Hall Recruitment

Recruitment Agency | Temporary Recruitment Agency | Contract Support | Find your next Career Opportunity

Contact us

Phone:
+353 (1) 6334040

Email:
info@hallrecruitment.ie

 

Contact Us

  • Please write your question in the text box below.
  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

CVTips

What is a Project Manager

By

What is a Project Manager
  • What is the Salary of a Project Manager?
  • What are the Benefits you should look for as a Project Manager?
  • Conclusion:
    • Career Guidance: Project Manager

    Career Guidance

    Welcome to Hall Recruitment! We are dedicated to helping job seekers find their dream careers and companies find the best talent to join their teams. We understand that the job search process can be overwhelming and confusing, which is why we offer comprehensive career guidance to assist you every step of the way. Our team of experienced professionals is here to help you build a successful career path, whether you are just starting out in your professional journey or looking to make a change. We offer a range of services, including resume and cover letter writing, interview preparation, and job search strategy development. Let us help you take control of your career and achieve your goals. If you are seeking employment opportunities check our our job board here. If you are an employer looking for qualified candidates to fill your latest role please click here.

    What is a Project Manager ?

    What does a Project Manager do? A project manager is responsible for leading a team to deliver a project within a specific timeline, budget, and scope. They are the key point of contact for stakeholders and are responsible for ensuring that the project is completed successfully.

    Key Responsibilities of a Project Manager:

    Here are some of the specific responsibilities of a project manager:

    Key Responsibilities of a Project Manager:
    1. Developing a project plan:

    This involves defining the goals and objectives of the project, identifying the tasks that need to be completed, and creating a timeline for completing those tasks.

    2. Managing resources:

    A project manager is responsible for acquiring the resources needed to complete the project, which may include hiring team members, securing equipment, and allocating budget.

    3. Tracking progress:

    It’s important for a project manager to regularly check in with team members to ensure that tasks are being completed on schedule and to identify any potential issues that may arise.

    4. Managing risks:

    A project manager must identify potential risks to the project and develop a plan to mitigate those risks. This may involve creating contingency plans or reallocating resources.

    5. Communicating with stakeholders:

    A project manager must keep stakeholders informed about the progress of the project and address any concerns or questions they may have.

    What is the Salary of a Project Manager?

    Given that the role of a project manager and their responsibilities vary depending on their field of employment, e.g. facilities management, accounting, H.R., I.T., etc, the expected salary for a project manager can also vary. So what is a project manager salary?We have found that the lowest salary for a project manager in the Dublin area is €40,000 and the highest salary is €90,000. The average offered salary for a qualified project manager is between €55,000-€70,000 depending on experience (doe).

    What are the Benefits you should look for as a Project Manager?

    While every company is different and larger global organisations can offer greater benefits, the following lists the standard benefits from medium to larger enterprises in Ireland:

    • On-site parking (be warned city centre positions generally don’t have this)
    • Pension contribution
    • Cycle-to-work scheme
    • Sick pay
    • Additional leave

    Some companies offer the following additional benefits for to their employees:

    • Dental insurance
    • Life insurance
    • Health insurance
    • Savings programs (commonly Christmas Savings Programs)
    • Hybrid work schedules/environments

    Conclusion:

    Overall, a project manager plays a crucial role in ensuring that a project is completed successfully and on time. They must have strong leadership skills, excellent communication abilities, and the ability to think strategically and solve problems.

    Career Goals

    By

    New Year's Resolution

    Setting Your Goals

    Setting Career Goals With Your Current Employer and Re-evaluating Your Job After A Period

    As you progress in your career, it is important to periodically take stock of where you are and where you want to go. One way to do this is by setting career goals with your current employer and re-evaluating your job after a certain period of time. This can help you stay motivated, focused, and engaged in your work, and it can also help you build a fulfilling and successful career.

    How To Set Your Goals

    So, how can you set career goals with your current employer and re-evaluate your job? Here are some steps to consider:

    1. Identify Your Career Aspirations

    Before you can set career goals, it is important to know what you want to achieve. Take some time to think about your long-term career aspirations and what you want to accomplish in your current role. This could be anything from learning new skills and gaining more responsibility to advancing to a higher level within the company.

    2. Communicate Your Goals With Your Employer

    Once you have identified your career aspirations, it is important to share them with your employer. This can help you and your employer align on your goals and work together to achieve them. It can also help your employer understand your motivations and career aspirations, which can be beneficial for both you and the company.

