Bilingual Executive Assistant Career Guide and Counseling

Question: I have a job offer as an Executive Assistant to CTO. What can I expect? I am a 30 year old married woman. I recently got a job offer as a executive assistant to CFO of a big Japanese Multi-national company. This company has a very conservative culture. I am not sure what I can expect from this position apart from what the recruiter already told me. I applied for this job as it required use of my bilingual skills. However, the job description also says "schedule meetings / arrange catering / answer phones" etc apart from using my bilingual skills to interact with clients. Will I end up serving coffee, taking phone calls and being assumed to be a subservient bimbo? What can I expect? The tone of the recruiter sounded like I would be more of a "secretary" and less of an "assistant". Any/all advise would be appreciated. Also, do you know if there is a generic dress code for Executive Assistants? In one of my previous companys (I was working there as a translator), the secretary had to wear either skirts and tops or full length dress - no shirt/trousers. I think I did not clarify, this position is not in Japan. This position is in US but for a Japanese company.

Answer: This seems more of a question that you should have discussed with the recruiter. I'd think each company/CTO is different in what they expect from their assistant. In lots of large companies secretary and assistant are pretty much interchangeable words. If you want to use your bilingual skills only - become a translator.

Question: I have a job offer as an Executive Assistant to CFO. What can I expect? I am a 30 year old married woman. I recently got a job offer as a executive assistant to CFO of a big Japanese Multi-national company. This company has a very conservative culture. I am not sure what I can expect from this position apart from what the recruiter already told me. I applied for this job as it required use of my bilingual skills. However, the job description also says "schedule meetings / arrange catering / answer phones" etc apart from using my bilingual skills to interact with clients. Will I end up serving coffee, taking phone calls and being assumed to be a subservient bimbo? What can I expect? The tone of the recruiter sounded like I would be more of a "secretary" and less of an "assistant". Also, do you know if there is a generic dress code for Executive Assistants? In one of my previous companys (I was working there as a translator), the secretary had to wear either skirts and tops or full length dress - no shirt/trousers. Any ideas?

Answer: WEAR: Skirt suits or pant suits. Always dress for the job you want rather than the job you have. As for what to expect: It sounds like you can expect a fairly even mix of "executive assistant" duties as well as coffee-fetching and photo-copying. I think this is fairly typical with upper level jobs; you need to know how to multi-task and take care of ALL the smaller tasks the exec does not or cannot take care of. This sounds like an awesome opportunity. You only become a "subservient bimbo" if you allow yourself to be. Speak up, when appropriate and above all, make sure you do your job to the best of your ability. Good luck!