treat the result as a lead and test it for two more weeks before you act on it.
A different EA wrote in an earlier week: "I actually LIKE operations... What I don't like is having my entire job revolve around managing one person's calendar, inbox, disorganization, and whims." That is the second pattern.
2. The translation table
Recruiters read titles first and bullet points second. Your bullets decide whether a hiring manager sees an assistant or an operator. Rewrite what you already do in the language of the role you want. The facts stay the same.
| What you say today | What a hiring manager reads |
|---|---|
| "Managed the CEO's calendar" | Prioritised and allocated an executive's time across [number] stakeholders and [number] hours of weekly commitments |
| "Prepared board materials" | Ran governance operations: agenda, pre-read pack and minutes for [number] meetings a year, on a [number]-day distribution deadline |
| "Planned the company offsite" | Managed a [number]-person event project: budget of [amount], [number] vendors, delivered on time |
| "Coordinated the office move" | Led a facilities relocation project: scope, vendors, timeline and a go-live date |
| "Wrote how-to guides for the team" | Documented and standardised [number] processes, cutting onboarding questions |
| "Handled expenses and travel" | Managed travel and expense policy compliance and vendor relationships for [number] people |
Every row has blanks. Fill them with real numbers or leave the row out. A hiring manager will ask about each figure.
Now the market. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics updated its occupational outlook pages on August 27, 2026. For 2025 to 2035:
- Executive secretaries and executive administrative assistants: employment projected flat, 489,300 to 489,200. Median pay $76,590. BLS notes that AI systems and digital tools let staff in many organisations prepare their own documents without a secretary.
- Administrative services and facilities managers: projected +5%. Median pay $110,500.
- Project management specialists: projected +7%. Median pay $102,320.
Read the caveat before you act on these. BLS lists a bachelor's degree as the typical entry requirement for both of the larger roles. A projection is a national estimate, not a hiring promise. Medians mix very different jobs. The numbers show where employment is growing and what the titles pay. They do not show that your resume converts.
They do support one point. The title that matches your real scope is worth more than the title you were hired under.
3. Build your scope statement with AI
You already do the work. The slow part is writing it down in a form someone else can read. A model handles that well when you give it real material.
Take a list of your tasks from the last three months. Pull it from your sent items, your calendar and your own notes. Remove every name, client, figure and detail your employer treats as confidential. Then paste it with this prompt:
"Below is an anonymised list of tasks I completed as an executive assistant over three months. Group them into job families (for example: operations, project management, event management, governance support, executive support). For each group, estimate the share of my time based only on what I wrote. Then write a one-paragraph scope statement and four resume bullets for the group with the most weight. Where you need a number I did not give you, put [number] in brackets. Do not invent any figures, titles or tools. List every claim you are unsure about at the end."
Check the output line by line.
- Models inflate. Look for any verb stronger than what you did ("led" where you "supported").
- Models fill gaps with plausible detail. The last line of the prompt exists to catch that. Read it.
- Check your employer's policy before you paste anything into a public tool.
The result is a one-page scope statement with evidence. You choose what to do with it.
4. Four ways to use the same page
- Re-level where you are. Take it to your executive or HR when you ask for a title and band review. Ask for a review of the job as it exists. This is a different conversation from asking for a raise, and Issue 04 covers that one.
- Move sideways inside your company. Operations, programme and chief-of-staff roles often fill from the people who already know where things sit.
- Search outside with the right bullets. Lead the resume with the scope statement, not the old title.
- Leave with a clean file. If you are going, the page documents what you carried. One EA in late September was writing a master how-to guide for her successor before giving notice. Write yours for yourself first.
All four use the same document. You do not have to decide today.
Tool note: three time zones in Google Calendar
If you support an executive who travels, there is a new setting. Google Calendar on the web now shows up to three time zones side by side in Day, Week and multi-day views, and in Find a Time. You can add your own labels, such as "NYC" or "ZRH." It applies to all Google Workspace accounts and personal accounts.
The feature is web only. Rapid Release domains started receiving it on September 25. Scheduled Release domains receive it from October 12.
One EA asked in late September how to handle an executive on the West Coast and a trip to Europe through November. She was setting alarms for 1 a.m. and 4 a.m. This setting does not fix the hours. It does remove the arithmetic when you schedule a call that spans three zones. Set it up in Calendar settings once it appears for you.
Your job grew while your title stayed where it was. The fix takes about ten working days of notes, one table and one prompt.
Run the energy log this week. Reply and tell me which column the drains landed in.
Kristy
P.S. Want to be first to hear when the next AI Fluency for Administrative Professionals cohort opens? Join the waitlist: https://digitalzen.site/cohort#waitlist
P.P.S. What would your scope statement say you actually do? Hit reply. The best answers, anonymised, may shape a future issue.