    3. Set specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART) goals

    To make your goals actionable and attainable, it is helpful to use the SMART goal-setting framework. This means setting goals that are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound. For example, instead of setting a general goal like “improve my skills,” you could set a specific goal like “complete three online courses in my field by the end of the year.”

    4. Re-evaluate your job after a period of time

    After you have set your goals and have been working towards them for a while, it is a good idea to re-evaluate your job and see how you are progressing. This can help you assess whether your current role is still a good fit for you and your career aspirations. If you are not making progress or are not fulfilled in your current role, it may be time to consider a change.

    Conclusion

    By setting career goals with your current employer and re-evaluating your job after a period of time, you can stay motivated, focused, and engaged in your work and build a fulfilling and successful career. Remember to identify your career aspirations, communicate your goals with your employer, set SMART goals, and re-evaluate your job regularly to ensure that you are on track to achieving your career goals.

    Future of Work

    By

    Top Administration Skills For Progression In Any Career

    Top Administration Skills for progression in any career
    Table of Contents
  • How To Improve Your Administration Skills?

    • Why Are Administrative Skills Important?

    Why Are Administrative Skills Imporant

    Administration skills are some of the most important to any career. This skill set is applicable in any field, in any role and any position. Strong administration skills can be a fantastic asset to aid in not only the processes of getting a job, or starting a career, but are hugely influential in progress and success. Administration skills are, if not essential, a great advantage in the field of your choice. Largely, administration skills refer to organizational, interpersonal qualities that streamline your working process. These are the top ten administration skills that will help fast-track success.

    Communication Skills

    Arguably, strong communication skills are one of the most important skills in any scenario. The ability to clearly communicate information in an organized and timely fashion is vital to any workplace. In an office, you are a part of a team working collectively to achieve a given goal. Being able to communication not only what you have done, but your needs and expectations is critical to a smoothly functioning work environment.

    Organisation Skills

    Strong organizational skills are a lot more than simply having a clear inbox, or a clean desk. Organizational skills of your time, and resources are hugely vital to being a successful and productive professional. Specific organizational skills like schedule management and maintaining files and records in a cohesive fashion are hugely important.

    Time Management Skills

    Time management goes hand-in-hand with traditional organizational skills. The ability to control your time, both in and outside the workplace, and stay on top of tasks and expectations is a hugely important skill for success. Strong time management skills generally increase productivity and decrease stress.

    Technology Skills

    Technology skills, in this sense, refers to a level of comfort with computers, phones, and software or systems that are widely used in professional settings. This includes, but is not limited to, competence with Microsoft Office, particularly Excel, ability to work with computers of various makes and models, and general competence with computers or other tech, including smartphones, projectors and so on. Strong technology skills do not necessary mean a complete and specific understanding of all possible technology you may run into, rather a general understanding and ability to learn how to work with new kinds of technology.

    Problem Solving Skills

    Strong problem-solving skills can be one of the greatest advantages to growth in one’s career. Practice in problem-solving allows you to recognize and fix issues early on. Largely, this is done through learning how to identify problems, and then logically work through various solutions. Problem solving involves strong analysis and decision-making skills, which are also extremely beneficial.

    Customer Service Skills

    Even if your career does not necessarily interface with customers or guests regularly, having a strong customer service knowledge can be advantageous in any workplace. This is due to the emphasis on communication in customer service, as well as maintaining a positive attitude, and an emphasis on working with the customer. This is all to say, customer service in terms of learning how handle requests, complaints, and even disagreements in a polite, and friendly manner are crucial in the workplace.

    Proper Etiquette

    Proper office etiquette generally refers to the written and unwritten rules and expectations of a professional setting. This includes being on time, polite, and generally nice to your coworkers, as well as taking the proper care of oneself and one’s professional presentation. This also includes taking care of your space in relation to everyone else’s. Generally, strong etiquette is a sign of respect for your coworkers.

    Multitasking Skills

    In just about any position, there will be a multiple ongoing projects or tasks that you must complete. The ability to multitask effectively is vital to a strong career. Strong multitasking skills come at the intersection of a strong ability to organize, prioritize, and time manage to be able to complete smaller tasks in the interim of bigger ones. With that, however, it is not expected to be simultaneously completing multiple tasks, rather, it is that you are expected to be able to work on multiple projects at any given time. Strong multitasking is rather an ability to shift focus and switch between tasks at will.

