Hello there! In this post, I provide tips on how to prepare for an EA interview using my numbers as an example of how to collect, analyze and summarize data. Data management is skill that will move you from tactical support to strategic business partner.
We’ll focus on using data for interview preparation. If you’re not comfortable with spreadsheets and summarizing data, this is an easy, low-risk way to experiment with a spreadsheet and learn the basics of summarizing data so when your exec drops a data project in your lap, you’ll be somewhat prepared.
Make your life easier by getting in the habit of regularly tracking your work. You can create your own tracker or download a copy the EA Tracker Logs Template I created in Google Sheets. This worksheet is designed specifically for EA Mentor subscribers and is for Personal Use Only.
Collect data
It’s tough to remember everything you worked on over the course of one year. Don’t rely on your memory; set up a system to periodically review your work. Six months from now, you’re unlikely to recall every detail. As a back-up keep all the contracts, invoices, receipts, key emails from the past year. Check your company’s document retention policy and take steps to ensure you keep your important documents until the end of the year.
For example: time block quarterly career updates on your calendar and make a folder for the current year where you save executed contracts, invoices, receipts (after you’ve been reimbursed) and purchase orders.
The maths involved are basic algebra. Set up a simple tracker and use pivot tables to summarize data. Simple means: little to no formatting, dates, numbers, type, costs, descriptions and notes. When a column is formatted for currency, for example, do not enter additional notes in this cell. You won’t be able to use formula or pivot tables to analyze data. Instead, enter a comment or add a column at the end to enter notes.
If you plan to use a pivot table, do not leave skip a row or column. If you’re using formulae, you could skip a row, but then you’ll need to work on understanding how the spreadsheet app uses formulae. It may or may not work the same way you learned maths in school.
A spreadsheet is not a word processor
It is a tool to collect and analyze data. The more simply you enter data in your log, the more power you have to analyze the data. You’ll be able to combine formulae and pivot tables to great effect.
Get creative in how you present the data: copy and paste your summary tables into your word processing app and joosh it up there. In Excel, you can use the formatting tools on the summary table.
Solicit feedback
At the end of every team off-site I coordinate, I set aside time at the end for the group to discuss and share what went well and what could be improved. The pros & cons were written on the meeting room dry erase board and recorded in my notes.
For me, I collected feedback from the team, good and bad: food, venue, overall event, technology. Feedback is not who I am. It is a measure of how well I performed my job.
One of my first team summits was at a recently renovated hotel. The hotel was open to hosting conferences for a couple weeks (this was in the early days of Covid lockdown). The hotel staff were unprepared to troubleshoot their new teleconference system effectively during my 3 day conference and we had a lot to get through. I couldn’t afford to fuck around with tech, so I improvised. The result was suboptimal but it kept the conference on time. I expected and received negative feedback. As a result, I put together an off-site tech kit with a Jabra speaker for the next time I had to host an event in a hotel.
Analyze data
To demonstrate how to analyze data, I’ll share my experience coordinating team off-sites as if I were preparing the data for an interview.
My event experience from 2022-2023
At this time, I supported 3 leaders with three business units. Each business unit held team off-sites 3 times per year, which included catering, team dinner and team event. I was typically given 3-4 weeks to pull together events. This was during lockdown, so it was relatively easy to coordinate meeting rooms and lodging. Catering was a bit more difficult, but I managed. I attended these events to provide onsite support, take notes, participate and meet the leadership team in person.
Sample data and pivot table
The EA Tracker Logs Template includes a sample Events tracker and sample pivot table. I’m more versed in Excel but I used that knowledge to create a very simple pivot table to summarize event data by organization with total in-person and virtual attendees.
Play around with the pivot table or create one for your own data and play with it.
Using my tracker template, you can filter or sort your event data to get summary data. As the data in your tracker grows, pivot tables will become your friend.
Prep the story
I use the STAR method to prepare my interview stories: Situation, Task, Action, Results. In the post, EA Interviewing Tips, I use real-world interview stories to demonstrate the STAR method.
Using my own data from the past 5 years, I can demonstrate my ability to organize domestic and international events with globally dispersed team and negotiate contracts. Of course, I would tailor this story to suit the role I was applying for:
In the past 5 years, I’ve organized 17 team off-sites. Three of these were virtual, 3 were in-person only and 11 had in-person and virtual attendees. These events had an average of 21 in-person attendees and 8 virtual attendees. The smallest team off-site had 11 attendees and the largest had 80. The off-sites were held in 6 cities across the US with 14 team dinners in the US and 1 catered lunch in Edinburgh.
