Executive Assistant Cover Letter Example (Australia)

An Executive Assistant cover letter in Australia is read by the executive you would support, or by the chief of staff who screens for them, and it is the first piece of your writing they see. They read it as a work sample: is it concise, is it correct, does it get to the point the way an email to a board director would. The content matters, but the first judgement is on the writing itself, so every sentence has to earn its place.

The sample below goes with the executive assistant CV example: Bronwyn Teale, Executive Assistant to the chief executive of an ASX-listed infrastructure company in North Sydney, applying to support the group chief executive of a listed energy company. It opens with the role and the scale of the support she runs now, gives the board cycle and the offsite as evidence, and closes by naming what is enclosed and asking for a conversation.

Tailor the evidence to the executive. A listed-company chief executive reads for board and investor work; a founder reads for range; a partner reads for client handling and discretion. Keep the letter to a page and the tone level.

Updated . The person, the employer and the recipient in this sample letter are fictional. Written for applicants in Australia. It goes with the executive assistant cv example (australia) for the same person.

Executive Assistant sample cover letter

About 357 words, one page in the style of the Simple template, on A4.

Bronwyn Teale

Executive Assistant to the Chief Executive Officer

North Sydney, NSWbronwyn.teale@example.com0491 572 915

Ms Alannah PetrakisChief of Staff, Office of the Group Chief ExecutiveBellbird Energy Holdings LimitedSydney, NSW

Application for Executive Assistant to the Group Chief Executive

Dear Ms Petrakis,

I would like to put myself forward for the role of Executive Assistant to the Group Chief Executive, advertised on your careers page this week. For the past seven years I have supported the chief executive and, before that, the chief financial officer of Tallowood Infrastructure Group, an ASX-listed company with 1,400 staff across four states, and the work your advert describes, a listed-company board cycle, investor travel and a diary that changes by the hour, is the work I do now.

The board cycle is the part of my role I own end to end. Each year I run six board meetings and the annual general meeting with the company secretary: agendas, papers in Diligent, travel for eight non-executive directors and the action register after every meeting, so that nothing raised in the boardroom is lost by the next one. Between meetings I manage the chief executive's diary, correspondence and travel across four states and Singapore, including same-day changes around investor meetings and site visits, and I act as the first filter on everything that reaches her desk.

I also look for ways to give an executive time back. A Friday priority review I introduced halved the number of meetings the chief executive accepted without a stated purpose. When I planned the annual leadership offsite for 70 people I kept it within budget and renegotiated the venue contract, saving A$18,000 against the previous year. Earlier, supporting the chief financial officer through two half-year results and an audit each year, I coordinated the audit timetable and document requests so that no deadline slipped in two years. Discretion in all of this is a given; I hold a current National Police Check and have handled results, board and remuneration material throughout.

My CV is enclosed with the details of my two roles at Tallowood and my earlier role at Rosella Private Health Group. I would welcome the chance to talk with you and with the Group Chief Executive about how the office runs and where I could help from the first week, and I am available for an interview at short notice. Thank you for considering my application.

Yours sincerely,

Bronwyn Teale

Start yours from this letter

Opens this letter in the editor, in one of the templates below. Swap in your details and the employer's, then fit it to each vacancy in about two minutes.

Use this letter

How this executive assistant cover letter is built

  1. The opening gives the role, the current employer and the scale in two sentences

    A chief of staff screening for a listed-company chief executive reads for scale first: the size of the company, the level of the executive, the number of states. The letter gives all three in the second sentence and ties them to the advert's own words, so the reader does not have to work out whether the experience matches.

  2. The board paragraph is the strongest evidence, so it comes first

    Board and investor coordination is what separates an EA to a listed chief executive from any other EA. The letter takes the board cycle from the executive assistant CV with its numbers, six meetings, the AGM, eight directors, and adds the one line that matters most to a board: the action register that stops things being lost.

  3. The third paragraph shows judgement, with money and time attached

    An executive hires for judgement and reads for proof of it. The Friday review and the offsite saving are two decisions the applicant made herself, each with a result that can be checked. The audit timetable shows the same habit in a finance setting, and the police check and the list of confidential material answer the discretion question without a speech about trust.

