I get asked about certification a lot, and almost everyone asking wants the same thing underneath the question: will this get me taken more seriously?
That is a completely reasonable thing to want. It is also not quite what a certification does, and the gap between the two is where people waste a few thousand dollars.
So here is my honest position, which is neither "yes, get certified" nor "certifications are worthless." It is that certification is a tool that solves one specific problem, and most assistants asking about it have a different problem.
What a certification actually buys you
Three things, reliably:
A filter you pass. Some organizations screen for a credential, particularly in government, higher education, healthcare and large regulated companies. If you are applying into one of those, a certification moves you from the pile that gets skimmed to the pile that gets read. That is real and worth money.
A structured curriculum. Left to ourselves, most of us learn the parts of the job we already like. A course makes you sit through the parts you avoid. That is most of the value for people who are self-taught and have gaps they cannot see.
A deadline and a cohort. Plenty of people know what they should learn and do not get round to it. Paying for something with dates in it works, and the people going through it with you often turn out to be the real return.
What it does not buy you
It will not make your current executive respect you more. If you are not being treated as a partner today, a certificate will not change that conversation. What changes it is the work, and the way you talk about the work. I have a whole chapter on professional development for assistants, and the first question in it is about motivation for a reason: if the honest answer is "so people will take me seriously," the certificate is unlikely to deliver it.
It rarely commands a raise on its own. I have interviewed a lot of assistants. I can count on one hand the number who got a pay rise because of a credential, and every one of them worked somewhere with a formal pay band tied to qualifications. Elsewhere, what moves pay is demonstrated scope, and the negotiation conversation that follows it.
It does not substitute for business acumen. This is the gap that actually stops assistants from moving up, and most general EA certifications do not touch it. Being able to read a P&L, follow a budget conversation and understand how your company makes money is worth more than any credential I know of.
The question to ask before you spend anything
Not "is this certification good?" but "what am I actually trying to change?"
The answer is usually one of four things, and only one of them is solved by a certification:
| What you want | What actually gets you there |
|---|---|
| To get past a screening filter | A certification, if the employers you want screen for one |
| To fill gaps in how you do the job | A structured course, certified or not |
| To be paid more where you are | Evidence of scope, then a direct conversation |
| To be taken seriously by your executive | The work, and how you talk about it |
If you are in the first two rows, spend the money. If you are in the second two, a certificate is an expensive way of avoiding a harder conversation.
Check who the certificate is for
Before paying, find out whether the employers you want to work for actually recognize the thing you are about to buy.
The straightforward way is to read thirty job postings for the roles you want and count how many name a credential. If it is none of them, you have your answer, and it cost you an afternoon. If several do, note which one they name, because these are not interchangeable.
The other question worth asking: is the body issuing this certificate a professional association, a training company, or one person with a course? All three can be worth it, but they are different purchases, and only the first carries recognition beyond the people who already know the brand.
There is 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 where almost nobody has formal training and the title means something different everywhere – she walks through what the course actually covers, and a group of graduates talk about what it did for them. A credential for a specific role you are 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 have had, was not bought.
Ask for the work before you are 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 have seen.
Start the thing that does not exist. Debbie Pringle launched a learning group for assistants where she works. Running a group teaches you more than attending one, and it is visible to people who make decisions about you.
Build the network before you need it. Jackie Ludwig covers networking and professional development together, and that pairing is not accidental. I wrote about the timing of this in grow your LinkedIn network before you need it – the worst moment to start is the moment you need something.
Learn the business you are in. Sit in on the meetings you are invited to but do not have to attend. Read the board deck you prepared. Ask your executive to explain one number you did not understand. This is free, and it is the thing that separates assistants who get handed more from assistants who do not.
Set goals you would be embarrassed to miss. I have written about goal setting for assistants, and the short version is that vague intentions to "develop" reliably produce nothing.
Where I would spend money instead
If you have a training budget, or your own money, and no employer screening you for a credential, 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, data, presentation design, the AI tools your company is adopting.
- A community with people ahead of you in it. Ongoing access beats a one-off course, because your questions change over time.
- A conference, if you will actually talk to people there. If you will sit at the back and leave at lunch, buy something else.
Certification sits above all of these only when a specific employer or a specific promotion requires it.
The honest caveat
The credential landscape changes, programs get renamed, and requirements and prices move. I have deliberately not listed specific programs, costs or eligibility rules here, because the version of that written today is wrong in two years, and an out-of-date list is worse than none.
What does not change is the question underneath: what are you trying to change, and is this the cheapest way to change it? If certification is the answer for your situation, it is a good answer. It is just not the answer as often as the marketing for it suggests.
Where the profession is heading matters more here than any individual credential, and so does staying future-proof as the tools change. Neither of those is something you can buy a certificate for.