Sharing Growth and Developed in an Interview
"How Have You Grown and Developed Throughout Your Career?"
What Interviewers Are Actually Looking For:
When a hiring manager asks: "How did your responsibilities evolve?" or “How have you grown professionally?" or even "How did the role change over time?"
They are rarely asking for a chronology.
They are asking:
Did you earn trust?
Did you increase your impact?
Did you become more strategic?
Did your executive rely on you more heavily?
Did you help the organization through growth or change?
Will your value compound over time?
The best answers demonstrate both professional growth and personal growth.
Start By Asking Yourself These Questions
Before an interview, spend time reflecting on:
Trust & Responsibility
What did I own when I started?
What did I own when I left?
What was delegated to me over time?
What decisions was I eventually trusted to make independently?
Executive Partnership
How did my executive's needs evolve?
How did I adapt as their role became larger or more visible?
What became easier for them because of my support? What did I take ownership of? What could I take off their plate?
How did my strengths and my role influence their ability to be successful?
Company Growth
Did the company scale?
Were acquisitions completed?
Did headcount grow?
Did new offices open?
Did leadership responsibilities expand?
Skills
What skills did I intentionally develop?
What did I become known for?
What problems did people increasingly come to me to solve?
Personal Strengths
Which natural strengths became even more valuable?
Organization?
Relationship-building?
Anticipation?
Calmness under pressure?
Strategic thinking?
Communication?
A Great Framework
Think: What was I originally hired to do?
Growth: What changed?
Impact: What difference did that make?
Example: "When I joined, my focus was primarily calendar management, travel coordination, and administrative support for one executive. As the company grew, my executive took on a broader leadership role and became increasingly external-facing. Over time, I began managing board meeting logistics, investor communications, leadership offsites, and cross-functional project coordination. What started as administrative support evolved into a true business partnership where I was helping anticipate priorities, identify risks, and keep important initiatives moving forward."
Let me give you some examples…..
Growth Doesn't Have To Mean Promotion: Many EAs make the mistake of thinking, "I never got promoted, so I didn't really grow." Not true.
Growth often looks like:
Increased Complexity
Instead of:
Booking travel
Now:
Coordinating travel across multiple executives, families, security teams, and international schedules.
Increased Visibility
Instead of:
Internal meetings
Now:
Board meetings
Investor events
Public speaking engagements
Media appearances
Increased Judgment
Instead of:
Waiting for instructions
Now:
Making recommendations
Prioritizing requests
Solving problems independently
Strong Growth Areas To Highlight
Strategic Thinking: Instead of saying: "I got better at calendars."
Say: "I learned how to manage competing priorities and make strategic decisions about where my executive's time would have the greatest impact."
Executive Presence
Instead of: "I worked with senior leaders."
Say: "Over time I became more comfortable interacting with board members, investors, clients, and senior leadership, and learned how to represent my executive and company professionally in high-visibility situations."
Anticipation
Instead of: "I stayed organized."
Say: "One of the biggest skills I developed was anticipation. Rather than reacting to requests, I became increasingly focused on identifying needs before they became urgent."
Project Management:
Instead of: "I helped with projects."
Say: "As trust grew, I was given ownership over increasingly complex projects and learned how to coordinate stakeholders, timelines, budgets, and communication across multiple teams."
If Your Executive Grew, Talk About It
One of the strongest answers often has very little to do with the EA themselves. It focuses on how they helped their executive scale.
Example:
"When I started supporting him, he was leading a department of approximately 50 people. By the time I left, he was overseeing several hundred employees and significantly larger organizational responsibilities. As his scope increased, my role evolved alongside his. I became increasingly focused on helping manage priorities, streamline communication, and create systems that allowed him to operate more effectively."
This demonstrates partnership.
If The Company Grew, Talk About It
Example:
"When I joined, we were a startup of roughly 30 employees. By the time I left, we had grown to over 200. The growth created new challenges around communication, onboarding, planning, and process development, and I found myself increasingly involved in building systems that could scale with the business."
How To Talk About Innate Strengths:
Don't just say:
I'm organized.
I'm proactive.
I'm detail-oriented.
Show how those strengths created growth.
Weak Example: "I'm very organized."
Strong Example: "Organization has always been a natural strength for me, but over time I learned how to use that strength more strategically. Rather than simply keeping things organized, I began building systems and processes that helped entire teams stay aligned and operate more efficiently."
An example of this is……
Words To Use More Often:
These words communicate growth and partnership:
Evolved
Expanded
Scaled
Strengthened
Developed
Built
Established
Streamlined
Anticipated
Influenced
Facilitated
Coordinated
Partnered
Prioritized
Implemented
Improved
Supported
Enabled
Drove
Led
Words To Use Less Often
These words can unintentionally make your role sound passive:
Helped
Assisted
Just
Only
Simply
Basic
Administrative
Task-oriented
Told
Assigned
Instead of: "I helped with board meetings."
Try: "I coordinated and managed board meeting preparation and logistics."
Handling Tough Situations
"My Responsibilities Didn't Really Change" — Errr…. they probably did.
Ask yourself:
Did I become faster?
More confident?
More independent?
More trusted?
More strategic?
Example:
"While my title remained the same, my level of ownership changed significantly. Early on I sought frequent direction, but over time I became a trusted partner who could independently manage priorities, solve problems, and represent my executive's interests."
"I Was Only There For A Short Time"
Focus on learning.
Example: "Although my tenure was relatively short, I was exposed to several new areas including investor relations and executive communications, which helped broaden my understanding of how senior leaders operate."
The Goal: The strongest answers leave an interviewer thinking:
"This person doesn't just perform tasks. They learn. They adapt. They earn trust. They grow alongside the people and organizations they support." And for executive assistants, that is often one of the most compelling indicators of future success!