    Attention To Detail

    Attention to detail is one of the most beneficial skills in the workplace. Essentially, strong detail-orientation means that there are fewer errors in your work. Being able to focus on the minutia of projects makes it possible to see any potential errors or problems in the details, whether it be the fine print, or the specific numbers in a sale. It also allows you to check your own work critically, whether it be a report or a review, for accuracy and specifics. Attention to detail allows you to catch problems or issues that are small and may otherwise slip by.

    Prioritization

    Finally, the ability to prioritize tasks is a valuable skill in any professional environment. As mentioned in multitasking, in any job or position there will be multiple tasks asked of you, and it is important to be able to complete them in a timely manner. Though, of course, there are only so many hours in a workday, so it is vital to be able to know which jobs are the most important, and which are less. Strong prioritization skills not only save time and effort, since you may not be rushing to get everything done, but also demonstrates strong analytical and evaluative skills through being able to accurately determine which tasks are the most important.

    How To Improve Your Administration Skills?

    How to improve your administration skills 1

    Strong administration skills are vital, but even if you are not naturally inclined to organization, they are learnable. The skills described above are all intrinsically intertwined, so that strengthening one area, will also help to improve all of the others. In order to strengthen your administrative skills, here are some tools and tips that makes it easier to become more organized in the workplace.

    One of the biggest tips is to practice communication. Arguably is can be the greatest advantage. A way to help hone your communication abilities is to practice identifying exactly what you need, and actively listen to what others are saying. Through repetition, it will become easier to express your needs and wants while being able to receive information from others clearly.

    Another great tip is to focus on organizational skills. Even if organization does not come naturally, there is an element of trial-and-error at play. In order to practice organization, you may have to test out a number of tools that work for you, whether it be organized lists, a well blocked schedule that has what tasks you need to do at what times, or even something as basic as writing everything down in one place. Any of these tricks will make it easier to identify and prioritize different tasks and projects, and stay on top of them as you work.

    If you are at a loss for where to begin in strengthening your administration skills, there are a number of online resources that can keep track of tasks and needs for you, and have tips and tools to make the process easier. By working on communication and organization, things like prioritisation, multi-tasking, and problem solving, as well as the rest of the above list, will also strengthen. Administration skills are less about knowledge, and more of a system of working that works for you. There is no one fits all for administration abilities, rather, it is about finding what allows you to clearly understand and identify key points, projects, and tasks, and understanding the tools you need to be able to complete them to the best of your ability.

    Career Guidance – What is an Office Manager?

    By

    Breakdown of what is an office manager explained

    Click Here to apply for our latest jobs

    Table of Contents

    What is an Office Manager?

    An office manager acts as the support and facilitation for an organization. That is, the office manager is essentially in charge of completing the administrative tasks necessary to keep a business running. Generally office managers’ skillsets are both highly interpersonal and organizational. The job is largely clerical and requires strong organizational skills and attention to detail, combined with strong leadership and communication skills. While the emphasis is on the administrative necessities of any business, by virtue of managing an office, this includes working with a number of different departments and individuals to ensure that everything runs smoothly. Office managers act as office support at the highest level, providing aid with the necessary administrative tasks that keep a business running.

    What are the daily duties for an Office Manager?

    In terms of daily duties for office managers, these can range from maintaining procedure regarding payroll, employee hours, and processing paperwork to hiring and training new employees, and planning meetings and work-related events. As office manager, one’s role ranges from highly clerical to highly interpersonal, and it is a great benefit to have both these skill sets. Similarly, they also handle protocol for that office, including formality in relation to human resources, and health and medical protocol. That is, the office manager is in charge of ensuring that the business as a whole runs smoothly from an organizational perspective. Rather than working in the field itself, they are focused on the running and functioning of the office.

    Job Description for an Office Manager

    To summarize this into a general office management job description: Office managers are in charge of ensuring that a business runs smoothly on a daily basis. This includes managing paper, schedules, and being the point of contact for many different departments. While highly organizational and clerical in nature, oftentimes handling specific reports, protocols, and technical necessities, the office manager is also extremely communicative, and works with nearly every aspect of the business closely. Through understanding of the role as high-level office support, the office manager job description emphasizes the clerical and administrative nature. This administrative side requires comfortable use of phones, databases, and familiarity with essentially all required protocol and rules of the office itself. That is, an individual who is extremely organized and detail oriented is required for the office support side of office management.

