What is the difference between an Executive Assistant & a Personal Assistant?
Asked by Rachella
EA's seem to get paid more than PA's. Would a personal assistant that is the assistant for the Executive Chairman of a company be called the PA or the EA? If there was say a Chief Financial Officer and an Executive Chairman, would the CFO's assistant be called a PA and the Exec Chairman's assistant be called an EA? Please help! I'm confused! =)

Best Answer:
Don't try to understand it. You aren't confused. There is just no standard or rule as to what to call an employee who serves the role(s) you describe. An Executive Assistant sounds more important than a Personal Assistant; it implies a status in the corporate or business structure that makes that person also an executive level employee. A Personal Assistant might hold a lofty position in a business also, but it implies that he or she works one-on-one with the boss, and is essentially out of the "pecking-order" . It may be an executive job of great responsibility,......or it may be somebody that just goes for coffee, photocopies papers and picks up the boss' dry cleaning ! This is why there should be a written job description to elaborate on any job title. You can be someone with a menial title, but some real responsibility and power; or, you can be someone who has a very imposing title, but no real power or important duties whatsoever. This reminds me of the old Hollywood joke about job titles: An "Associate Producer" is the only person in the studio who will associate with a producer.

I don't think there is really much difference between the two, except for the name and as you pointed one does seem to get paid more than the other. I have worked in both roles and in my experience they were pretty much the same with the exception that when I was an Executive Assistant I was working as the assistant to 3 people in Management positions whereas when I was in the Personal Assistant role I was only assisting the 1 manager. As for the duties of both posistions they were basically the same.
Answered by Amanda B

The reason you're confused is because the business world is also confused on this topic. Junior executives and any man behind a desk who felt he was important in the company and to boost his own ego would take a girl right out of high school and call her an Executive Assistant....while at the same companyi the CEO's helper was called an Executive Assistant...and they got two different salaries (of course). So to be honest with you, the higher income (whether it be an EA or a PA) goes with working for the person with the higher executive's title. PA merely means they do personal work for the executive as well as the normal work. Personal means running errands and doing things for his family and trusting her with personal and confidential home matters like taxes.
Answered by sophieb

Executive Assistant is a person who collaborates with the Executive Chairman in keynotes, taking dictation, paperwork, and bookkeeping. Anything paperwork is the key with the Executive Assistant. They get paid more for doing all the mind work. As for the Personal Assistant, they take care of the dry cleaning, answering phones, greeting people, buying lunches, doing errands, and such. They take care of the personal matters of the Executive Chairman. They get paid less. I hope that solves your problem.
Answered by Agent319.007