APS4 Executive Assistant · Resume guide
APS4 Executive Assistant Resume: Supporting Senior Leaders to a Higher Standard
APS4 Executive Assistant is a high-trust role: you hold the executive's diary, manage their inbox, see sensitive material, and shape who gets time with them. Panels recruiting EAs look for evidence of discretion (you don't over-share), judgment (you triage well), and reliability (you don't miss things). The resume needs to demonstrate all three.
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APS4 Executive Assistant salary range
Approximately A$73,000 – A$82,000 per year (Commonwealth APS4, 2026 indicative).
What an APS4 Executive Assistant actually does
APS4 Executive Assistants manage diaries, coordinate meetings (often with senior external stakeholders), triage email and correspondence, prepare meeting materials, manage travel, coordinate office logistics, and act as a discreet first point of contact for the executive. Most EAs support EL2 or SES officers — the work shapes the executive's effectiveness daily.
What hiring panels weight at APS4 Executive Assistant
- Discretion and confidentiality — name the level of seniority you supported and the sensitivity of material handled.
- Diary management at scale. "Managed competing priorities across X stakeholder groups" with specifics.
- Triage judgment — decisions about who gets time, what gets escalated, what waits.
- Polished written communication, especially correspondence on behalf of the executive.
- Systems fluency — TRIM, Outlook, Teams, expenses systems, travel booking platforms.
Weak vs strong: APS4 Executive Assistant language
Same underlying experience, framed two ways. The first is what most candidates write. The second is what scores at APS4 Executive Assistant.
Generic / task-listing
“Provided executive support to senior leaders, managing diaries and coordinating meetings.”
APS4 EA-style
“Sole EA support for the SES Band 2 First Assistant Secretary — managed an average of 32 meetings per week including ministerial, parliamentary, and Cabinet committee engagements. Managed the FAS's correspondence inbox at an average response time of 4 hours, triaging an average of 110 daily emails into urgent / for-action / for-information tiers in line with the FAS's standing protocols.”
Common reasons APS4 Executive Assistant applications get rejected
- 1Listing tasks without scale. "Managed diaries" is filler; "Managed two SES officers' diaries with average 35 meetings/week" is evidence.
- 2Generic personality claims ("organised", "reliable") instead of evidence.
- 3Under-claiming the discretion dimension. EAs see sensitive material — naming this signals professional maturity.
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