Chief of staff/executive assistant to the CEO?
Hello,
I've been noticing a trend where people take on a role that's referred to as the "Chief of Staff" or the "Special/Executive Assistant to the CEO" (different than a secretary), either pre-MBA, during the MBA internship or 1-3 years after an MBA. One guy I know is the Chief of Staff to one of the EVPs at his company 1 year out of undergrad.
@TheGrind" briefly touched upon these roles in a different thread, so I'd like to open up the floor to the WSO community and hear more about your experiences, as these roles sound very interesting.
1) How did you hear/go about getting such a job, and what was your prior experience like?
2) What are your daily duties?
3) What do you do (or did you do) after leaving this job?
DC
1) Rich kid who couldn't get another job? I've never heard of something like this....any special projects or ad hoc the CEO wanted to look at would likely get routed through CFO to the strategy or planning group.
I've seen a couple of these roles within a F500 company, although I'm not sure what they do on a day-to-day basis. Basically special projects or analysis, although I don't have a good example of one. From what I've gathered, the couple I've seen are manager level positions and were internal hires/promotions.
i saw a couple of these roles and basically what they did all day was talk to people on the phone (mainly to PMOs to get status updates on projects) and updating gnat charts and status update decks. i would rather feed my dick through a meat tenderizer rather than do that job ... literally. unless you get very lucky, this job is a path to middle management for life.
Ha, that sounds horrible! Where did people work on gant charts all day?
From what I understand, your duties depend largely on the CEO and the company you're at.
Extremely common in the entertainment business as it's still an old school mentor-mentee culture. Even on the business/finance side.
I reported directly to the chief of staff. We worked on things that either didn't fall cleanly into any team's remit, or on matters where the responsible team didn't have enough bandwidth. Mostly things important enough to warrant the CEO's awareness. Each chief of staff would eventually go on to head a BU.
Huh, that's interesting. Were you working with them as a recent graduate/analyst? Also, what type of experience did your CoS have prior to getting the role?
I did 2 years of consulting. CoS had a few years of consulting followed by industry exp. CEO also came from consulting so that's possibly why.
My dad's an executive, and is now on his 3rd Executive Assistant at his current company.
The new one has only been around a few weeks, so, I really can't comment at all on what exactly her experience is.
The middle one was fired/pushed out. Basically didn't excel at things other than being a secretary, effectively became a secretary, and, that was the end.
The first though, was truly special. My dad hired her out of law school - I don't know the full details of the recruiting process. But she effectively became his right hand and his left hand. My whole family knows her well, because she made everything happen for us. Family vacation? College touring? Financial accounts? Retirement home? Bar/Bat Mitzvahs? All went through her. On the other side, she had my dad's work life organized to a T as well. Came with him to meetings, organized his workload, coordinated with clients. My dad would figure out who he wanted to talk to, they would share the work of convincing them to talk to him, and then she would do everything logistic, and make sure he was fully prepped for meetings. She basically did the organizational/coordinating work of a banking analyst in addition to the work of a 'head of household' - for way less money than she was worth.
However, what she didn't get in money, she got back in exit ops. With help from my dad, she ended up with a mid-level gig at a corporate law firm, making multiple times what she was as an assistant. She decided that was boring, came back to my dad for advice/referrals, and - largely on her own but with some help from him - ended up as an executive assistant to a mega-billionaire (think Bill Gates, Larry Ellison, Mark Zuckerberg, etc). From the last time she came to see our family, it seems like she spends most of her time traveling (sounds like private) around the world, basically acting as a surrogate manager for her boss for their multiple investments (They want to sell a business - she's the one who goes and breaks the news and has the meeting. They want a New House/jet/car/whatever - she does the legwork), and does a fair bit of stuff (and thus spends a fair bit of time) on her boss's private island. Honestly not a bad life for someone like her, who enjoys working crazy hours (my dad would have to plead with her to go home from the office, and at that point in his career he was working crazy hours as well) and doesn't mind traveling.
