Ask Susy: Help! I’m Nervous to Train A New, More Experienced Executive Assistant

Welcome, Ninjas! It is I, Susy St. Ninja.

Okay, so I’m hardly a saint ?? but I am OfficeNinjas’ in-house advisor extraordinaire.

You can write in to ask me about all your office obstacles, professional problems, coworking conundrums, and other alliterative admin-related advice. From bad bosses to a dirty dishes problem, no question is too serious or too silly for me to answer. Let’s get down to business.

Dear Susy,

Next week, I will be responsible for training and ramping up a new executive assistant in my office. I convinced my company to make the hire—someone with over double my experience in the administrative world—so that I would have someone to learn from. Now I’m in the position of training them soon and I’m very nervous! While this person will not be my peer on paper, it’s hard not to be a little intimidated and fearful that my training program will be useless, despite my abundant preparation. Do you have any words of wisdom to spare?

– Nervous Nellie in Austin, TX

Whoa, Nellie! Not to worry—this is actually a nice problem to have! First of all, congratulations on successfully convincing your company to hire another executive assistant that both benefits the team and your professional career. Celebrate that win—it was a super smart move.

However, training someone who has double your experience without feeling insecure about your program is a tricky situation. But don’t fret. After all, you managed to persuade upper management to make this hire, and you wouldn’t have been able to do that if you didn’t know the ins and outs of the company’s needs. Your team trusts your judgment, which means you’ve more than proved you know the job and how to do it well.

Be confident the training program you created will be far from useless—but essential for onboarding the new EA. Because you asked your company to hire a more experienced person in the first place, now’s the time start taking advantage of that move. Pick your new coworker’s brain about your training lineup. Present the program and ask for feedback on how to improve it.

Then approach all training sessions with as much confidence as possible. Remind yourself that while this person may have more experience, you have insider knowledge about your company’s day-to-day operations, culture, and preferred internal communication style. Could this uber-savvy EA come in and kick butt without you shedding light on all those things? Probably not. You’ve got a ton of insider insights to offer and the newbie will eat that up.

I’m confident your new EA will share some additional wise words, and they’ll probably confirm the ones I’ve just bestowed upon you. Good luck with the training program! Don’t forget to write back with an update.

Got any further insights? Weigh in on Susy’s advice in the comments.