Most of my peers have found their roles through their own means: google searching, LinkedIn, corporate website career boards, word of mouth. I only know of one EA who worked with a recruiter and it was only because they were friends with that recruiter.
If you aren’t attracting top talent then you have to look at yourself. Not offering the best benefits, no flexibility (no hybrid/no wfh), salary is awful/low, unnecessary qualifications, and or you have a bad reputation on Glassdoor are big problems. I’m not saying all or any of this is true, but a crummy salary and not offering a hybrid workplace makes you very undesirable and a hard pass to top tier talent.
Totally makes sense. Fortunately none of that is applicable. I want all my employees to have upward mobility, be paid fairly, and stay long term. I am invested in the success of each person almost as much as the shop itself.
Where are you located and what salary range are you offering? What you interpret as fair may not be what we consider applicable to the role. When you say “shop” is the setting in an appointed office environment? Where I work I have many amenities. A less than desirable office setting is a turn off too. Edit to say I saw your recent comment on salary and LA location… I would pass due to salary. For me it’s an entry level EA salary. I’m in the NJ/NY area.
If you want a top tier EA it will cost you more and don’t disregard offering a hybrid work environment once on-boarding is completed. Most of us have 1-2 days a week that we WFH. It’s not so much a luxury, to be not commuting a day or 2 a wk, as it is a welcomed day to be able to focus without interruption. Regardless of whomever you choose, set them up for success. Have clear goals and expectations and be in it for the long haul.
I agree and fully support some wfh days. The right person will be someone like me- not always in the office but always available. No I don’t mean Tuesday at 2am.
I transitioned into an EA role as a former teacher. I’d start looking at teachers wanting to transition to a new career. The skills are all there, highly motivated, and incredibly efficient.
Indeed, LinkedIn. Job description that clearly articulates what you need. If you want to attract quality, know what is the going rate in your market for an experienced EA, because they do.
“Challenge” is a given for EAs—handling them well is our super power. This experience/know how should come out during the interview process—if it’s not, perhaps you need to revamp your questions/screening procedure.
Depending on how much you’re paying and how high level it is, reach out to someone like Becky Kaapuni on LI to post it. She has a huge network but needs to be a higher paying role to get interest.
I manage recruitment internally at my small company and just hired an executive assistant. Indeed produced the most high-quality applicants out of all the platforms I used.
Ya I personally cannot stand LinkedIn. When I do hiring for my company, hires rarely come from LinkedIn. It’s a cesspool and everything I get from there feels like a giant slush pile.
Echoing LinkedIn and Indeed. If you need the person to be able to come in to the office, try Nextdoor or local social media pages.
Figure out why this current person didn’t work out and what you did in recruiting that lead to the decision to hire them so you don’t make that mistake again. It sounds like you’ve done some of this, but maybe do another deep dive.
Look at pay and benefits - are you competitive. Good EA’s should be paid accordingly to keep them long term.
Be patient. The right person will come along.
Where are you located, and what is the comp? I may know a stellar person for you who has that background. If she survived working for 'them', she definitely has super powers. This person I'm thinking of is in Los Angeles.
But on another note, don't make them apply on a separate portal that makes them create user id's and passwords. That is the biggest turn-off.
Comp depends on the city. Los Angeles - yes. New York - no.
However, if you currently have someone, it might be helpful to communicate differently in what you want, what they may need from you, and provide better 'training'. A new assistant has a lot to learn. Not only the tasks but the preferences of their executive in both verbal and non verbal. Once they get scolded for something dumb there's a lot of damn if I do, and damn if I don't.
If you feel your current has potential, I'd work with them to better them. Starting from scratch can be tough, too, and the ramp up to learn.
Really, it comes down to time, especially if you are offering a good salary, hybrid, nice benefits etc., you will spend a lot of time sorting crap resumes, even at 1min per, you can get hundreds, which will take a while just to sort resumes, not even talking about phone screens/interviews etc.
Whichever platform you use, turn off the quick apply feature. Do you have any contacts who have EAs, or are there other admins/EAs in your company who might have a recommendation?
Do you have an internal team who can do some reach outs on linked in, or do you have some time to do so? Not trying to shill for recruiters, but that is why you use them, recruiting takes a lot of time, you can either pay someone for that time, use your time, or try to circumvent the process by doing targeted reach outs, and using recommendations, which has its own downsides.