    What are the essential skills and qualifications necessary for an Office Manager?

    To be a good office manager, there are a number of different skill sets that are hugely beneficial. The office manager job description essentially breaks the main skills down into three main categories: organizational, managerial, and technical skills. Under the organizational umbrella are tasks like maintaining records, planning meetings and events, scheduling and facilities, and document preparation. These all require strong attention to detail and prioritizing skills. Managerial skills fall into the more interpersonal and leadership qualities. These kinds of skills, for an office manager, include problem solving, delegating tasks, and communication. All of which are vital to be able to maintain a functioning and productive office environment. Finally the technical skills of the office manager are competence with various tools oftentimes used in these tasks. These include Microsoft office, excel specifically, document preparation, and the knowledge of how formal paperwork is completed and executed. Generally technical knowledge is all of that which goes into organizing any office procedure whether it be tax documents, hiring forms, or the technology used to schedule meetings.

    In terms of professional qualifications,  office managers do not require a specific degree or training course, rather, the emphasis is on previous administrative or clerical experience. With that being said, however, a good way to gain this experience and demonstrate competence when applying for an office manager job is to have taken an office manager course. These office manager courses can be offered online or in person through any number of Dublin and Irish institutions. If you are interested in reaching a professional qualification in entering the office management field, simply google office management courses and choose the one most suited to your needs from those offered.

    With that being said, the purpose of these courses and more formal training is to be able to clearly demonstrate these necessary clerical abilities and the skills required to balance the many tasks asked of the office manager. These courses emphasize the technical and skilled nature of office support and administrative work, that requires a great deal of specified knowledge of procedure, software, and organizational systems. In entering an office manager field, it is highly beneficial to be familiar with some of the most used of these, including Excel, familiarity with tax and legal documents, as well as familiarity with scheduling software, phone skills, and managing large numbers of people and tasks at once. These courses are aimed at providing familiarity with the technical and administrative aspects of the position.

    What is the salary of an Office Manager and are there career expectations?

    According to ie.talent.com, the average office manager salary is €39,176 annually, with the entry level salary starting around €35,000 and highly experienced office manager making up to €50,000 per year. The discrepancy between the entry level and the highest average salary tends to be a result of skill and experience, rather than education level. Though there is an impact in starting salary of one’s education level in a specific field, in the cases of office manager salaries, one’s experience has more of an effect than one’s education, per se. The office manager courses discussed above, in this scenario, are not necessarily as an educational aspect, but rather, to demonstrate a level of skill and experience. In an office manager job, experience is arguably the most important. This generally is due to the complex nature of the career itself. In order to be an effective office manager, one has to be able to balance the clerical and vital tasks of the functioning of an entire business. Rather than just paperwork for HR, or payroll, or any individual department, they must be able to work cohesively with all of them, and generally report to a high- level official within the structure of the business, whether it be a CEO or an executive.

    Career Guidance – Payroll Administrator

    By

    What is a Payroll Administrator?
    Table of Contents

    What is a Payroll Administrator?

    A payroll administrator is a finance professional with knowledge in administration and accounting. Generally, payroll administrators are in charge of the upkeep and maintenance of payroll within a company. That includes ensuring that timesheets are accurate and up to date, managing employee data, and that ensuring payments are made on time. Payroll administration is an incredibly important aspect to a functioning business, and the administrators themselves play a vital part.

    What Are Payroll Administrator Duties?

    On the daily, a payroll administrator has an array of duties from calculating payable hours, withholdings, bonuses, or deductions. Generally, payroll administrators need to be comfortable with detail oriented, complex tasks, and numbers. Familiarity with the financial intricacies is key to a quality payroll administrator, as well are organizational and administrative skills. Ultimately, as a finance professional, payroll administrators need specific knowledge and oftentimes qualifications in order to enter the field. These include payroll and VAT training, VAT referring to the value-added tax, is a tax on payable goods or services. Payroll administration courses specifically focus on the operation of the tax system, how its calculated, and relevant accounting processes. Though oftentimes there are computer programs that help in the daily arithmetic and tracking of regular payment, a payroll administrator must be aware of what these do, and how, as well as comfortable with using them. That is, these payroll courses and qualifications generally go into the minutia of tax and payment laws and regulations, how to work with and around them, and how they apply on a relevant basis.

