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Anyone an EA at Citadel? Do you like it?
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I did it a few years ago. The first thing I did was speak up about my aspirations at work, and explain how it would benefit the firm, my group, peers and colleagues. I took a few classes to get a better idea of what it meant to take the PMP. I also took a few classes on Lean Six (to get a good feel on both). I went for my certification on both PMP and Green Belt and honestly, it changed a lot of things for me. I wasn’t shy about putting my knowledge to work right away, and within months of getting certified, I started receiving opportunities… after that great experience, I decided to take it a step further and I’m now pursuing a masters at LSE (London school of economics and political science).
I recommend going for it. It will broaden your opportunities, and will also change your mindset from being task-oriented to being strategic-minded.
Well said! 👏🏾
I have had an EA that I used to manage and I was able to transition her role into EA / PM. I mean she was great with PM work and it was very visible to those she was supporting as well as myself. I’m not exactly sure how you make that move to a different org in its entirety with the title of EA, however, I’d suggest taking a PM certification course (such as Google certification in PM, which is a really good one on Coursera) and also notating any and all PM work you have done is reflected on your resume.
Mentor
So first, I’d like to start with, congrats on wanting to take the next step in your career. 2nd I will say, in this job market it will be extremely tough especially if your looking for an external opportunity versus a new one.
3rd that doesn’t mean it’s impossible.
Here are my recommendations:
Find some job descriptions your interested in within the PM Space
Hire a resume writer and have them tailor your resume to the PM work you’ve done versus EA work
Having your PMP will make an external search easier, but not necessarily easy
In this job market, especially for external remote roles, you will be competing against folks with years of dedicated PM experience unless you go the entry level route which I doubt you want to do. However, Cisco for example has project coordinator intern roles that pay six figures so you could look into stuff like that as well
However, ultimately if you can find something where you currently work in the PM space with people who know the PM work you do as an EA, that will be your most successful path to a PM role.
Internally, look into open roles but also look into open opportunities on employee resource groups for project managers or project coordinators. Employee resource groups will allow you to interact with folks outside your department and increase your visibility across the org to show off your skills which gives you a leg up when applying for a job in another org.
Get an executive sponsor. A sponsor is different than a mentor. A sponsor is really an unspoken relationship with someone senior where when a conversation comes up when you’re out of the room they pitch you as a fit or speak very highly of you to get your name out there to those who may be hiring whether that be internally or externally. Almost anyone we see in exec leadership today had a sponsor at some point or another who pitched them to move into a higher role and they excelled in that role. Your boss is usually a great place to start when looking for a sponsor unless you have a petty boss who cares more about themselves than you. For example, if they won’t pitch you bc they don’t want to lose you as their EA. While that makes you feel good, it’s not great for career growth. A good sponsor could also be someone you meet in the company, director level or higher. Someone with pull that you have a relationship with and knows how talented you are.
I’ve only worked for 1-2 companies in my entire 15 year career that actually looked at EAs for roles outside of administrative work. This field used to be a stepping stone to something better. However, I don’t really feel that way anymore. If anything I think it’s a barrier as we seem to be put into a box and viewed as a jack of all trades when our execs need something out of scope, but then master of none when a promotion opportunity opens for something we’ve done regularly just without the title.
Sorry for the negativity during some of this, but I do want to clarify that I think it’s possible, it will just take some work and time to succeed. Also depends on what kind of organization you’re already in. The one I’m in now, is one of the 2 where I see them looking at EAs for promotion opportunities. It’s actually very inspiring. I hope that’s the case for you too as finding an opening and getting hired for something in the PM space internally will be much easier than getting a recruiter to pull your resume, with no PM titles listed, for something that pays decent, externally, will be much more time consuming. Networking and making friends with recruiters will be key for external openings. Another item that may help is looking for local roles versus remote as the competition will not be as high for a local role.
I hope this helps
Community Builder
OP. Excellent question. Definitely a path to transition. You’ll see a lot of similarity between the two roles, just need to think more like a manager or high level coordinator, focus on updating up versus following for your your own project (your role as an EA). Think through the years of all that you did for someone, with a team and how you kept the team updated. Technology is an added option but what goes up is informational updates to teams. That’s a project manager mind set (I’m sure by now you are thinking that’s what you always did!)
Manager EA Support 1 - you nailed it. OP that’s a GREAT summary for you to go back and think all that you did. When you start thinking that way, start phrasing last 2 years as an EA that way and talk through it in your interview. That’s already in a project managers mindset!
GO FOR IT!
Welll said! I actually need to get better at that- really notating ALL that I have worked on (no matter how big or small) so that I myself am better prepared during review time!
Yes - I just transitioned from an EA to a compliance manager role. There are a lot of exceptional qualities you can highlight especially taking note of the many projects you handle in your daily work. Take advantage of any and all project management courses to make yourself more marketable as well as asking to be a part of projects. Best of luck to you - the right role and opportunity will come your way!
Mentor
I haven't, but I'm currently looking into a PMP certificate after a job I was interested required it. Just wanted to say best of luck!
Thank you all, this is super helpful advice!
I'm in the process of trying this now and have actually looked and applied to small companies looking for short duration contracts (6months) to at least get the first position. I'm lucky I had done 2 years as program coordinator.
Community Builder
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Community Builder
SA1. What’s a program coordinator vs project? Thanks!
Mentor
Program coordinators and managers are responsible for all of the projects within a given subject or portfolio. It’s more high level. Project coordinators and managers work on just the specific assigned projects within a given program or portfolio and are more in the details