  4. The letter never calls itself organised

    Organised, proactive and discreet are what every EA advert asks for and what every letter claims. This one does not use the words; it describes a diary that changes by the hour, a review that halved pointless meetings and two years of audit deadlines that did not slip, and lets the reader draw the adjective.

  5. The closing names the CV and asks for a conversation about the office

    The last paragraph says what is enclosed, asks for time with the chief of staff and the executive, and makes availability plain. Asking how the office runs is a small signal that the applicant is thinking about the executive's week, not only her own.

Templates for the executive assistant cover letter

All cover letter templates

Each one matches a resume template of the same name, so the letter and the CV go out in one look. Every template exports on A4; the editor sets the page size when you export.

Mistakes that cost executive assistant interviews

  1. Opening with adjectives

    "Highly organised, proactive Executive Assistant with excellent communication skills" is the sentence the reader has seen a hundred times that morning. Open with the executive you support, the company and its size, and the hardest thing you run. The adjectives will be inferred.

  2. Describing tasks rather than what you owned

    Booking travel and managing a diary are tasks every EA does. A letter that stops there reads at receptionist level. Say what you owned end to end, such as a board cycle, an offsite or an investor roadshow, and what happened because you ran it.

  3. Leaving out the level of the executive

    Supporting a general manager and supporting a listed-company chief executive are different jobs, and the reader needs to know which you have done. Name the title of the executive and the kind of company, and if you are stepping up a level, say so and say why you are ready.

  4. A letter that needs editing

    The letter is a sample of the correspondence you would send in the executive's name. A typo, a wrong company name or a sentence that runs on costs more here than in any other application. Print it, read it aloud and have someone else check the recipient's name and title before it goes.

  5. Writing about discretion at length

    A paragraph on how trustworthy you are makes the reader wonder why you are protesting. One sentence that names the material you have handled, such as board papers, results and remuneration, and the police check you hold is enough. Discretion is shown by not saying much.

  6. Forgetting that the executive's own assistant may be the reader

    In many offices the first reader is the current EA, the chief of staff or an office manager, not the executive. Address the person named in the advert, keep the tone collegial rather than deferential, and do not write to the executive over their head.

Questions about the executive assistant cover letter

How long should an Executive Assistant cover letter be?

One page, three or four paragraphs, around three hundred and fifty words at most. An executive's reader will judge your ability to be brief by the letter itself, so a long one argues against you. The sample above runs to four paragraphs.

Who should I address it to when the advert names only the company?

Ring the switchboard and ask for the name of the person recruiting the EA role; in a listed company it is usually the chief of staff, the current EA or the people and culture team. Use "Dear Ms Petrakis" and "Yours sincerely" when you have a name. If you cannot get one, "Dear Hiring Manager" and "Kind regards" are both normal in Australia.

Should the letter address the selection criteria?

In the public service, yes, and usually in a separate document: each criterion as a heading with an example beneath it. In a private company the advert's key requirements do the same job without the headings. Either way, take the three the executive will care about most and give one checkable example for each.

I have been a PA or a team assistant. How do I write for an EA role?

Lead with the most senior person you have supported and the most complex thing you ran for them, even if it was one event or one reporting cycle. Then say plainly that you are looking to step up and why now. Readers hiring at the next level want to see the appetite and one piece of evidence, not a claim that you have already done the job.

How do I handle confidentiality when I cannot describe my current executive's work?

Describe the kind of material and the kind of decision rather than the content: a results announcement, a board paper, a restructure. Numbers that are already public, such as the company's size or the number of directors, are safe to use. Nobody expects you to name a deal.

Should I mention software such as Diligent, Concur or Microsoft 365?

Yes, once, in the sentence where you describe the work it was used for, as the sample does with Diligent and the board papers. A list of applications on its own says little; a board cycle run in Diligent for eight directors says a lot. The full list belongs on the CV, and Resume Master's editor can move it up when an advert asks for a particular system.

Related cover letter examples

All cover letter examples

Every application goes out fitting the vacancy.

Paste a vacancy, get a CV and a cover letter rewritten for it in about two minutes.

Tailor your CV — free

Free to start. No card. Same price on web, iOS and Android.