    On top of the knowledge and skills of accounting, tax and payment regulation, and the computer skills necessary, payroll administrators oftentimes are also tasked with being the point of contact between employees and the business as a whole to answer questions and respond to concerns with payroll. This means that on top of the administrative and financial skills necessary, there is a level of personal touch, and ability to work well with people. Not only are payroll administrators finance professionals with a detailed knowledge of accounting processes and organizational skills, but also vital aspects to the running of a company in terms of employee relations. The fact of the matter is, employees need to get paid, and in that, the job of payroll is a simultaneously employee centred and numeric role.

    How is Payroll Tax Calculated?

    If you are familiar with receiving a payslip, than you are definitely familiar with the taxes on what you earn. These payroll taxes fall into three major categories: income tax, universal social charge, and pay related social insurance. It is vital to, as a payroll administrator, understand the payroll tax calculation and how they relate to the accounting within the business.

    The first step in calculating payroll tax is one’s income tax. This is based on the amount one earns after pension and permanent health insurance are deducted. The standard starting tax rate is 20%, and any income about this rate goes to 40%. From here, one’s gross Income Tax Is calculated by adding the amounts taxed at the standard, and higher rate of tax (20% and 40% respectively). Any tax credits you have are then used to lower the amount of tax that you pay.

    If you are an Irish Resident, you have a Personal Tax Credit given to you by Revenue. This is standard, and given to all residents earning money in the state. Given outside circumstances, you are able to apply for additional tax credits, but be sure to check revenue.ie to see what credits you are eligible for. Similarly, not all tax relief is necessary a credit, there are credit amounts listed in tax rates, bands, and relief charts. For more information on tax credits, visit revenue.ie.

    After your income tax is calculated, there is then the Universal Social Charge, which is also dependent on your income threshold. Visit https://www.revenue.ie/en/jobs-and-pensions/usc/calculating-usc.aspx to calculate the USC tax rates that apply to you.

    Finally, the third layer of calculating payroll tax is the PRSI (pay related social insurance), which, again, relates to the amount you earn.  To check the level of PRSI that applies to you, visit https://www.gov.ie/en/publication/80e5ab-prsi-pay-related-social-insurance/.

    To learn more about the Irish tax system, and what you are likely to be paying in tax, visit revenue.ie, where you can calculate the amount of each tax you are expected to pay. While at first it is confusing, it is incredibly important to understand, as an employee, how your taxes work.

    Which Are The Best Payroll Systems?

    Another vital thing to consider when looking at payroll administration is what software to use when calculating payroll. Using a good payroll software, and understanding how to use it, can save massive amounts time, especially considering the complexity of payroll administration as a whole. The top ranked payroll software, according to accountantonline.ie, is BrightPay, which emphasizes its easy-to-use interface, as well as focusing on maintaining and managing payment of current employees, while the administrator takes more of a hands on role when employees join or leave.

    Other top-ranked software for managing payroll include SimplePay and Sage, which have email support, strong data storage, and allow employees to view their payroll information on an app or online. Choosing the right payroll software for a business is extremely important, thankfully, many of the top, most popular software are hugely helpful to managing the ins and outs of payroll. Especially considering the complicated nature of accounting, between the tax that gets calculated as discussed above, and managing any changes in an employees including hours and any raises or salary changes.

    While choosing a payroll system or software, there are a number of things to keep in mind. Most importantly, are how well they work given the revenue structure, that they pay automatically and accurately, and that your data is safe and backed up. By using a software like the ones discussed above, especially at a larger company where there are more employees with various specific salaries, bonuses, or changes in payment, using a software like above can streamline the process as a whole.

    Career Guidance – Payroll Manager

    By

    Career Guidance Payroll Manager
    Table of Contents

    What is a Payroll Manager?

    Payroll management is vital to the functioning of any workplace. Payroll manager is a finance professional, meaning that they are comfortable and skilful with financial matters, including, but not limited to, payment. Arguably, payroll is one of the most important features to a functioning work environment, and for that reason, the payroll manager is a critical role. As payroll manager, you essentially bear the responsibility for all payment processes within the business. This includes payslips, liaising with accounting, revenue reporting, and delivering 3rd party files to ROI payroll. As payroll manager, you are also responsible for maintain accurate records of employment, including hiring, firing, and pay changes for employees. You also tend to be an extremely important HR contact, and often act as a HR representative.

