Senior Executive Assistant to one of the most admired CEOs in the world

A seat built for altitude

The company retained Blackbook Associates to find the primary Executive Assistant to its Chair and Chief Executive. The brief was to find one of the best Executive Assistants in the United States, wherever they were based.

The principal is one of the most admired chief executives in the world, and runs a technology company valued at more than $1 trillion. Every part of their calendar runs through the Executive Assistant. Table 1 shows its cadence, often within a single week.

Six candidates, none of them looking

The people who fit the brief already support chief executives at other public companies. They are well paid, highly valued, and have no reason to move. Every one had to be found and approached directly.

We mapped CEO offices across technology, finance, and the Fortune 500, and approached each candidate discreetly, over several conversations. Six reached the shortlist, every one supporting a C-suite principal at a top-tier organization. Four were flown to headquarters to meet the leadership team. Two went forward as finalists and met the principal across multiple check-ins.

Tested on real-world capability

Every shortlisted candidate also completed Blackbook Assess, our proprietary assessment, engineered to this mandate. At this altitude every candidate interviews well; the polish comes from years spent in rooms with senior leaders. The assessment looks past that polish to the capabilities the seat depends on: judgment under pressure, commercial understanding, discretion, and the confidence to act on a principal’s behalf.

By the time the client met the finalists, it already had evidence of how each would perform in the seat.

What made it hard

One of the most senior Executive Assistant seats in the country. The seat called for someone who had already operated at this altitude, knew the cadence of a global chief executive’s calendar, and had the longevity at that level to step in without being surprised by its pace. Few positions in corporate America sit higher, and the field of people who could fill it credibly was very small. Every one of them was secure, well rewarded, and not looking to move.

Pricing the seat correctly. The role had initially been benchmarked against traditional executive support pay. That is a common starting point, because what top-of-market Executive Assistants earn is rarely visible from outside the offices that employ them. Our work across other CEO offices allowed us to show the client what candidates at this altitude were actually earning, and to reposition the seat as what it is: the person who manages the principal’s time. The client moved to a top-of-market offer.

Relocation. The finalists were based in other high-cost cities, and in every case the move involved a whole family. The conversations went well beyond the role itself, and ran for many weeks, so that each candidate had tested the move at home long before an offer was on the table.

Choosing between two finalists. Both had supported leading chief executives at the very top of Big Tech, and either would have been a credible hire. The difference was temperament, and the choice turned on where the office needed to be in two years rather than where it stood. We made that case directly to the client, and held it.

The full case study sets out the package as made and accepted, and how the seat was repositioned to get there.

Why it worked

1. 01A headhunting approach across the United States. Every candidate was passive, and headhunted from a public company CEO office, most of them in Big Tech.
2. 02Market intelligence that opened the role. Without a clear view of what Executive Assistants at this altitude truly earn, the client could not have come close to the caliber of hire it now has.
3. 03Evidence, then conviction. Blackbook Assess and our own read pointed to the same candidate, and we held that view.
4. 04An open feedback loop. Weekly check-ins with the client, and daily conversations with the CHRO in the final stages on the package and relocation.
5. 05Paced around the principal. Interviews were coordinated across three cities to fit a global schedule. Forty-five working days, one offer, one acceptance.