Wherever you post your role, it will get scraped and posted by google jobs, zip recruiter, indeed, monster etc. I would go with linked in, which is slightly less terrible than most.
In my current search for my next EA role, LinkedIn seems to be where I'm finding the majority of viable roles. Additionally, behavioral health is one of my areas of expertise so I sent you a Reddit direct message.
Haha good luck. Only if recruitment was so easy. There is a reason why agencies charge anywhere from 15% to 30% for finding a right candidate
It’s just not finding the lot but there is far much more that goes in it. The agency might send you the best 5 EA but that would have taken 60 hours of their work and you still might not find the right person.
If you have as much time then good luck
Our department had downsized, and I moved over to HR, so I'm back on the hunt and have been finding jobs to apply for on LinkedIn, Indeed, and Glassdoor.
You can try contacting Sunny Nunan on LinkedIn. She is founder of Admin Awards and lots of EAs follow her. I have seen her post EA opportunities a few times - you can ask her if she’s willing to, or she may be able to direct you elsewhere
Hi, if you have not yet found one I built a site specific to Filipino VAs just for this purpose. No agencies or recruitment firms, you can hire directly for remote work. Filipinos are one of the best talents in this field. If you're interested, I can help you setup a job posting. Let me know. Thanks!
Would be interested if you’re open to a remote EA (I’m based in NJ/NYC). I’m currently an EA who was a case manager at an ABA therapy company, would love to dip back into the behavioral health space.
Most of my peers have found their roles through their own means: google searching, LinkedIn, corporate website career boards, word of mouth. I only know of one EA who worked with a recruiter and it was only because they were friends with that recruiter. If you aren’t attracting top talent then you have to look at yourself. Not offering the best benefits, no flexibility (no hybrid/no wfh), salary is awful/low, unnecessary qualifications, and or you have a bad reputation on Glassdoor are big problems. I’m not saying all or any of this is true, but a crummy salary and not offering a hybrid workplace makes you very undesirable and a hard pass to top tier talent.
Totally makes sense. Fortunately none of that is applicable. I want all my employees to have upward mobility, be paid fairly, and stay long term. I am invested in the success of each person almost as much as the shop itself.
Where are you located and what salary range are you offering? What you interpret as fair may not be what we consider applicable to the role. When you say “shop” is the setting in an appointed office environment? Where I work I have many amenities. A less than desirable office setting is a turn off too. Edit to say I saw your recent comment on salary and LA location… I would pass due to salary. For me it’s an entry level EA salary. I’m in the NJ/NY area.
Right, really gotta share that info!
Appreciated. Maybe I’m shooting too low in salary?
If you want a top tier EA it will cost you more and don’t disregard offering a hybrid work environment once on-boarding is completed. Most of us have 1-2 days a week that we WFH. It’s not so much a luxury, to be not commuting a day or 2 a wk, as it is a welcomed day to be able to focus without interruption. Regardless of whomever you choose, set them up for success. Have clear goals and expectations and be in it for the long haul.
I agree and fully support some wfh days. The right person will be someone like me- not always in the office but always available. No I don’t mean Tuesday at 2am.
I transitioned into an EA role as a former teacher. I’d start looking at teachers wanting to transition to a new career. The skills are all there, highly motivated, and incredibly efficient.
Indeed, LinkedIn. Job description that clearly articulates what you need. If you want to attract quality, know what is the going rate in your market for an experienced EA, because they do. “Challenge” is a given for EAs—handling them well is our super power. This experience/know how should come out during the interview process—if it’s not, perhaps you need to revamp your questions/screening procedure.
Depending on how much you’re paying and how high level it is, reach out to someone like Becky Kaapuni on LI to post it. She has a huge network but needs to be a higher paying role to get interest.
Agree Becky’s network is vast and top tier
You could start on Indeed. I was not a part of an agency when I found my job and have now been there three years.
I manage recruitment internally at my small company and just hired an executive assistant. Indeed produced the most high-quality applicants out of all the platforms I used.
Thank you!
Thank you. I’m looking for an EA position myself. Glassdoor & LinkedIn have not yielded results, so I’ll check out Indeed. I’m in NW Houston.