    So what are the skills that are required to succeed as a payroll manager?

    Firstly, it is vital to have strong organizational and administrative skills. Payroll is hugely detail-oriented and number-focused. It is a good idea to have strong administrative and attention to detail skills, similar to those that are necessary for accounting.

    What is the difference between a Payroll Specialist versus a Payroll Administrator?

    Though, as payroll manager, there are necessary skills that lean towards accounting or administration, in working in payroll, there is a slight but important distinction between the job titles related to working in payroll. Essentially, a payroll administrator versus a payroll specialist helps to illuminate these distinctions. Payroll manager refers to a similar role as a payroll administrator in terms of overseeing the entirety of payroll as a department, rather than simply the payroll duties of an individual department. With this distinction in mind, a payroll manager or a payroll administrator has a lot of clerical duties, focused on the organizational skills necessary to be able to ensure the timely, regular payment of employees as a whole. Oftentimes, also responsible for organize the compensation required based on hours worked on a broad scale. A payroll specialist, on the other hand, is more centred on the individual payroll and ensuring that each employee is paid for their work and for their time. They often also use a lot of accounting skills and handle the accounts for the business and the individual.

    Responsibilities of the Payroll Manager

    While the responsibilities of the payroll manager is essentially ensuring that all individuals get paid for their work, this requires a lot of organizational, accounting, and administrative focus. As well, they require a good bit of knowledge on the accounting process and accounts administration to be able to perform the duties as required. On a day to day basis, a payroll manager is also a people- centred position, so friendly attitudes and ability to communicate key information are vital to the job description. Responsibilities that come with being an important point of contact in the HR department, including handling complaints, problems, and client requests is key, and its essential that a payroll manager is able to provide friendly support. On the other side of this, payroll managers are in charge of the entirety of processing the payroll each week, or each payment term, and at the end of the year payroll as a whole. As a finance professional, is it incredibly important to be able to use the vital payroll and financial systems, like the Resourcelink payment calendar. 

    Experience and Skills

    There are a number of super important skills to be a successful payroll manager, not solely limited to the organizational, administrative, accounting, and social skills we have already discussed. Oftentimes, payroll managers requires a knowledge of payment software and necessary qualifications. Payroll software like PAYE, PRSI, and USC are all necessary aspects to working as a payroll manager. These programs and software are vital to being able to perform all necessary duties in a timely and legal manner. On a CV when applying for a payroll manager position, its great to highlight working with these payroll software or any experience with them or similar ones.

    Similarly, like other finance professional careers, payroll management oftentimes requires specific coursework and qualifications. Specifically, usually one must have an IPASS qualification, which is the Irish Payroll Association’s course. There are a number of payroll courses, both online and in person, that can be hugely beneficial in creating a CV for a payroll job. Oftentimes, qualifications through online payroll courses with the Irish Payroll Association or with another similar organization are necessary. If you feel that perhaps payroll management is a good career fit for you, there are a number of online resources and payroll courses themselves that can help jumpstart your CV for a payroll management job.

    Job Expectations

    This is all to say that payroll management is a vital, but also difficult career, which requires knowledge of a number of specific payroll software, government regulation organization, interacting with clients and employees, and specific certification in order to get a payroll job. However, this career is also hugely rewarding. Essentially, the payroll manager is in charge of one of the most important aspects to any successful business. On top of that, payroll management is a comfortable career. According to Indeed.ie, the average income of a payroll manager in Ireland is €58,236.

    Conclusion:

    This is all to say, payroll management is a difficult career, that works at the intersection of Human Resources at accounting, and requires the technical skills of the latter, and the personal skills of the former. However, it is also a rewarding, and vital job that is necessary to the functioning of any business or work life.

    Career Guidance – Executive Assistant

    By

    Career Guidance Executive Assistant
    Table of Contents

    What is an Executive Assistant?

    Executive assistance is a great choice for jumping into the business world. On a daily basis, as executive assistant you are in charge of the tasks like scheduling, organizing documents and records, note-taking, and managing the phones. Executive assistants are vital aspects to the functioning of a business and require a great deal of skill in their positions. Basically, an executive assistant is an expert in their own right about the functioning of a business, in aspects like project management, administration, and office support.

    What is the difference between an Executive Assistant and a Personal Assistant?