Congratulations to her -- that's amazing!
That is awesome... thanks for the anecdote
It is essentially what Donna does for Harvey.
I work at a B.B. and interface with two “chief of staff”. At my B.B. these positions start at the MD level, I don’t know of any Directors that have these.
One is an older guy another is a younger guy. Both have amazing stories to tell and put in a fair number of hours. I like them both because they are excellent for those “odds and ends” questions you inevitably have and they are also good at confirming rumors you hear around the office.
The older guy is chill and probably makes more money than all of us combined in this thread. The younger guy is fresh out of school and is poised to do anything he wants within the org; the MD we work for will give him a recommendation that any of you would give your left nut for.
I wasn't in this role, but met this girl who was who I'm friends with. I was involved with a startup company while at a large company (400,000 people, F50). I met with the head of innovation, who was #2 under the CEO at the time. She was his executive assistant She interviewed for this coveted position and was selected (she had an MBA as well).
She was pretty much set after this role. I think it was two years. She went to every meeting he did around the world and even provided answers and feedback to top execs and clients. She met every top executive across the globe and even traveled on the private jet with the #2. She made partner in her 30s (10 years earlier than most at the company).
Her schedule was so nuts sometimes. I met her in NYC a couple times and one day she said she had to meet at the helicopter pad in the morning to take the jet to Argentina or something like that. It was always something pretty interesting.
Job Role: Assistant to the CEO of the Portfolio Companies. Is this interesting for someone who wants to break into PE? (Originally Posted: 05/18/2014)
Hello fellow monkeys,
Recently, I sighted a job with the name "Assistant to the CEO of the portfolio companies" offered by a Mid-Market PE fund. The description of this job claims that tasks of the successful candidate will include: post merger intergration, optimizing aspects of operating activities, etc...
Now: Do you think this position will offer valuable experience? Is that interesting for someone who wants to break into PE?
Any serious advice is appreciated!
"Assistant CEO"
"Assistant TO the CEO"
"Assistant to" whomever, just by the title, seems like it would more of an admin role although the description of post merger integration, etc seems to point to more than that. I'd look into that so you don't end up as someone's secretary.
It would not be most traditional way into PE. Although there are some guys who were operational types who get into the fund side, it's not the most typical way. Some funds that are more operationally focused are more likely to have pro's with operations experience but there are a decent amount of consulting firms who do ops and finance integration so you don't necessarily need those folks as overhead and there are execs who basically are PE portfolio companies execs who know how to fix a company with an eye to an exit in some defined timeframe.
Ok, I take your warning. Thanks alot for your advice!
I know 1-2 smaller MM firms that use these roles as a preparatory path for incoming analysts. The key question is whether they have outlined this path for you or whether you asked for it already. Usually you stay in the portfolio company for 1-2 years and then transition into the investment team. If this has not been discussed upfront, it could get increasingly difficult to make an early move to PE. Your competition will then be "seasoned" IBD analysts and consultants and you'll likely have only very specialized knowledge in the field of your portfolio company.
Another way to PE could be to remain on the management side, work your way through 2-3 portfolio companies until you are suitable as C-level manager for portfolio companies. Looking at the returns management usually makes on investments it's definitely good money to be made but only at a later stage of your career...
Assuming this is in the Germanic region due to your user name, feel free to PM if you want to discuss the particular PE firm/offer.
To your key question: Neither it is outlined nor I asked for it already. However, I know that at least one person before me within the same firm made the move from assistant to analyst.
From both your and Dingdong's response I see that taking this role would be a rather risky move. I would take on additional risk with almost no additional return, compared to my current position.
Thanks alot for your advice!
P.S. Your guess was correct: I am from germany ;)
Not a particularly compelling conduit to PE. Even if the position was the VP of Finance working under the CFO, still not a particularly compelling conduit to PE.
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