4 Interview Questions Every Assistant Should Be Prepared to Answer
As an Executive Assistant recruiter, one of the things that continues to baffle me is how many people walk into an interview completely unprepared to answer questions.
And these are not obscure questions. I’m not trying to stump anyone with some weird “what kind of tree would you be?” nonsense.
I’m asking questions about them—their own resume, their own experience, their own working style, and their own value.
I have asked candidates about something they wrote on their resume and gotten, “Hmm…I don’t know,” or “I wasn’t prepared for that question.”
You wrote it on your resume! You should probably have thought about it. (Unless, of course, AI wrote it and you never read it.)
I really want to emphasize this: you do not need to spend six hours trying to predict every possible question someone might ask you in an interview.
But you can prepare yourself. You are the product in that room.
If you were selling a vacuum cleaner, you would know everything about it, wouldn’t you? You would know what surfaces it works best on, how powerful the suction is, what tools it comes with, what makes it different from the other 40 vacuums on the shelf, and why someone should buy THIS vacuum.
Yet candidates walk into interviews all the time unable to explain why someone should choose them.
That said, here are four questions every Executive Assistant should be prepared to answer in their own unique way.
1. Why did you apply?
Why this job?
What was it about this role that interested you?
However they ask it, you need an answer.
And please do not say: “It’s close to my house.”
“The money is good.”
Or “I think I can do it.”
Commuting and compensation matter—I’m not pretending they don’t! But if those are the only reasons you applied, I have a problem.
Executive Assistant work is deeply personal. We talk constantly about how unique the Executive–Assistant relationship is, how much trust it takes, how important chemistry is, and how different every executive can be. We cannot then turn around in the interview and act like the role itself doesn’t matter.
Be congruent.
What in the job description made you stop and go, “hmmmm…?”
What responsibility sounded particularly exciting or challenging to you?
What about the executive, company, industry, or scope made you think, “I want to do that for 40+ hours a week for the next 3-20 years of my life?”
Maybe the role gives you more ownership than your current job and you’re looking to flex your strengths.
Maybe you love supporting founders and entrepreneurs.
Maybe the company is going through growth and you are excellent in chaos and build systems like an engineer.
Maybe the executive has never had an assistant before, and “teaching up” is exactly what you are good at.
Whatever it is, tell me.
I want to understand why this job caught your attention. If your answer could apply to 700 other jobs, including Taco Bell, it is not specific enough.
2. Tell me about a meaningful mistake you made.
What has been a “weakness” you’ve noticed in your life?
Yes, it’s a common one (which is why you should be prepared for it!) but the way you answer tells me so much.
Here is my standard interview question:
“Tell me about a meaningful mistake you made while supporting a senior or highly visible executive. How did you communicate it, how did you fix it, and how did you prevent it from happening again?”
And every once in a while, someone says: “I really can’t think of one.” Or “Nothing major, thank goodness!” Or, “Generally speaking…”
Come on, Linda!
If you cannot remember a mistake you have made, you are either not thinking hard enough or you have not been doing complicated enough work.
We are human beings.
Executive support involves hundreds of details, shifting priorities, calendars, travel, confidential communication, internal politics, external relationships, and executives who change their minds every 14 seconds (hypothetically speaking).
You are going to screw something up eventually.
The mistake itself is not the interesting part. I want to know what you did next.
Did you own it and tell your executive immediately?
Did you try to hide it?
Did you fix it?
Did you identify why it happened?
Did you change a process so it would not happen again?
One of the biggest red flags for me is someone who cannot identify anything they have ever done wrong, because that shows a lack of self-awareness, which is a hinderance to your ability to grow.
I want to clarify: self-awareness is not about thinking badly about yourself. It is about accurately understanding yourself.
And if you can tell me, “I made this mistake, here is why it happened, here is how I handled it, and here is what changed afterward,” that actually builds my confidence in you.
3. Tell me about yourself.
This sounds simple… Apparently, it is not.
This question can show up in a hundred different ways:
“What is your communication style?”
“What kind of executive do you work best with?”
“What type of environment helps you perform at your best?”
“How do you handle feedback?”
“What frustrates you at work?”
“How do you like to receive information?”
“What conditions make it difficult for you to perform?”
And I cannot tell you how often I hear: “I don’t know. I’ve never really thought about that.”
Deep breaths, Monique…deep breaths. In through the nose. Out through the mouth.
Again: you are the product. How does your product work best?
Back to the vacuum cleaner…
Does it work beautifully on hardwood and terribly on shag carpet? That’s useful information!
There’s nothing wrong with knowing that you thrive with a fast-moving, direct executive and struggle with someone who refuses to communicate.
Or saying you prefer clear priorities.
Or knowing you need context before you can execute well.
The problem is not having preferences. It’s having no idea what they are, and then getting frustrated when the situation doesn’t work for you.
If you’re 5 or 10 years into your career and you can’t tell me anything about your own communication style, working preferences, strengths, blind spots, or behaviors, that is a huge concern for me.
We have more resources than ever to understand ourselves: assessments, coaching, books, feedback, therapy, AI, twenty years of coworkers telling you things about yourself. At some point, not knowing yourself becomes a choice. And for me, lack of self-awareness is one of the fastest ways to get screened out.
You don’t need to have yourself completely figured out. None of us do! But you need to have done some homework on the person who will be doing the job.
(Hint: that person is you.)
4. What salary are you looking for?
You need to be prepared for this question.
You need to know what salary you are looking for, what benefits matter to you, what trade-offs you are willing to make, what makes an opportunity worth leaving your current job.
And you need to know what you’re worth.
“I don’t know, whatever you think is fair” is not going to ensure you can pay your rent or your mortgage.
“I make $90,000 now, so maybe a little above that” is not a negotiation.
“I’m flexible,” means, “I desperately hope you give me enough money.”
Know your number, your range, your minimum. Know what would make you walk away. And advocate for yourself.
I will tell you something I have noticed after interviewing a lot of people:
Men know their number.
They tell me their salary expectations.
They tell me when the posted salary is lower than what they are looking for.
They tell me what they would need in order to make a move.
They negotiate and prove their case.
Women need to get much more comfortable doing the same thing.
You are not being difficult by knowing your worth. You’re not being greedy. You’re not being ungrateful.
You are participating in a business transaction.
The company knows what it wants to pay. You should know what you want to earn.
And if you are not willing to advocate for yourself in an interview, I have to wonder how confidently you are going to advocate for your executive, your team, your time, or your boundaries once you’re in the job.
If you want more on this topic, please check out Bonnie Low-Kramen. Her work has changed the face of assistant work, and there is NO better advocate for women knowing their worth than her.
The real interview preparation is not memorizing answers
You don’t need 75 perfectly rehearsed answers. Please don’t do that. I can tell when someone has memorized a script anyway.
What you need is command of your own material.
Know your experience, your accomplishments, your mistakes, your stories.
Know how you work, what kind of executive brings out your best, what you’re looking for next, what you need financially.
Know why you are sitting in that interview.
Those are facts as you know them. They shouldn’t change based on the vocab words used in the question.
When I coach candidates for interviews, I tell them to focus on building a “story bank,” understanding your own patterns, and getting you comfortable talking about your experience without sounding rehearsed. If you know yourself well enough, you don’t have to predict every question, because you can answer almost any question they throw at you.
Want more resume and interview advice for Executive Assistants? Check out my articles 10 Things I Don’t Want to See on Your Resume and 10 Things I Don’t Want to Hear in an Interview.
Or learn more about my Executive Assistant resume and interview coaching services.