    Though both positions are assistants in title, there is a notable difference between the tasks and the skillset required for each. Personal assistants generally work as a support for an individual in not only their business or work needs, but also in some aspects of their personal lives. Executive assistants are professionals in administration, and can manage the clerical and administrative needs of multiple executives, in some cases, as well as generally work with executives or high ranking company personnel. Personal assistants, alternative, generally manage the needs of one individual, and can be a lower-ranking professional than would be assigned to an executive assistant.

    While the basic difference between an executive assistant and a personal assistant is in performing tasks strictly for one’s business life versus one’s personal life as well, this difference tends to permeate other aspects of the careers. As mentioned, executive assistants are effectively administration experts, and while both positions require a similar set of skills, there are certain edges that makes executive assistants distinct.

    Qualifications for Executive Assistants.

    The best way to outline what an executive assistant is, and does, is to go over what one needs in order to fill the role. Executive assistants need strong organizational skills, and excellent communication skills, and competence with Office software. Generally, executive assistance aid in system administration, which relates to the technology used by the given office. Essentially, system administration is the upkeep or maintenance of the computer systems in relation to their role in the office, specifically. System administration is an important skill for executive assistance, in terms of being fluent in the software necessary for the functioning of the given business. Skills like excel, Microsoft word, and various specific data-bases are hugely beneficial, though the specific systems will vary by location.

    Similarly, executive assistants play an incredibly important office-support position. Office support refers to the daily functioning of the office as a whole, managing phones, answering inquiries, and so on. Executive assistants, as the people who manage the office-life and maintenance of high level personnel tend to play an incredibly important role in this matter. Office support skills are generally those of an assistant in terms of organization, scheduling, and communication skills.

    If you think that an executive assistant position might be right for you, there are a number of skills that are of prime importance to demonstrate on a CV, or in an interview. According to teambulding.com, the top three skills are organizational, multitasking, and time management, with communication skills being an important fourth. Essentially, these skills are all vital to keep up with the fast moving, changing, and organizational place of executive functioning. As an assistant, you are in charge of essentially managing the administrative and clerical tasks of the executive, whether that be meetings, taking calls, or managing other corporate maintenance. With that being said, these environments tend to be fast-paced and ever changing which means adaptability and organization are unbelievably crucial. The systems administration and office support aspects are necessary for working within the frameworks of that given system. Communication and people skills are the final piece to this puzzle. In managing someone’s scheduling inherently involves dealing with other people, as well as dealing with the executive you are working for, of course. With that involves important verbal and personable skills when meeting with people and communicating with not only your direct boss, but with all of the people that they, and you, will be interacting with on a regular basis. Moreover, written communication skills are also essentially for scheduling meetings, and handling administrative tasks in and outside of the office.

    Top tips when applying for an Executive Assistant job.

    This section will help you determine if the role of an executive assistant is the right fit for you. We have also shared a few tips on the best skills to highlight in your application as well as your potential salary expectation.

     As far as technical requirements go, most companies will not require a third-level degree to be an executive assistant. However, they will require either previous experience as an executive assistant or in a similar field as a professional assistant.

    While a bachelor’s degree is not required, they can be incredibly helpful to your application. Courses or certification in management, business, or systems administration can make you a more desirable candidate when you apply for the position of executive assistant.  

    Travelperk.com, recommends possessing a certification in one or more of the following:

    • Administration
    • Business Management
    • Computer skills e.g. Microsoft Office, G-Suite
    • CRM
    • Project Management- this involves the same skills and a similar job description as an executive assistant.

    When we consider the skillset required for an executive assistant more-often-than-not businesses hire for these roles through recruitment agencies like Hall Recruitment.

    Executive assistant jobs can be more competitive to get, so by ensuring you have the necessary certifications and relevant experience you are making yourself more employable. Utilising professional networking platforms such as LinkedIn, is incredibly important, especially considering the high-level individuals that you will be working with. So remember to be careful about what you post!

    Salary Guide:

    The average salary of an executive assistant has recently increased.
    According to jobs.ie, they have reported an average increase of 3.37% in 2022 compared to 2021. Glassdoor.ie states that the average salary is € 45,445 per year in Ireland. In Dublin, the range is usually with a minimum of €40,000 and maxes out around €47,000 per year.

    The average salary of an executive assistant has recently increased.

    -jobs.ie

    Conclusion:

    Executive assistance is a vital, fast-paced, exciting job, though it can be stressful, you will be a vital aspect to the functioning of big businesses at the highest level, and can be extremely rewarding.