5 Steps to Shifting Your EA/PA Career Path (When you have hit the top)

[**2019 ADDENDUM!** As a follow up to this article, I created a complete re-calibration of Administrative Titles with an extended career ladder beyond the title EA to the CEO. You can read the article and access all open source/editable documents by visiting the 2019 LinkedIn article HERE]

Some of us proactively chose the career path of EA/PA/Office Manager and have dedicated years of study and continual learning to grow into the "Office Sages". Others accidentally stumbled into their Administrative roles through life circumstances and had no defined career path aspirations, but fell in love with the Admin lifestyle and decided to commit to the experience to "see where it goes".

While the beginnings of each of our professional Administrative role stories may vary, the reality is that our Administrative career paths most likely end up at the same place.

There comes a time when you have hit the top of your "ladder" as a Senior EA/PA, a Chief of Staff, Assistant to the CEO/Chairman, or any other number of titles that let you know that there are no higher Administrative titles in your company that you can apply for, nor a significantly higher pay grade that you can break into.

Many Admins (like myself) have found their life purpose through senior support roles and are committed to remaining in this position for years, staying engaged and challenged through supplemental project work, with no intentions of "jumping the rails". But what if you are an Admin who is ready to move on from the support function path - to shift gears towards an entirely new professional trajectory?

If you are one of those "gear shifting" Admins, this article is for you.

The beauty of working within this very specific Administrative functional role is that whether you recognize it or not, you are exposed to a myriad of varied opportunities above and beyond a traditional professional role. Admins, especially the higher you move up the career ladder, are granted more flexibility than the average employee given the fluid nature/needs of their day to day job. Unlike most professional roles that require (and usually reward) being a specialist - the Admin role prides itself on being an adaptable "Jack of All Trades" where operational prowess is perfectly balanced with nuanced soft skills. You are already set up for success in "jumping the rails" by the nature of the role itself - but don't wait until the very last moment to harness this opportunity and insight when it comes time to shift from Senior EA to whatever is next... Follow the 5 steps below to prepare yourself for the ultimate post-Admin, career shifting success:

1) Take stock of your innate talents & interests

"That was incredible! You are a natural at this!" If you have ever had someone say this to you after you completed a project (or threw a party, or created a brochure, or calmed a crazed colleague), AND you were actually energized during the completion of that task - you have stumbled upon one of your innate talents. Each of us is born with personality traits and characteristics that offer direction towards what excites and "fills us up" versus what frustrates and "drains" our energy. For some (like my husband), they figure out very early on what their professional passion is - for others (like myself), it took years of stumbling through various roles, industries, cultures, bosses, and yes, the integrated self-doubting breakdown, before I realized what I was meant to do in the work world.

If you are still in the searching phase, I usually suggest for those individuals to take Tom Rath's Strengths Finder 2.0 survey. I call it the "Awesomeness Survey" because it pretty much reiterates how incredibly awesome you are through defining your top 5 natural strengths. The philosophy behind the results is to focus all your energy on what you are already naturally amazing at (because it will amplify ten-fold) and surround yourself with others who can fill in the gaps of what you are not so good at (because no matter how much you work at something, if it doesn't come naturally, you will only marginally improve even after investing crazy amounts of effort and energy.) Whatever this survey generates as your top 5 innate talents is what will get you into the bliss zone (both at work and home) if you can actually integrate all 5 of your strengths into your day-to-day interactions.

As an example, I am obsessed with making people feel confident and included; A sense of true and impactful belonging is something that drives, in a very natural way, my interactions on a daily basis. I realize now, that even at 6 years old, I was implementing this talent when I would go over and sit with the lonely new classmate at the lunch table because no one else would welcome him/her. When I have the opportunity to utilize this innate talent, I feel pumped and ready to take on the world! Having clarity around your talents gives you a better direction on where to prioritize your time and efforts for maximum impact.

Whatever your talents are, when you have a clear understanding of them, it is much easier to build your portfolio of success without suffering from burnout. It will also be easier to build continuous confidence in your capabilities and make it easier to venture into challenging new projects or roles because the core of who you are will always be there to pull you through (and fill you up!) when you need it the most.

