LinkedIn's job board is like the wild wild west. One job post gets over 1,000 applicants and one common theme I hear from some EAs is "I don't get why I'm not getting interviews, I have 20 years of experience!". Now, I'm going to say something and some of you might not like it but you know I don't like to sugar coat things on this newsletter. Quality over quantity is what matters most and knowing the difference is going to help you actually land a role.

The EA role is not a one size fits all, which is a common misconception and honestly a disservice to yourself. Each week we'll cover the different types of EA roles at different stage organizations and everything in between and this week we’ll focus on the Legacy EAs.

Let's get into it!

Think of Quality like the skills you gain and how good you are at these skills and Quantity is the amount of time you've dedicated to these skills. It matters because the EA role is NOT just scheduling and travel management but a juxtaposition of a bunch of other skills unique to the stage of an organization and company.

Don't just take my word for it. "Recruiters are now 50% more likely to search for candidates by skills rather than years of experience," according to SHRM Labs.

And on the startup side specifically, ASAP, the professional association for admins and EAs, puts it this way: "Tech startups operate with lean resources. EAs become masters of allocation, ensuring every team has the tools they need to succeed without breaking the bank."

A legacy EA typically works at an established, often larger organization, think finance, luxury and fashion, big consulting, law. These companies usually already have dedicated teams in place for things like events, recruiting, and broader operations, so the role narrows. Day to day, that usually means calendar management, travel coordination, correspondence, and meeting logistics, done at a high level of polish, because the standards for precision tend to be higher in these environments and there's less ambiguity in what the job actually covers.

The skill set that comes out of this is real: attention to detail, discretion, protocol, and the ability to manage a demanding calendar without dropping anything. What it doesn't usually include is the broader, more improvisational operational work you'd pick up at a startup out of necessity, sitting in on recruiting, building a process from scratch, wearing five different hats in a single week, because someone else's job is already covering that ground.

ITILITE breaks down what that actually looks like at the enterprise stage: "Daily tasks like calendar management, travel coordination, communications, still exist, but they operate within mature systems: dedicated travel and expense platforms, IT and HR support, legal teams and often entire EA teams." That's the whole difference in one sentence, the tasks stay familiar, but the systems around you change everything about how much of the job actually lands on you.

If you're an operational EA you might not get an interview for a role at these types of companies and vice versa. Understanding which one of these is you will help you be more thoughtful in your job search and it might just actually help you land a role.

Next Friday, we're getting into something that trips up almost every EA I talk to: certifications. Whether they actually matter, and why most recruiters in this space don't weigh them the way EAs think they do.

Which one are you, legacy or startup? Hit reply and tell me, I read every one.

The most valuable thing an EA carries isn't on any resume. It's the mental rolodex, the restaurant that never fails for a board dinner, the private dining room that saved the offsite, the spot your exec asks for by name every time a VIP is in town.

That knowledge usually lives in one person's head and nowhere else. Most of us guard it like a state secret.

Not anymore. We're expanding the EA Restaurant Map, and we want your spots in it. Not influencer picks, not Google's top ten, the places you've actually used when it mattered. If this issue was about EAs finally showing up for each other, this is one small way to do it. Send us your recs.

Send us your recs:

I think this one goes without explaining…

Full playlist linked here.