The Executive PA.

A comprehensive on-line course covering the key skills needed by a PA, Secretary, EA or anyone working in an office environment.

The Executive PA course is one of the most comprehensive PA courses available today. The course is designed to take you through from “first principles” so there is no need for any prior skills or experience. That said, the structure of the course allows you to move quickly through topics where you may have some knowledge or experience so that you can focus on those areas where you are encountering new knowledge and skills.

The course is entirely on-line delivered via our state of the art cloud learning platform. Access the course whenever and wherever you want to from any device. Our learning platform is easy to use and keeps track of your progress allowing you to study the course modules in whatever order you choose, several at the same time if you wish.

We provide tutor support throughout the course and as an Executive PA School student you are eligible for the XO Student Discount card.

PLUS - as an Executive PA School learner you will also have access to the Executive PA School Talent Library at no extra cost. This is an ever-expanding collection of organisational life skills courses to helpyou further your career at no extra cost.

The course consists of 20 modules:

• Building Interpersonal Relationships
• Business Meetings
• Communication & Active Listening
• Diary Management
• MS365 Excel 1 & 2
• MS365 Word 1 & 2
• MS365 PowerPoint
• Networking & Social Media
• Effective Presentations 1 & 2
• MS365 Outlook
• MS365 Access
• MS365 Publisher
• Business Travel
• Business Writing
• Developing & Improving Office Procedures
• Petty Cash Management
• Understanding Organisations

Some of the key topics covered in each module are shown below but each module contains much, much more!

Excel 1

• Formulas & Functions
• Formating with Colours, Styles & Borders
• Sorting & Filtering
• Charts

Excel 2

• Security to Protect Cells & Worksheets
• Import & Export Data
• Pivot Tables & Data Analysis
• Complex Functions & Formulas

Word 1

• Paragraphs, Sections & Page Breaks
• Bullets, Numbering, Columns & Tabs
• Headers, Footers & Margins
• Tables, Fields, Forms & Mail Merge

Word 2

• Templates, Preferences and Properties
• Document Security
• Macros
• Import and Edit Objects such as Charts, Tables & Images
• Tables of Contents, Indexes, Bookmarks and Hyperlinks

Outlook

• Folders, Rules, Archiving & Alerts
• Format Emails & manage signatures
• Priority & Sensitivity Flags, Attachments, Receipts & Votes
• Address Books, Lists & Groups

PowerPoint

• Themes, Colour Schemes, Slide Master & Templates
• Images, Objects, Clipart, Charts, Tables & Text
• Sound, Buttons & Hyperlinks
• Screenshows, Transitions, Builds & Animation

Access

• Set up and manage an Access database.
• Create & edit tables, fields, records, queeries & forms.
• Enter and edit data.
• Create, format & print reports for presenting data analysis.

Publisher

• Design, Layouts, Schemes & Styles
• Enter, Import and Edit Text
• Format Text using Columns, Allignments, Margins & Best-Fit functions
• Enter and Edit Pictures & Shapes
• Create and Edit Tables, Hyperlinks & other Objects
• Manage Page Layout & Format

Business Travel

• Research business travel options and alternatives.
• Plan itineraries that minimise travel time and stress for your executive.
• Understand different booking options, make and manage bookings.
• Destination guides covering essential additional information for the business traveler.
• Create comprehensive travel packs for your executive
• Manage the travel process once your executive is on their way.

Business Meetings

• Planning business meetings.
• Create and publish agendas.
• Understand and create meeting policies.
• Supporting the chair during the meeting.
• Take comprehensive, accurate notes and create minutes as a record of the meeting.
• Manage delivery of delegate's actions after the meeting

Diary Management

• Electronic calendar tools such as task managers, sharing calendars, flags, alerts and codes.
• The 6 dimensions of good diary management.
• Preparing and briefing for your executive's meetings.
• Prioritising competing demands for your executive's time and decide what goes in the diary and what does not!

Business Writing

• Understand modern communication styles.
• Compose professional business letters.
• Learn effective layout and structure.
• Fully Blocked style and Open Punctuation.

Petty Cash Management

• Understand the role and importance of petty cash in the modern office.
• Security of cash and records.
• Understand and implement the process for ensuring accurate recording and management of petty cash.
• Develop the skills to be the petty cash officer in your workplace.

Office Procedures

• How to observe, analyse and record procedures.
• Use flowcharts to graphically illustrate processes.
• Track, monitor and modify processes & procedures.
• Use version control.

Understanding Organisations

• Recognise and compare dIfferent types of organisation.
• Understand concepts such as vision, mission, goals and objectives and how they impact organisational life.
• Recognise different aspects of organisational structure and culture.
• Understand organisational stakeholders and their role.

Effective Presentations Part 1

• Create engaging slides to help you make effective presentations.
• Use images and drawn objects.
• Use charts, tables and imported material.
• Apply multi-media and create slide shows.
• Use basic design concepts.

Interpersonal Relationships

• Understand the importance of strong interpersonal relationships.
• Understand someone else's point of view using some powerful yet simple techniques.
• Build rapport as a foundation to developing a relationship.
• Recognise emotional intelligence and the role it plays in relationships.
• Assertiveness techniques to ensure that you get your point across.
• Confidently deal with difficult interpersonal situations such as giving tough feedback.

Networking & Social Media

• Define and understand different types of network.
• Understand the personal skills that will enable you to make more, better contacts.
• Know when and where to network and how to make the most out of "networking events".
• Use the "Sow, Tend, Harvest" model to get the best out of your networks.
• Learn how to use social media appropriately to support your networking.
• Start to build your personal "brand" and develop a supportive and productive professioanl network.

Communication & Active Listening

• Communication as an active 2-way process.
• Recognise and overcome barriers to effective communication.
• Effective verbal communication.
• Body-language and non-verbal communication.
• Be an active listener to fully undertsand and engage other people.

Effective Presentations Part 2

• Preparation & Planning
• Understand different styles of presenting and how to select the appropriate one for any given situation.
• Write and structure a presentation.
• Overcome nerves and use that nervous energy positively.
• Use props and audio-visual aids.
• Personal presentation and stagecraft.
• Tone, emphasis and timing.
• Deal with questions.

Anyone wanting to develop their career as a PA, Secretary, EA or office administrator / manager.

People already following this career path who want to update and enhance their skills and knowledge.

People wanting to embark upon a career as a PA, Secretary, EA or office administrator.

There are no formal educational requirements for this course.

Students will need Microsoft365 software with Excel, PowerPoint, Word, Outlook, Publisher & Access.

Anyone wanting to develop their career as a PA, Secretary, EA or office administrator / manager.

Certificate of completion

Digital certificate - Included