Career change for executive assistants in Australia: the roles your skills already fit

Career change for executive assistants: the roles your skills already fit

About 47,700 people worked as executive assistants at the 2021 Census (ABS, 2021 Census, OSCA Experimental Estimates). Most of them share the same skills: keeping a busy person on track, handling private information and getting several teams to agree on a time.

Those skills travel well. The hard part is knowing where to point them. Start with the free Career Change Check. It shows the Australian roles people from your kind of work moved into, and the skills you already have for each one.

This page covers what is changing in executive assistant work, the roles your skills already fit, and a plan you can start this month.

What is changing in executive assistant work

Jobs and Skills Australia (JSA) gives each family of jobs an automation exposure score. Executive assistants score 63 out of 100 (Jobs and Skills Australia, Our Gen AI Transition, 2025).

That does not mean the job disappears. It means some of the tasks in it are the kind software can already do, or help with. For an executive assistant, that is mostly:

Finding a meeting time that suits everyone
Booking travel
Sorting the inbox
Formatting documents and taking minutes

The parts that are harder to hand over look different:

Knowing which meeting really matters this week
Calming a stakeholder who is unhappy
Handling something private with care
Keeping a project moving when the plan falls apart

If you spend a fair share of your week on the second list, you already do work that other jobs are built around.

What the job pays

The ABS publishes pay for a family of related jobs, not for one job title. For the family that executive assistants belong to, median weekly earnings for full-time adult employees were A$1,832 before tax (ABS Survey of Employee Earnings and Hours, May 2025).

That is a median, so half earn more and half earn less. Pay in the roles below depends on the sector and the employer, so check the job ads for the role you want.

Roles your skills already fit

Operations coordinator. This is the closest match. An operations coordinator runs a process from start to finish: schedules, suppliers, paperwork and follow-up. The difference is that you support a team or a whole business, not one person. The closest family in the ABS data is program or project administrator, which scores 53 out of 100 for exposure (JSA, 2025). Read what an operations coordinator does all day and see the operations coordination pathway.

Office manager. If you already run the office around your executive, this is a short step. Office managers score 46 out of 100 (JSA, 2025). Some roles ask for budget or team experience, so look for chances to own a small budget or train a new starter.

Customer success. Customer success staff look after a set of clients and help them get value from a product or service. It uses your follow-through, your calm with senior people and your written skills. Read why customer success is not a call centre with a nicer title and see the customer success pathway.

Health administration. Hospitals and clinics need people who handle private records with care and keep busy days on track. Health practice managers score 42 out of 100 (JSA, 2025). See health admin roles: who does what and the health admin pathway.

NDIS coordination. Support coordinators help participants use their NDIS plans. The work is heavy on phone calls, paperwork and keeping many people informed. NDIS support coordinators score 42 out of 100 (JSA, 2025). Read the NDIS support coordinator career change guide and see the NDIS coordination pathway.

None of these is a sure step. Each one asks for some new knowledge about the sector. None asks you to start from zero.

What carries across, and what you may need

Skills that carry across:

Working with senior people and saying no politely
Handling private information
Managing competing deadlines
Writing clear emails, papers and summaries
Getting several teams to work to one plan

Skills you may need to build:

Owning a budget or reporting on one (for office manager roles)
Leading a small team (for office manager roles)
Knowing the sector's rules (for health admin and NDIS roles)
Looking after clients over time (for customer success roles)

A skills audit helps you sort what you have from what you need. Our page of transferable skills examples helps you put words to it.

Do you need a qualification?

For operations and customer success roles, what you have done often counts for more than a course. For health admin and NDIS work, a short course can help, such as a Certificate III in Health Administration.

Some courses are free or low cost through state Free TAFE places. Check what is on offer and whether you are eligible at dewr.gov.au/skills-reform/free-tafe, and compare courses at yourcareer.gov.au. Training costs money and time, and a course on its own may not lead to a job, so read the job ads first.

A plan you can start this month

Pick one direction. The free Career Change Check shows which roles your skills point to.
Read five job ads for that role. List what they ask for that you do not have yet.
Rewrite your record of what you did. Lead with what you ran and fixed, not who you supported. Our guide to a career change resume shows how.
Write a cover letter that explains the move. See career change cover letter.
Get ready for the "why are you changing" question. See how to explain a career change in an interview.

If you want help with steps 2 to 5, the twelve-week Sprint is A$299. You get a resume, a cover letter and a LinkedIn line for every real job ad you bring in, interview practice out loud with AI feedback after every answer, and an Australian career coach who reviews a targeted resume or an application up to three times and answers your messages in writing.

Frequently asked questions

Is the executive assistant job at risk from AI?

Jobs and Skills Australia gives executive assistants an automation exposure score of 63 out of 100 (Our Gen AI Transition, 2025). Tasks such as finding meeting times, booking travel and sorting email are the most exposed. Judgement, handling private information and managing stakeholders are harder to hand over.

What jobs can an executive assistant move into?

Common moves include operations coordinator, office manager, customer success, health administration and NDIS coordination. Each uses the planning, follow-through and people skills an executive assistant already has. The free Career Change Check shows which roles your own skills point to.

What does an executive assistant earn in Australia?

The ABS publishes pay for a family of related jobs. For the family that executive assistants belong to, median weekly earnings for full-time adult employees were A$1,832 before tax (ABS Survey of Employee Earnings and Hours, May 2025).

Do I need a new qualification to change careers from executive assistant?

Not always. For operations and customer success roles, what you have done often counts for more than a course. For health admin and NDIS work, a short course such as a Certificate III in Health Administration can help. Check what is funded in your state at https://www.dewr.gov.au/skills-reform/free-tafe, and compare courses at https://www.yourcareer.gov.au.

This is general information, not professional career, financial, or legal advice. For tailored advice, consult a qualified career counsellor, financial adviser, or relevant Australian professional service.