Executive and Personal Assistants Online Certificate Course

The Executive and Personal Assistants Online Certificate Course is designed to provide you with the wide range of skills necessary to be an EA. The demands of the role are constant and demanding. This means you need to be able to confidentially update schedules, make travel arrangements, keep effective minutes and create vital documentation. Confidentiality is perhaps the most essential quality that every assistant must have.

Our Personal and Executive Online courses will demonstrate exactly what you need to do to be a successful assistant. Students will learn how to effectively manage schedules, organize meetings, and how to perform the tricky gatekeeper’s role. A special skill set of versatile skills is required to be an Executive or Personal Assistant.

Key Learning Objectives

• Acclimatize to the different needs and management styles of managers
• Effectively and clearly communicate using written, verbal, and nonverbal methods
• Display better time management skills
• Effectively manage meetings
• Perform the role of gatekeeper
• Effectively use the Executive Assistant’s tools of the trade

Executive and Personal Assistants Online Course - Requirements

The Executive and Personal Assistants Online Certificate Course is delivered 100 percent online 24/7 and only takes 6 to 8 hours of study to complete. 

To successfully complete this course, a student must:

• Have access to the internet and the necessary technical skills to navigate the online learning resources
• Have access to any mobile device with internet connectivity (laptop, desktop, tablet)
• Be a self-directed learner
• Possess sound language and literacy skills

Quick Course Facts

1. Course content is structured for easy comprehension
2. Approximately 6 to 8 hours of study is needed to complete the course
3. Registered students gain unrestricted lifetime access to the Executive and Personal Assistants Online course
4. All course material is available online 24/7 and can be accessed using any device
5. Study online from anywhere in your own time at your own pace
6. All students who complete the course will be awarded with a certificate of completion

Executive and Personal Assistants Online Certificate Course – Outline

Module One - Getting Started

Module Two - Working with your Manager

Assistants are professionals who work to make life easier for their employers. Adaptability is a trait that assistance must have to work effectively. Assistants must be able to adapt to their employer's working style, needs, and responsibilities. This ensures a smooth, productive, and amicable work relationship.

Adapting to their Style

Choosing a manager is not always an option. As a professional, you must constantly be prepared to work with a variety of personalities. When working with a difficult manager, taking time to understand your manager can turn a negative into a positive. Common difficult management styles include:

• Authoritative commander
• Control Freak

Anticipate Their Needs

A good assistant can anticipate the needs of their employers. This is to reduce the number of distractions and minor tasks that a manager must handle. By doing this, managers can focus their energies on more important tasks. 

Getting Your Responsibilities Defined

To create a better understanding between you and your employer, you must discuss your responsibilities. This is important, especially if you are working with several managers. Be sure to write this down, so you don't get confused about the job requirements.

When to Take the Initiative

Going the extra mile is highly desired in any employee. However, you mustn't overstep your bounds. The key is to know when to take the initiative. Slowly build your employer's trust by taking the time to learn the ropes and doing small tasks effectively. As you slowly build your confidence, you are now in a better position to take the initiative.

Module Three – Administrative Soft Skills

Part of your role as an assistant can include working as an administrator. After all, you work directly under a manager, and your tasks are manager related. To be effective, you must develop your social intelligence, business acumen, office management skills, and active listening.

Social Intelligence

Social intelligence refers to the empathy, understanding, and cognition required to be effective in social settings. Empathy is the ability to understand or share feelings. However, it takes more than empathy to have effective social intelligence.

Basic Business Acumen

Business acumen is the ability to see the big picture and make the necessary decisions for the benefit of the organization. This is a trait that is often reserved for executives, but having good business acumen is something that is highly desired in executive and personal assistants. Developing your business acumen takes experience and staying informed about the different aspects of the business and industry you are working in.

Office Management

An executive and personal assistant must also operate as an office manager. This requires management skills that will help you during those times that your manager is not available.

Active Listening

Having great listening skills is a must-have for any assistant. This is especially critical in a fast-paced environment. You must hone your listening skills so you get the right information the first time, all the time.

Module Four – Effective Time Management

In this part of the Executive and Personal Assistants Online Certificate course, you will learn the importance of effective time management. Assistants must not only be able to manage their time but also the people around them. In this module, we will discuss time management techniques that can help you maintain control of your time and increase productivity.

Calendar Management

Calendar management is critical to your time management. Assistants must have a synchronized personal and professional calendar. Fortunately, applications are now available to help you easily manage your home and work calendar.

Prepare for Changes and Surprises

The nature of changes and surprises is that these come when you least expect it. However, this should not be an excuse when performing your job. You should always be prepared for any changes that can disrupt your schedule.

Keeping Others on Track

Your role as an assistant is not limited to your direct employer but all the people under your employer. Part of your responsibility is ensuring that your manager is aware of all important schedules and arriving at meetings on time.

Urgent/ Important Matrix

You should be able to discriminate urgent and important tasks as part of your time management strategy. Urgent tasks can prevent you from reaching your goals and only become distractions. This is why prioritizing important tasks should be given priority because these tasks help you meet your goals.

