One of the most important roles a secretary or executive assistant has is keeping charge of their executive’s calendar. The calendar is perhaps the single most important item on your list and everything that goes into the calendar must go through you. It is your responsibility to maintain and schedule everything for your boss to make both of your days easier. Here are a few tips when it comes to managing the calendar.
- Get to know them- Especially if this is a new position for you, taking the time to get to know your executive is important. Consider shadowing them for a week or two and make sure to look at their calendar from before you got there. Asking questions is important because it establishes communication between the two of you. Consider asking questions like:
- Are there any changes that you would like me to make to the structure of your calendar?
- Are there certain tasks you prioritize over others?
- Is there anyone else you would like me to share your calendar with?
- Group meetings and calls together: Any items that can be done in the office such as a phone call or meeting should be scheduled within the same time frame. However, make sure to put a buffer of about 5 minutes or so in between each meeting to allow for a small break to refocus and reorganize. As the world continues to open up and out of office meetings begin to occur again, make sure to consider the travel time and location of each meeting before you schedule it. Keeping it consistent on certain days of the week helps to establish a routine.
- Schedule it down to emails: The executive you are planning for likely has a lot on their plate. One of the best ways to help them, and therefore yourself, is to schedule out as much of their day as possible. From time to check emails to lunch, all of these seemingly little tasks are able to get done when there are specific time slots associated with them.
Make sure to also put in a 10 minute meeting for the two of you to meet at the end of the week to go over next week’s calendar and to check in. We are one of the best staffing firms in NYC and have matched hundreds of candidates with excellent job positions. We are proud to be a top employment agency in New York.