Benefits
Coordinating 9 events in 2 years on top of all my other responsibilities was tiring. I was running on fumes. It was at this point that I created an event-specific tracker. My goal was to persuade my leaders to schedule their off-sites at the same time and location, so I could effectively and efficiently coordinate these events.
Results
I presented my event summary data to all three leaders. They were all sympathetic. One leader wasn’t interested and the other two said they’d think about it.
By the time the other two agreed it was a good idea, I’d accepted the offer for the role I’m in. My efforts didn’t even help the next EA because these business units were split apart.
The point of the exercise is to try and come prepared with data. Sometimes, the answer is no.
Impact
I sometimes feel my events with 40 people are small when compared to other EAs who coordinate very large events. However, while my off-sites seem small (to me), they impact a lot of people. These team off-sites are used to help the team track projects and goals, develop the plan to move forward in the short term and set goals for future projects.
In the past 5 years, I’ve worked in 3 different organizations. It’s important to step back and get a sense of scale for how many people are impacted by these events. A key component of explaining your results is to demonstrate the impact of your efforts. Here are the numbers of people represented by my team off-sites:
- Org #1: 8,000 employees, 5 business units, leadership team of 36 and 1 EA. While the group supported the larger, Operations team with tens of thousands of employees, the ultimate customers are the people who buy products from Amazon.com -over 300 million global registered Amazon users.
- Org #2 had over 3,000 employees, 2 business units, a leadership team of 28 and 2 EAs, until 1 Director and their EA left in mid-2022. This team also supported the Operations organization and people who buy from Amazon.com.
- Org #3 had 2 Directors who manage completely unrelated teams. The smaller team has just under 100 and the other team, my manager has 300 employees. Their work supports all Amazon employees of near 2 million globally.
Risks or sacrifices?
Risks and how I mitigate them:
- Technology can fail. I bring my small tech kit and the contact info for the local tech support.
- For one event, I’d negotiated room blocks for all attendees. Four people didn’t use their room and I had to pay for one night x 4 rooms as a penalty. The hotel agreed to release these rooms for the remainder of the off-site at no additional cost, with a total cost for unused rooms of about $1000. In deep diving why the rooms weren’t used: one person didn’t need a room, three didn’t show up and they had not responded to the invite. My lesson learned was to 1) confirm whether or not attendees needed hotel rooms and 2) contact each non-responded to confirm attendance. I updated my off-site tracker moving forward and did not repeat this mistake.
- When I was in Org #2 with 2 EAs, I asked the other EA to help me find hotels and team event venues for 3 off-sites.
- After the other EA in Org #2 left, I didn’t ask for help but should have and it cost my health: exhausted, crabby and heading toward burnout. This when when compiled event data to present options to leadership in an effort to change how we run team off-sites. We all need help from time to time and I would ask for help in the future.
Building relationships
I was unable to attend one team off-site in Dallas due to a mild upper respiratory infection (URI) and attended remotely. It was bad enough that I didn’t want to fly but not so bad that I couldn’t work.
Let’s say I’m in an interview and am asked: How effective was the remote support and why didn’t you ask another EA to attend?
With the EA team was scattered across the US, none were in the location of this off-site. My URI appeared late afternoon before my trip. I’m west coast based and everyone else was on the east coast. By the time I realized I should not fly, the others had signed off for the day and I felt I needed to ask attendees to help. I’d built relationships with my teams and key stakeholders. I asked a couple of people to do specific, small tasks throughout the meeting: pick up the catering, get AV assistance get to the event venue early. One onsite attendee reached out to ask where I was. They thought I onsite because I knew everything that was going on and were surprised to learn I was in Seattle.
Follow-up question: Could you have done anything differently?
I could have reached out to my peers as soon as I realized I was sick to ask if anyone could travel to the event. Even if the answer was no, at least I asked the EA team for help.
I hope this post helps you understand the importance of collecting and analyzing data to help you prepare for interviews, a promotion or update you job description. Managing and analyzing data is a key skill to help EAs transition to a strategic business partner.
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