Executive assistant vs administrative assistant: how to decide which one to hire first

You've decided to hire help, and the two titles that fit look almost the same. Here's the short version. An administrative assistant supports a team or an office. An executive assistant supports one or two senior people and acts on their behalf.

Which one you hire first depends on where the work piles up: across the office, or in one person's week. By the end of this guide you'll know which role fits, what each one pays and how to write the job post.

The difference at a glance

	Administrative assistant	Executive assistant
Works for	A team, a department or the whole office	One or two senior people
Typical work	Shared inbox, phones, bookings, data entry, filing, invoices, supplies	The executive's inbox and calendar, travel, meeting preparation, follow-ups and projects
Decisions	Follows the office's processes	Decides on the executive's behalf, within limits you agree
Experience asked for	Entry level to a few years	Usually several years, often supporting senior people
US median pay, May 2025	$47,540 a year	$76,590 a year

The pay figures are US Bureau of Labor Statistics medians for "secretaries and administrative assistants, except legal, medical, and executive" and for "executive secretaries and executive administrative assistants". Pay elsewhere is different, so check your own market before you set a range.

What an administrative assistant does

They keep the office running for everyone in it. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics lists the typical duties as answering phones, scheduling appointments, arranging meetings, handling mail, preparing memos, invoices and reports, editing documents, keeping databases and files, and basic bookkeeping.

In a small business, that usually means:

• Sorting the shared inbox and answering routine emails
• Booking appointments and meeting rooms for the team
• Answering calls and taking messages
• Entering orders, timesheets or client records
• Raising invoices and sending reminders
• Keeping files and shared folders in order
• Ordering supplies

What an executive assistant does

They run one person's week so that person spends their time on work only they can do. The BLS describes executive assistants as providing "high-level support" for top executives, including reviewing documents, research and preparing reports.

In practice:

• Sorting the executive's inbox, replying to what they can and drafting what needs the executive's voice
• Managing the calendar, protecting focus time and settling clashes before they reach the executive
• Booking travel and building itineraries
• Preparing agendas and briefing notes before meetings
• Taking notes and chasing the actions afterwards
• Being the first contact for clients, the board or the team when the executive is busy

Where the roles overlap

Both handle calendars, email and documents, and both need discretion. The difference is whose time they protect and how much they decide alone. An administrative assistant follows the process. An executive assistant often decides what the executive sees, which meetings get accepted and what can wait.

Which one to hire first

Start from where the work piles up, not from the more impressive title.

Hire an administrative assistant if the admin is spread across the team

• Several people lose time to it: bookings, data entry, documents and the shared inbox
• The work follows a process you could write down as a checklist
• You need things done accurately and on time more than you need decisions made
• Your first hire is about clearing the office's backlog, not extending one person's reach

Hire an executive assistant if one person's week is the bottleneck

• Everything runs through you: your inbox, your calendar and your follow-ups crowd out the work only you can do
• You need someone to act for you, deciding what reaches you and what can wait
• The work involves confidential information and relationships that matter
• You're spending 10 or more hours a week on tasks someone else could do, and turning work down for lack of time

Test it on last week's admin

Write down every admin task from last week, and next to each one, whose time it would save. Marks spread across the team point to an administrative assistant. Marks next to one name, usually the founder's, point to an executive assistant. If it's close, start with the role that frees the most expensive hours.

What each one costs

Pay follows the judgement the role needs. In the US in May 2025, the median was $47,540 a year for administrative assistants and $76,590 for executive assistants (BLS, figures in the table above). On top of the wage, an employer pays for leave, benefits, equipment and the time it takes to recruit.

A remote assistant through a managed provider changes that sum, because the provider carries the employment costs and you pay an hourly rate. The virtual assistant cost guide compares a local hire, a freelancer and a managed assistant side by side.

Can one person do both?

In a small business, often yes, at first. One assistant can run the founder's calendar and inbox in the morning and the office admin in the afternoon. Write down how the hours split and which work comes first when both need doing at once.

It's also how many executive assistants start. A good administrative assistant who learns how you work can take more of your week over time. When the business grows past what one person can cover, split the role in two.

The remote version of each role

Most of both jobs happens online: the inbox, the calendar, travel bookings, data entry, documents and invoices. Calls can be remote too. The parts that need someone in the building are the front desk, the post and the supply cupboard.

For a remote hire, add three things to the job description: the hours that must overlap with yours, how logins will be shared, and a short paid task for the shortlist.

Writing the job description

Use the free templates: the administrative assistant job description and the executive assistant job description. Each has a filled-in example and the lines to change for a remote hire.

Questions founders ask

Is an executive assistant higher than an administrative assistant?

Usually, yes. The role asks for more experience and more judgement, it works closer to the top of the business, and it pays more.

Is an executive assistant an administrative role?

Yes. The BLS counts executive assistants as one kind of secretary and administrative assistant. What changes is who they work for and how much they decide.

What's the difference between an executive assistant and a personal assistant?

A personal assistant often handles personal errands and appointments for one person as well as work tasks. An executive assistant focuses on the business side. Titles vary by company and by country, so read the duties, not the title.

Can an executive assistant work remotely?

Mostly, yes. An executive assistant's work is largely the inbox, the calendar, travel and follow-ups, which can be done remotely with shared logins and hours that overlap with yours.

Which should a startup hire first?

Usually an executive assistant for the founder, because the founder's hours are the scarcest. If the team's shared admin is the bigger pile, hire an administrative assistant first.

How much more does an executive assistant earn?

In the US, the median was $76,590 a year against $47,540 for administrative assistants in May 2025, a gap of about $29,000 (BLS). Check your own market, because pay differs a lot by country and city.

What to do this week

1. Run the five-minute test on last week's admin.
2. Pick the role, and copy the matching job description template.
3. Set a pay range from your own market, or ask us what a managed assistant would cost for the same hours.

Talk it through with us

We place both roles as dedicated, managed virtual assistants: executive assistants and administrative assistants. They work hours matched to yours, cost from around $8.80 an hour billed monthly per assistant, and most clients are onboarded within two weeks. We're the employer, so recruitment, payroll and equipment sit with us.

Not sure which role fits? Book a free consultation and tell us what the week looks like, or see pricing.

Sources

• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Outlook Handbook: Secretaries and administrative assistants (duties, work experience, and median pay by type, May 2025), read 7 October 2026.