Module Five – Meeting Management

Assistants are responsible for planning, organizing, and arranging meetings. This is important since meetings are critical to the success of your business. In this module, you will learn the basics of how to manage meetings.

Creating an Agenda

An effective agenda is a key to a successful meeting. Fortunately, there is no shortage of computer programs that can be used to create and keep track of meeting agendas.

Keeping Minutes

Keeping minutes gives you a legal and historical record of the meeting. Keeping minutes begins before the meeting. The requirements for the minutes will also depend on the type of meeting.

Keeping the Meeting on Time

As an assistant, you should ensure that the time used in meetings is spent efficiently. Longer meetings do not equate to more productive meetings. This can be the opposite.

Variations for Large and Small Meetings

The size of the meeting has a direct effect on the proceedings. Smaller meetings do not require the same preparation compared to larger meetings. As a rule, meetings with more than 50 attendees are considered a large meeting.

Module Six – Tools of the Trade (Part 1)

In this module, we discuss the different tools of the trade for assistants. It includes familiarizing yourself with machines, computer programs, and basic etiquette for assistants.

Email Protocol

Emails have become an important medium for business communication. It is a convenient tool for sending and receiving documents, messages, and an effective way of storing business communique.

Office Machinery

Your role as an assistant is not limited to helping your employer; you should also get a working knowledge of office machinery. Each organization has its own set of equipment. It includes faxes, scanners, copiers, printers, postage machines, shredders, and telephones.

Computer and Software Skills

In today’s modern office environment, having basic computer skills and software skills is not a plus but a basic requirement. To be an assistant, you must be proficient in using computers and office applications (Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint).

Communication Skills

Great communication skills are critical for any personal or executive assistant. It does not only include having active listening skills but also being able to express yourself effectively. You should possess great oral and written communication skills.

Module Seven – Tools of the Trade (Part 2)

Adaptability is a trait that every assistant must-have. Part of this is being able to cope up with the ever-changing tools of the trade caused by technology. Keeping up with the tools of the trade allows you to become an informative assistant.

• Phone and voicemail etiquette
• Word processing
• Business writing
• Internet research

Module Eight - Being an Effective Gatekeeper

Assistants are gatekeepers. They are responsible for keeping managers focused on their work and saving them from the hassle of distractions. It can include screening calls or weeding unnecessary information.

Filtering Data and Information

Before you can start shielding your managers from distractions, you should first develop a deep understanding of what is and what is not important. To do this, you can start by asking these general questions:

• Is this important?
• Is the manager the only one to handle this?
• Is it relevant to goals?
• Can I address this myself?
• Is the source reliable?

Learn to Say No

Part of your job as gatekeeper is to say “no.” Your manager’s time is not infinite, and you should help them maximize their time for activities that are considered productive.

Dealing with Difficult People

People skills are a must for assistants. This is especially useful when dealing with difficult people. Conflict is sometimes unavoidable. When dealing with a difficult situation, you should maintain the utmost professionalism.

Recognize the Tricks

People with enough motivation can be very creative in getting past gatekeepers. They could be tricky, and it is your job to recognize these tricks.

Module Nine – Organizational Skills

Organizational skills are a must-have for any assistant. You must learn how to prioritize, plan, and work towards your goals. Over time, organizations skills can be improved to make you a more effective assistant.

Prioritizing Your Workload

You can use the urgent, important matrix to help identify your tasks. This is divided into four tiers: top priority, second priority, third-tier, and bottom tier.

Goal Setting

You must first establish your goals to help you prioritize and organize all work-related tasks. A great way of identifying your goals is by following the SMART method.

Plan for Tomorrow, Today

Sa planning goes, you might find out that scheduling all activities in a week is often hit or miss. This is why we suggest you create your schedule for the next day at the end of the day. There might be an unscheduled meeting or appointment that could quickly place your schedule in jeopardy.

Staying on Track

Stating on track is easier said than done. Having your activities planned on paper is one thing, but this could quickly go awry when an unexpected problem or distraction comes. Below are some tips on how to stay on track:

• De-clutter
• Use technology
• Two-minute rule
• Balance
• Be flexible

Module Ten – Confidentiality Guidelines

As an assistant, you will have access to your client's confidential information. And as a professional, it is your solemn duty to keep this information private and away from the public.

• Your confidentiality duty
• Be Certificatetic and discreet
• Keeping data secure
• What to do in sticky situations

Module Eleven - Special Tasks

In this module, we take a look at the special roles and tasks of an assistant. It includes interacting with clients or managing social media.

• Project management
• Trade shows
• Interacting with clients
• Social media management

Module Twelve - Wrapping Up

Recognition & Accreditation

The International Association of Online Training Standards (IAOTS) has given international recognition and accreditation to this executive assistant certificate course. All courses offered by Courses For Success are presented methodically step by step allowing students to easily complete courses quickly.  This unique method enables students to obtain qualifications earlier. All students who successfully complete the course will receive a certificate of completion. Courses For Success has a high commitment to ensuring student satisfaction and works hard to ensure high completion rates.