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Hire Executive Assistant in London and Further Afield

With some 20 years’ experience as a leading executive assistant recruitment agency in London, we know that the most successful c-suite level executive assistants (EAs) are perfectly in tune with the person they are supporting. When shortlisting to hire an executive assistant, we review core skills, background and experience to ensure we find you the perfect fit.

Finding the right executive assistant can be incredibly challenging. However, we have the expertise to help you recruit the very best EAs in London and beyond on a contract, temporary or permanent basis.

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What is an executive assistant?

An executive assistant works directly for an individual or group of senior executives and is responsible for the smooth running of their business – and sometimes, private lives. As the gatekeeper and first point of contact for their Principal/s, they are required to operate with the utmost professionalism, handling all calls affably and efficiently while liaising with a broader team as needed.

 

An executive assistant will be responsible for extensive diary management, making travel arrangements, overseeing expenses, scheduling appointments and conducting administrative tasks as needed. In some businesses, an EA also manages other assistants and administrative staff – in this case, hiring a senior executive assistant ensures a seamless management of the administrative function and effective support for your business teams.

Over a six-week period, we have a 100% fill rate of roles given to us exclusively

Benefits of hiring an executive assistant

When you hire an executive assistant (EA), you’ll find that they soon become one of the most valuable members of your team. An EA will manage your calendar and to-do list; act as gatekeeper to free up your time to focus on critical business tasks; and take care of your administrative workload. This will, in turn, improve your productivity and give back one of your greatest resources – time.

Once you’ve decided on the executive assistant role’s responsibilities and requirements, we can make suggestions and help you create the executive assistant job description. A few tips when writing this include:

  • Differentiate between required and desired characteristics
  • Ensure the salary and benefits you’re offering are clear
  • Be as specific as possible about the day-to-day duties
Our executive assistant recruitment experience

Our executive assistant recruitment experience

As an executive assistant search firm, we recruit across a range of industries, from global banks and FTSE 100 companies to tech start-ups and boutique creative agencies. With almost 20 years in the business, Tiger has made its mark as one of the leading executive assistant recruitment firms in London. We also recruit on an international scale – with offices in Dubai and New York, our experienced recruiters have the capacity to work on roles across Europe, MENA and the US.

How to hire an executive assistant

When you are ready to begin your search for a new executive assistant, our consultants are always available to discuss your requirements. Simply call our head office or email us with your brief, so that we can start to build a detailed picture of your perfect EA. We will then aim to provide you with a shortlist of three-five candidates drawn from our meticulously vetted and referenced pool of experienced EAs.

Call our head office on +44 207 917 1801 to brief us on your next EA hire.

How we work with you

Tiger Recruitment can guide you throughout the entire executive assistant hiring process, from initial briefing to interview tips and suggested questions to ask prospective candidates. This begins with a comprehensive job brief from you which assists us with understanding the business’ needs and sourcing a candidate who will stay with your business in the long-term. Following this, we can help you formulate your job description to include every task you expect your new EA to undertake when working with you.

We know that successful executive assistant candidates will be ambassadors for your business and possess a wealth of experience, a positive mindset and acumen for making the right decisions. So, many of our candidates are degree-educated and are often multilingual, possessing among them international experience and an ability to manage specific projects.

We ensure that when you hire an executive assistant, that they are supremely competent, proactive and possess outstanding problem-solving skills. We are delighted to be in the position of receiving a high number of quality referrals. After all, good people know good people. In addition, we place job ads on a number of online job boards, our own website and our social media channels. Click candidate sourcing  to find out more about how we source candidates.

From there, we undergo a rigorous screening process. Our executive assistant interviews are thorough, almost always face-to-face (in the event we cannot conduct a face-to-face interview we will have a video interview) and include skills testing. EA candidates will usually meet at least two-three consultants as well, so that they have multiple points of contact.

Interview Tips and Example Questions For Executive Assistant Hiring

When it comes to interviewing executive assistants, it can be difficult to know where to start. To help, we’ve compiled a few executive assistant interview tips and questions. When you come to interview candidates, you should consider things like their values, responses to competency/situational questions and how their experience will benefit you in your workplace.

Example executive assistant interview questions include:

  • How do you anticipate the needs of an executive?
  • How do you prioritise your tasks when you have multiple urgent deadlines?
  • How do you deal with an angry or irate internal member of staff who is demanding to speak to one of your executives?

It’s also important to manage the candidate’s expectations around when they should expect to hear back from you at the different stages of the process. Wherever possible, please give thorough interview feedback to your recruiter so we can relay this to the candidate. Even if you don’t hire an executive assistant from our shortlist, it’s important to give a positive impression for your employer brand.

We schedule regular interview workshops and can offer plenty of interview tips and advice for your interviewers. Just ask us how we can help!

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Frequently asked questions

Find a few of our most frequently asked questions below. If you have further questions about the EA recruitment process, get in touch today!

What is the difference between a PA and an EA?

The primary function of a PA is to relieve the individual/s they support of administrative tasks including diary and email management, travel and meeting coordination and other general office tasks. They often support a larger number of people than an EA. The role of a private PA encompasses the administrative management of a Principal or family’s personal life, with the day-to-day support in running a household, organising travel and overseeing finances.

An EA typically supports a CEO or MD and acts as a business assistant/partner at a more senior level. They are likely to have a high level of responsibility over multiple projects.

What are the typical steps in the Executive Assistant recruitment process?

We meet with you to understand your business and requirements of the position in more detail. We then write a bespoke job advert and publish it online to any relevant job boards. We carefully screen each candidate and present to you a selection of high calibre individuals we feel would be a great fit.

What sets Tiger Recruitment apart from other Executive Assistant recruitment agencies in London?

We’re lucky enough to attract the best quality EA candidates by being the leaders in our market. We really take the time to understand your company, culture and its needs as we believe the right fit is essential. We pride ourselves on our client service to make the process as easy and seamless as possible for you. Our thorough, honest and transparent approach sets us apart from our competitors. This is what makes Tiger Fiercely Distinctive.

How does Tiger go about finding exceptional EA candidates?

Our experienced consultants write and publish tailored job adverts on the main industry job sites, social media and on our own website, which ranks highly in online searches. When shortlisting, we review core skills, background and experience to ensure we find you the perfect fit.  We have the expertise to help you recruit the very best executive assistants in London and beyond.

 

How do I recruit an executive assistant?

Engaging an executive assistant recruitment agency is the best way to find highly capable EAs. At Tiger, our extensive candidate sourcing process means we can filter skills, experience and values to match you with a perfect candidate. Simply get in touch with your job brief and our consultants will take it from there. We aim to have a shortlist with you within a few working days, so that you are interviewing within a week of the initial brief.

Looking for an Executive Assistant Job?

If you’re looking for executive assistant jobs in London or further afield, submit your details or visit our jobs search page to apply directly for suitable roles.

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