Guest Post by Carleen Moore

Photo by Freepik

Owning the Role, Shaping the Future: Career Mapping for Executive Assistants Who Want More

Every now and then, you sit at your desk and catch a moment of stillness between back-to-back meetings, rapid-fire emails, and last-minute travel rearrangements. In that pause, a question sneaks in: What’s next for me? If you’re an executive assistant, especially one who’s been in the game for a few years, you’ve probably wrestled with that thought. Not because you don’t love the hustle or the complexity, but because you know—deep down—your skills are deeper than anyone realizes, and your growth doesn’t need to plateau where it is.

Start by Taking Inventory

Before you chart where you’re headed, you need to understand what’s already in your toolbox. That means stepping outside your job description and getting honest about what you’ve learned—both on paper and off-script. Do you regularly mediate team tension before it explodes? Have you streamlined workflows with your own creative hacks? Those aren’t just “nice-to-haves;” they’re business-critical skills. When you assess your strengths with this kind of intentional lens, you begin to see just how much you’re already doing that looks a lot like leadership.

Name the Titles You Aspire To

The idea here isn’t to lock yourself into a single destination, but to give your plan a shape. Maybe you want to become a chief of staff, run your own ops team, or pivot into project management. Don’t be afraid to write that goal down just because it sounds ambitious. Naming a title gives you a north star, and more importantly, it helps you reverse-engineer the kinds of experiences and relationships you’ll need to grow into that role. Even if the title shifts over time, having a placeholder keeps you moving.

Invest in Skills, Not Just Software

Sure, knowing how to wield every feature in Outlook or Zoom is helpful—but that’s just the baseline. What really moves the needle is developing skills that transcend platforms: communication, influence, negotiation, and decision-making. Take a course on strategic thinking or conflict resolution. Read what your executive is reading. Ask to sit in on meetings that aren’t “yours” just to learn. When you treat your current role as a launchpad for deeper capabilities, you’re building muscles that will serve you long after the tech changes.

Return to School with Purpose

There comes a point in your career where intuition and experience can only take you so far, and that’s where a Master of Business Administration (MBA) can open new doors. For executive assistants who want a seat at the strategic table—or are eyeing a pivot into operations, project leadership, or even entrepreneurship—formal education can sharpen instincts into expertise. You already think like a business partner; an MBA gives you the framework, the network, and the vocabulary to make that visible. And if returning to campus feels unrealistic, take a look at online MBA programs built for busy professionals.

Treat Your Network Like an Extension of Your Development

Too often, executive assistants operate in silos—quietly keeping everything afloat behind the curtain. But one of your biggest untapped resources is other people who do what you do (and those who’ve gone beyond it). Find the Slack channels, LinkedIn groups, and local meetups. Ask questions. Share solutions. Be seen. Not every connection has to be transactional—sometimes the right conversation at the right time unlocks a path you didn’t even know was there.

Create Milestones That Actually Matter to You

This part is where a lot of career plans go off the rails. They become lists of generic goals: get a certification, ask for more responsibility, attend a webinar. But what if your next milestone is leading a cross-functional project for the first time? Or shadowing a different department for a week? The best development plans aren’t packed with to-dos—they’re anchored in moments that stretch you, teach you, or bring you closer to that future title you wrote down. Think in seasons, not just steps.

Make It a Living Plan

You’re not writing this in stone. Your goals will evolve as you do. That’s the point. The trick is to revisit your plan regularly—quarterly, if you can—and ask: Is this still pointing me where I want to go? What’s working? What’s stale? What surprised me? Building in time for reflection keeps your plan from gathering dust and reminds you that this isn’t a side project. This is the work. You’re not just managing someone else’s time—you’re investing in your own future.

Let’s be real: Executive assistants are often the unsung architects of an entire organization’s success. But that doesn’t mean your own growth has to be quiet. With the right mindset and strategy, you can build a career that’s just as powerful as the one you help your executive navigate. This isn’t about climbing some invisible ladder—it’s about carving a path that reflects your ambition, your intuition, and your brilliance. You already know how to keep others on track. Now, it’s your turn.