You're here because you want to know if administrative professional certifications are worth your time, energy, and money. Or maybe you already earned an executive assistant certification and you want to validate your decision.
Either way, I can promise you two things. First, I'm going to share my honest opinion on the subject. So if you want a nice, cookie cutter answer, you can ask ChatGPT. :-)
Second, I have zero certifications to my name. Actually, I take that back. I might have received a certificate when I won employee of the month working at Walmart in high school. I honestly can't remember.
My point? If you want to hear from someone who's gone through an admin certification process, you'll have to listen to some of my guests on the podcast (for example, episode 69), or look elsewhere.
Ok, so is an EA certification worth it? For some assistants, yes – I think it's a great investment. For others, it can be a waste of time and money. Let's explore this topic together.
What an executive assistant certification can do for you
In my decade plus of coaching assistants in a wide range of industries, I've seen the following benefits for some assistants who have earned a certification.
In some industries, it makes you more money.
Some organizations offer "automatic" salary increases when you earn a credential. Particularly in government, higher education, and healthcare and some larger, regulated companies. Ask HR if there's a tangible benefit to earning your certification. While you're at it, ask them if the company will cover the cost. When you do, make sure the case you make highlights how the process will help the business, and your executive – not just about how it will help you.
If you're applying for a job in one of those industries, find out if a certification moves your resume from the pile that gets skimmed to the pile that gets read.
Provide accountability and structure.
Most of us struggle with overwhelm when it comes to professional development. There are so many resources available and we don't know where to start. Or we finally find a good place to start, but we don't have anyone – or any deadline – to hold us accountable.
A structured curriculum taken alongside other assistants, with a finite deadline, can help you stay focused, spot gaps you wouldn't have seen on your own, and ultimately finish what you started.
What an executive assistant certification will not do for you
As I said, I'm going to be honest, so here are a few things a certification will not help you with.
It won't make your current executive respect you more.
If you're not being treated as a strategic partner today, an acronym won't change that reality. I wrote a chapter on professional development for assistants, and the first question in it is about motivation. If you're signing up for a certification "so people will take me seriously," you're probably not going to be satisfied with the result. However, if working through a certification process will help you grow your confidence, then go for it!
It rarely commands a raise on its own.
I've interviewed, coached, and trained thousands of assistants. I can count on one hand the number of EAs I've spoken with who received a pay increase directly because of an administrative professional credential. And every one of them worked somewhere with a formal pay band tied to qualifications.
In the majority of cases, what gets you paid more is doing good work, presenting a business case when asking for more money, and the negotiation conversation that follows it.
It doesn't substitute for business acumen.
Understanding the business as a whole is a gap that stops many assistants from moving up in their career. Instead of leaning in to what makes your organization thrive, you passively sit back and wait for tasks to be assigned. Unfortunately, many of the general EA certifications don't teach you how to be an entrepreneur who thinks like an executive.
Being able to read a P&L, keep up when the engineering team is "speaking dev," and understand how your company makes money is worth more than any credential I know of.
The question to ask before you spend anything
Please don't start your certification research with "is this certification good?"
Instead, honestly ask yourself, "what do I want out of the certification process?"
The answer is likely one of four things, and a certification is not always the best path:
| What you want | What can help get you there |
|---|---|
| To get past a screening filter when job hunting | A certification, if the employer screens for one |
| To get better at your job | A structured course + community, certified or not |
| To make more money | A certification, if your employer offers pay increases for specific credentials. |
| To be taken seriously by your executive | The work you perform, and your ability to quantify it |
After working through the above, if you're excited about the certification option, spend the money and time to make it happen.
If you're still on the fence, maybe you need to dig deeper to determine if a certification would just be an expensive way for you to avoid a harder conversation. Feel free to reach out if you'd like to process via 1:1 coaching.
Weighing your options
Let's say you're ready to move forward with the process. Before signing up to one, find out whether your employer – or the employers you want to work for – actually recognize the thing you're about to buy.
The straightforward way is to ask HR if there are specific credentials that would qualify for an increase in pay. If you're on the hunt for a job, read thirty job postings for the roles you want and count how many of them name a specific credential. If it's none of them, you've got your answer, and it cost you an afternoon. If several do, note which one they name, because these credentials aren't always interchangeable.
The other question worth asking: is the organization issuing this certificate a professional association, a training company, or one person with a course? All three can be worth it (heck, I'm one person with a course), but they're different purchases.
There's also the role-specific case, which is different from general EA certification. When Maggie Olson built a Chief of Staff certification course, it was for a role that lacked formal training. In episode 255, she walks through what the course actually covers, and in episode 294, a group of graduates talk about what it did for them.
A credential for a specific role you're moving into is an easier case to make than a general one for the role you already have.
The development that costs nothing
Most of what has actually moved careers, in the conversations I've had, wasn't bought.
Ask for the work before you're ready.
Wesley Tran talks about seeking out learning opportunities rather than waiting to be offered them, which is the pattern behind most of the fast progressions I've seen.
Start the thing that doesn't exist.
Debbie Pringle launched a learning group for assistants where she works. Running a group teaches you more than attending one, and it shows your executive that you're not afraid to take initiative and lead others.
Build the network before you need it.
Jackie Ludwig covers networking and professional development together, and that pairing isn't accidental. I wrote about the timing of this in my post, grow your LinkedIn network before you need it – the worst moment to start is the moment you need something.
Learn the business you're in.
Sit in on the meetings you're invited to but don't have to attend. Read the board deck your executive prepared – and asked you to "clean up." Ask your executive to explain one number you didn't understand. This is free, and it's the thing that separates assistants who get handed more from assistants who don't.
Set goals you'd be embarrassed to miss.
My friend Jillian Hufnagel wrote about goal setting for assistants, and the short version is that vague intentions to "develop" reliably produce nothing.
Where I'd spend money instead
If you have a training budget, or your own money, and no employer screening you for a credential, here's my order of preference:
- Something that teaches you the business – finance for non-financial managers, your industry's fundamentals, how your company actually makes money.
- A specific skill with a visible output – project management, AI-assisted coding (aka vibe coding), presentation design, the AI tools your company is adopting.
- A community of like-minded people – ongoing access can bring more value than a one-off course, because your questions change over time.
- A conference, if you'll actually talk to people there – if you plan to sit at the back and leave at lunch, buy something else. And I'm an introvert, so I get the temptation.
Certification sits above all of these only when a specific employer or a specific promotion requires it – or you're able to find a certification program that includes all of the above.
The honest wrap up
The credential landscape changes, programs get renamed, and requirements and prices shift. I intentionally left out a complete list of specific certifications for that reason.
But if you need a place to start, I'm happy to recommend people I've worked with.
If you're looking for executive assistant and administrative professional certifications, check out the options offered by ASAP.
If you're looking for a chief of staff certification, check out Nova Chief of Staff's program here.
Whatever you decide to do, don't miss the question underneath your question: what are you trying to change, and is this the most effective way to change it?
If certification is the answer for your situation, it's a good answer. It's just not the answer as often as some of the marketing for EA certifications might suggest.