2) Set the development stage with your Boss

Whether you are choosing to remain a lifelong Executive Administrator or you would like to shift to a new career path in the future, consistent communication with your boss about capability building projects and career development opportunities is key. Proactive and frequent dialogue based around professional development creates an unspoken level of trust and comfort that will be needed for that time when you decided to make the official move outside of the Administrative support realm. Every Executive I have personally partnered with has always been very supportive of “giving me wings to fly”. But, I also have heard stories of Executives who were so terrified of losing their “right-arm EA” that they inadvertently avoided any development talk that (in their mind) could potentially leave them high and dry without a solid Admin partner. By integrating these development conversations/requests early on in your support relationship, you won’t run into the scenario of feeling nervous or scared when the time comes to announce that you are ready for your next role. It will also spare the Executive of potential feelings of fear (or in extreme cases betrayal) as the info won’t be coming out of left field.

Ways that I approach dialogue on this topic range from the open-ended “I am a continuous learner and love to be challenged by stretch assignments that will expand my skillset – could you keep me in mind if you hear of any opportunities in the company that focus on X, Y or Z?” to a more direct request of “I have always enjoyed aspects of my work that focus on inclusivity and I know that Human Resources is a function that operationalizes this concept – I would like to volunteer as an on-boarding facilitator this year so I can learn more about that aspect of the business – will you support me in this endeavor?”

Whichever way is most comfortable for you to frame these discussions, jump on the opportunity to get those conversations in motion now – setting the development stage with your Executive will allow Steps 3 – 5 to be that much more achievable.

3) Proactively build cross-functional relationships

Out of all 5 steps mentioned in this article – step #3 is probably THE most important one! I cannot stress enough – opportunities (and the ultimate success that can stem from those opportunities) are based in trustworthy and integrity-driven relationships. Your intent behind reaching out and proactively meeting new people in various parts of your organization (whether it is a 5-person local start-up or a 10,000-person global conglomerate) must be genuine and devoid of ulterior motives or expectations. Building cross-functional relationships should be all about learning. Learning more about your co-workers and who they are as human beings. Learning more about your co-workers and their personal role in the company. Learning more about how YOU and your role helps/hinders/supports that colleague’s successful outcomes for the business. Authenticity is key!

I use the term “proactively build” instead of just the solo wording of “build” because creating a trustworthy network takes courage, fortitude and what every business person seems to lack… time. But I assure you – it is possible to achieve an incredible network of amazing colleagues if you put yourself out there in an authentic manner. So how should you go about meeting all these new people? Here are some methods I have successfully used to build a solid network of trusted colleagues:

The “Random Reach-Out Lunch”:

This option is for the extroverts out there! When I worked at a 2000 person company (that was spread across 10 buildings in conjunction with being in 3 separate cities (one international)), I knew I needed to be seriously proactive in the “meet & greet” department. I decided to start reaching out to random employees in the company in very different departments - I worked in HR, so I would reach out to employees in IT, Research, Accounting, Commercial (pretty much any department that we were not necessarily intimately linked to) and purposely attempted to meet with varying levels of professionals ranging from Admins all the way up to VP’s. My email request was authentic and simple – I mentioned that I was a newbie who was interested in meeting up to learn more about their role in the company alongside how their departmental function supported the goals of the organization. I would offer to meet however was convenient for them (15-minute coffee or a 1-hour lunch that I would treat them to if they could spare the time). I would attempt to book a minimum of two meetings per month. I was so serious about this meet & greet task that I included it in my yearly performance goals and yes, at first my boss thought I was crazy, but by year 2 when he saw how wide and varied I had grown my network, he shifted his perspective! I met so many wonderful and intriguing individuals, and I still keep in touch with many of them, years after our first “Random Reach-Out Lunch” meeting.

Company-wide Event Volunteering:

I understand that not everyone is an extrovert and ready to reach out to complete strangers to invite them to lunch, so this is where I suggest a more organic approach to meeting people – volunteering! No matter what the size of your organization, planning and rolling out company-wide initiatives or events allows you to meet other employees on the committee teams who have similar interests to you, while also meeting employees in the broader organization who register and then attend the amazing event you are putting on. It is a feel-good (yet less directive) way of getting yourself out there. And seriously, who doesn’t want to be associated with a kick-butt party?

Partner with Human Resources:

When we want to achieve something but don’t have the experience or the tools to do so, what do we usually do? We seek out the experts for help! When looking to meet new colleagues and expand your professional network, partner with the function that is all about people – Human Resources. There are usually several programs in place that will support exposure to a cross-section of employees – the most prominent being on-boarding of new employees and “Buddy” programs. Reach out to the HR department to see if they need additional Day 1 Orientation Facilitators, or would like a dedicated “Building Tour Guide”. Or, for a slower approach, get on the company’s “Buddy Matching” list so you can help assimilate new hires during their first months on the job.

