In today’s post, I share stories of EA interview examples gone wrong and what to say instead using real interview answers that I’ve summarized. I’ll break down the answers, point out what went wrong and give an alternative answer for each.
Yes, interviewing can be nerve-wracking but we’re EAs. We expect the unexpected by planning for various scenarios. Interviewing should be no different. You’re answering questions about your own career.
The STAR method is a great way to craft your examples. STAR stands for Situation, Task, Actions, Results. What does Results mean for interviews? Provide enough data to back up the story and demonstrate impact. See my post on EA Interview Prop for more information and a Google Sheets template you can use for your own career accomplishments.
EAs hold confidential information that can’t be shared; interviewers get that. Phase the story in a way that gives enough context with data and impact.
Be prepared
Don’t over-simplify, use catch phrases or fluff words. Support examples with data. Be prepared but don’t over-prepare, which sounds rehearsed. Keep your answers crisp.
One candidate strictly followed the STAR format: “This was the situation…these are the tasks and actions I took…these were the results.” It was endearing that they took the instructions literally.
In this example, the candidate was asked about tough feedback they received.
“I was new to this team and asked to do tasks by certain timeframe sent via email from the leader to the EA team. I thought I understood the task, tried to get more detail from the leader and was scolded for the errors when the leader replied to all to this email.”
What went wrong
The interviewee threw the leader under the bus by telling me about the email scolding which came across as a tactic for eliciting sympathy or being manipulative, after stating they repeatedly nagged their executive for more information. They admitted to acting on incorrect assumptions.
Why the leader wouldn’t give out more information does not matter. What matters is the candidate hit the first wall and proceeded anyway.
The other EAs were not new. Some had likely done this task in the past. The interviewee could have gone to one of their peers and asked for help but didn’t. THIS was the take away from the experience.
EAs need to work with minimal instructions but, in this case, they were new to the role. As the newbie, you get to ask all the questions. This is the time because in 6 or so months, your leader and peers will be irritated by your basic questions. If the person person doesn’t know, ask them who can help you. For the most part, your coworkers want to help you. Excluding, of course, the office bullies and narcissists. This will show you who you can trust and who you can’t. It will likely be a painful lesson. Better to find out early than get a surprise knife in the back later.
What to say instead
We all make mistakes, small or horrifically large. We’re human. Own your mistakes and learn from them.
I completed 3 tasks by the deadline but found out 2 were wrong because I didn’t ask for more information. I realize now that I wasted 5 hours on the wrong tasks when I should have checked with the other EAs about the distribution of tasks and ask clarifying questions on what I was supposed to do.
Be succinct
Don’t ramble before getting to question at hand. Keep it short. Be specific. Anticipate follow-up questions and be prepared with details.
The candidate was asked about working against tight deadlines.
I agreed to take on a 2nd full-time role with no knowledge or prior experience; however, I jumped in, learned the role and managed expiring contracts, the RFP process, wrote company guidelines, provided regular updates to leadership, saved the company significant money, and successfully executing the new contracts on time.
What went wrong
The candidate took over 15 minutes to answer the question with no data or results. I asked follow-up questions for data and results and they were prepared with some data but fell back on fluff answers.
In the moment, I was mildly impressed with the answers but something didn’t sit right with me. Reviewing my notes later and talking with the EA who shadowed me, I was put off by this candidate.
The follow-up questions revealed several red flags. The candidate: threw their leader under the bus by saying he didn’t understand the program; they threw the previous person under the bus by saying the data were wrong; the candidate was supporting a half dozen other executives until they got assigned this second job. They disparaged one of the executives. In another question, they disparaged a peer.
This example came across as bragging: no one else was capable of doing this 2nd job so it was up to the candidate to save the day. They did not indicate if they wrote a procedure manual or trained the next person. All of their answers were self-centered, even though they claimed to be a team player.
Yes, the interview is about you, but we’re part of a larger team: our leaders, their directs, peers, everyone else at the company. When you’re in it for yourself or praise, this will show up in your answers.
It’s possible that none of that was their intention, but their non-verbal communication contradicted their words. The candidate’s body language screamed: their awesome resume and these half-assed answers should sell me on hiring them for an entry level EA role.
If I ignored the less flattering aspects of this interview, there was a risk this candidate would use this job as a foot in the door then transfer out at the first possible opportunity. This particular team needed a solid, entry level EA who could grow into the the next level.
What to say instead
Anything but what they said? Seriously, though:
Option 1: The candidate expressed no further interest in pursuing the second job. Accepting the 2nd job showed poor judgment on their part. They had more than enough EA experience to come up with a story that demonstrated their skills and ability to push back. I would take the second job off the resume and never speak of it again.
Option 2: Re-word the answer to a summary. Admit they didn’t have all the answers and omit the empty phrases. As part of the lessons learned: acknowledge they sacrificed their health and admit how many hours they actually worked on 2 full-time jobs.
Be humble
As EAs, calendaring, travel coordination and expense reporting are core to the role.
The candidate was asked how they manage their leader’s calendar. If this had been a phone screen, the answer would be perfectly fine. Not earth-shattering, but they were competent: time blocks, color coding, etc.
What went wrong
The candidate’s body language, sarcastic tone, huffing sounds and eye rolling demonstrated they were irritated at having to answering a “basic” question.
What do say instead
Great question! I put a 2 hour, daily time blocks on my execs calendar. We use these blocks for reminders with links to documents that need reviewing or training to take. I use color coding so my exec can see at a glance which meetings are top priority and which are optional. My exec loves being able to know at a glance which meetings are important. He loves the work blocks; they keep him on track and he saves time by not having to dig through emails or folders to find what he’s looking for. Our work block system saves him 2 hours per week.
Don’t be offensive
Never make racist, ageist, culturally insensitive, gender, weight or other such remarks. You know very little about the person you’re speaking with or what they’ve been through.
The candidate was asked to share a time they helped a struggling peer.
They created a mentoring program to help up-skill the EA team. Most were onboard, but one was old fashioned and struggling with the technology.
What went wrong
The candidate made the assumption that I was their age. I’m not.
In 2024, there are 6 generations in the workplace. Age has nothing to do with ability. I’ve met Boomer EAs who are advanced Office Suite users and EAs younger than me who can’t make a pivot table to save their life and actively avoid using Excel because of it.
What to say instead
Rather than complain about coworkers who less skilled than you are, explain how you coached the team on, let’s say Outlook. For example, you heard several peers complain about the hour they spend every week writing the same email over and over. After talking with a few other EAs, you identify 10 peers with a similar complaint.
I created a lunch & learn to teach 10 EAs how to create and use Outlook Quick Parts. My training saved the group 10 hours per week, or 520 hours per year. A month later, I followed up with everyone to see how they were doing and learned each was so excited about what they learned and the time saved that each one created 4 more Quick Parts. In total, I saved 10 EAs 50 hours per week or 2,600 hours per year.
For a sense of scale on the savings, the average work hours available per year is 2080 (assumes 2 weeks of vacation per person).
I hope these examples help you with preparing your interview answers. Conduct an honest self-assessment of your skills. Check out my post on how to conduct a SWOT analysis to find and bridge your knowledge gaps.