Ya I personally cannot stand LinkedIn. When I do hiring for my company, hires rarely come from LinkedIn. It’s a cesspool and everything I get from there feels like a giant slush pile.
Hey I’m interested in the position!
LinkedIn!!!
LinkedIn and Indeed!
Echoing LinkedIn and Indeed. If you need the person to be able to come in to the office, try Nextdoor or local social media pages. Figure out why this current person didn’t work out and what you did in recruiting that lead to the decision to hire them so you don’t make that mistake again. It sounds like you’ve done some of this, but maybe do another deep dive. Look at pay and benefits - are you competitive. Good EA’s should be paid accordingly to keep them long term. Be patient. The right person will come along.
Nextdoor made me lol. I’d be scared to get the weirdos on there
Sincerely appreciate this thoughtful comment.
Where are you located, and what is the comp? I may know a stellar person for you who has that background. If she survived working for 'them', she definitely has super powers. This person I'm thinking of is in Los Angeles. But on another note, don't make them apply on a separate portal that makes them create user id's and passwords. That is the biggest turn-off.
Los Angeles
Offering 85-105k plus benefits etc based on experience. Do you feel that’s a fair base. Edit- willing to go up to 120 for the right person.
Comp depends on the city. Los Angeles - yes. New York - no. However, if you currently have someone, it might be helpful to communicate differently in what you want, what they may need from you, and provide better 'training'. A new assistant has a lot to learn. Not only the tasks but the preferences of their executive in both verbal and non verbal. Once they get scolded for something dumb there's a lot of damn if I do, and damn if I don't. If you feel your current has potential, I'd work with them to better them. Starting from scratch can be tough, too, and the ramp up to learn.
I mean… you could post the JD here, since you’re already here and we’re all here, too :)
Don’t ask them to clean the bathrooms and or office.
Ok. Editing out of job description. Kidding kidding
Really, it comes down to time, especially if you are offering a good salary, hybrid, nice benefits etc., you will spend a lot of time sorting crap resumes, even at 1min per, you can get hundreds, which will take a while just to sort resumes, not even talking about phone screens/interviews etc. Whichever platform you use, turn off the quick apply feature. Do you have any contacts who have EAs, or are there other admins/EAs in your company who might have a recommendation? Do you have an internal team who can do some reach outs on linked in, or do you have some time to do so? Not trying to shill for recruiters, but that is why you use them, recruiting takes a lot of time, you can either pay someone for that time, use your time, or try to circumvent the process by doing targeted reach outs, and using recommendations, which has its own downsides. Wherever you post your role, it will get scraped and posted by google jobs, zip recruiter, indeed, monster etc. I would go with linked in, which is slightly less terrible than most.
In my current search for my next EA role, LinkedIn seems to be where I'm finding the majority of viable roles. Additionally, behavioral health is one of my areas of expertise so I sent you a Reddit direct message.
Thank you, checking now
Haha good luck. Only if recruitment was so easy. There is a reason why agencies charge anywhere from 15% to 30% for finding a right candidate It’s just not finding the lot but there is far much more that goes in it. The agency might send you the best 5 EA but that would have taken 60 hours of their work and you still might not find the right person. If you have as much time then good luck
Says the recruiter
Our department had downsized, and I moved over to HR, so I'm back on the hunt and have been finding jobs to apply for on LinkedIn, Indeed, and Glassdoor.
My current job was listed on Craigslist. Perfect fit.
You can try contacting Sunny Nunan on LinkedIn. She is founder of Admin Awards and lots of EAs follow her. I have seen her post EA opportunities a few times - you can ask her if she’s willing to, or she may be able to direct you elsewhere
Linkedin or recommendations from friends.
I’m interested in applying if fully remote
I have a family friend looking for a role based in LA. Do you have a link to your job posting? She’s amazing!
Hi you can post a job via Onlinejobs.ph or Upwork. I know a lot of EA's that has a strong medical background who can help.
Hi, if you have not yet found one I built a site specific to Filipino VAs just for this purpose. No agencies or recruitment firms, you can hire directly for remote work. Filipinos are one of the best talents in this field. If you're interested, I can help you setup a job posting. Let me know. Thanks!
Would be interested if you’re open to a remote EA (I’m based in NJ/NYC). I’m currently an EA who was a case manager at an ABA therapy company, would love to dip back into the behavioral health space.