Does your company not yet have an internal HR function? No problem! Reach out to the consultant who is filling that role to see how you can help put some day 1 options in place. So small that no one has yet claimed the HR processes that are helpful with getting people up and running day 1 on the job? Well, this is the perfect segue into step #4….

4) Seek out & partner on "Pain Projects" in other functional areas (and DELIVER!)

One of the most important facets of whether you will be considered (and then hopefully hired for) a new job that is outside your area of expertise is a sense of trust in your actual capabilities to perform the job with minimal guidance and without a significant upfront learning curve. Most departments are strapped for time, so the likelihood of them “taking a risk” and hiring a person who is hoping to be trained on the job is quite low. This puts you into the Catch 22 of not being able to transition into a new role due to no previous experience, and not being able to get the necessary experience in order to transition into a new role.

So what is the solution to this Catch 22?

Julius Caesar is attributed to saying the quote of “Experience is the teacher of all things.” Knowing will never take the place of doing – you must proactively seek out experiences that will broaden your capabilities in the career path you hope to pursue.

The beauty of being in an Administrative functional role to begin with (as I mentioned earlier in this article), is that Admins are usually “Jacks of All Trades” and connect (in an operational way) with varying functions of the organization on a daily basis. This provides a rich landscape of potential experiential learning.

I believe the best way to gain valuable experience is by seeking out “Pain Projects” in other departments. What is the definition of a Pain Project? It is usually a departmental task that has been placed on the back-burner and needs to get done, but no one currently has the capacity to do it OR it could be a frustrating bit of work process that lowers the overall efficiency of that department (but again, no one has the bandwidth to re-work/test a new process). Sometimes these projects can feel quite menial (filing, spreadsheet creation, data entry, binder collating or presentation formatting), but what these pain projects provide are a stage to showcase your solutions-based approach to tasks at hand alongside an opportunity to build trust in your capabilities (which will grow with every successfully completed project).

The bonus of using this step-stage process is that you will more easily (and in a non-committal way) learn about different functions of your company and which ones best align with your innate talents.

The way you approach seeking out pain projects will be dependent on size of company, how cross-matrixed your organization is, and how solid your network (from step #3) has become. As a personal example, after 3 years of working at a mid-sized company, I saw that a specific task of my job (requesting up-to-date reporting from a centralized Oracle database) was causing frustration in a separate department that had to run the report. Not only was it causing frustration in this other department (because the requests for updates were frequent and they did not have the bandwidth to produce on tight timelines), it also caused delays within my department which in turn created frustration among the team I was supporting.

In college and at a previous job, I had gained experience working with complex databases and producing reports within generated templates. While this was not an in-scope task of my current position, I knew if I could step into a liaison role of accessing the database and generating reports on my own, it would help clear an item off of the other departments task list, while improving turnaround timelines for my department – truly a win-win situation.

I approached the other department and, given they had already experienced my work ethic and witnessed the range of my capabilities, they were ecstatic to have someone offer to take this off their plate. After a 2-hour training session, I became the official report generator for my department. Not only did I gain additional experience in an out-of-scope skill, when the database trainers gained trust in my work output, they engaged me in a larger project of partnering with an external consultant to re-format the Oracle database templates as well.

Towards the end of my tenure at this company – the individuals in the other department reached out to see if I would be interested in joining their group in a position that was outside of the Administrative track. It was at that moment I realized how powerful (and opportunistic) the cross-sections of an authentic network and seeking out “pain projects” could be.

Don’t wait - start seeking out these pain projects (no matter how small they are!) This is where a myriad of transitions to a new career path can be found. 

5) Ready to make the official move? Revisit development topic with your Boss and engage HR

If you have been diligent in following the guidelines for Steps 1 – 4, Step #5 should be a cinch! When you find that opportunity to move outside of the Administrative support track (whether internal to the company or external) start opening up an honest conversation with your boss about the next position you are aspiring to and any timelines associated with achieving that goal. Next, connect with a representative in HR to share your career pathing strategy and partner with them on securing aligned opportunities. If a new role opportunity is confirmed, also work with HR to support you through the transition process. 

The over-arching message of this article is that as an Administrative professional, you are the master of your career path destiny. It is all about being pro-active… Pro-active communication, pro-active relationship building and pro-active cross-functional experience. Whether you are committed to remaining in the Administrative career track for many years to come (like me!) or are ready to completely shift career gears, the guidelines presented here will support your successful professional growth in more ways than one.

Do you have any other tips, tricks, or experiential advice that was not mentioned here? Please share your insights in the comments below!