Want to stay ahead of the curve in the administrative profession? At the Spring PA Show 2025, Lauren Bradley, founder of The Officials, uncovered key trends shaping the future of executive support roles. From career growth challenges to the rising demand for digital skills and workplace flexibility, these insights are essential for assistants looking to thrive. Watch the video to discover the biggest growth opportunities in the industry that we saw at the show.
Transcript below
Speaker: Lauren Bradley
[00:00:06] So it is Monday after the PA Show Spring 2025, which we have here in London every year. And I wanted to come on here and one, thank a few people and two, talk about the trends that we saw this year, except in the last couple of years.
[00:00:18] One, thank you so much for the wonderful, wonderful Officials Team for being on the stand.
[00:00:26] And then an extra thank you to Paul, Isabelle, Susanna and Dee, who were all panelists on one of our sessions that we did about the importance of engaging with community in the administrative field. And what was incredible was in that panel, somebody actually raised their hand and said, I’m ready and said, I want to engage.
[00:00:47] Uh, but she was moving to Germany and just a few months and right away we were able to connect her with some amazing connections in Germany and advocates there. And it basically just proved the point. And if it wasn’t for you all being on that panel and sharing your experiences and inspiring those in that room, that wouldn’t have happened.
[00:01:05] So we had a real life example of why that’s so important right there in the moment. It was fantastic.
[00:01:12] And just to say , Marta, who is my right hand here at The Officials, thank you, thank you, thank you for all of your support, for everything that you do. Um, I cannot thank you enough.
[00:01:23] the second set of thank yous I have is to all of the attendees, anyone that attended any of the six sessions over the two days or came up to us on the stand. There were so many that engaged, that were vulnerable, that told their story, and I really appreciate that. I love hearing your stories.
[00:01:41] It’s, I said this to several people is addicting. It’s like a drug. I cannot thank
[00:01:45] you enough. I love problem solving. I love hearing what’s out there. And I love one of her original questions as well. It helps me create more content for all of you, to share with all of you. But I just wanted to thank you for seeing us on the stand.
[00:01:58] My voice is coming back. So that shows how many people we’re speaking with, but it was wonderful. Thank you for attending. Thank you for engaging. Thank you for being there.
[00:02:07] Okay, so let’s talk about some trends that we saw at the PA Show. So I’ve made a couple of notes, but let’s talk through it. So one is that, uh, not, well, not everyone felt this way.
[00:02:20] There was this sort of theme where people, they’re gravitating to the officials or coming up to me after the, the sessions, it was because
[00:02:27] they felt in general stuck. So it’s not that everyone’s feeling stuck, but there are quite a few assistants feeling stuck right now that are looking for some extra help.
[00:02:36] Now there’s a couple of reasons why they might have been feeling stuck. One of the biggest trends we always see and we are continuing to see is that they feel stuck.
[00:02:44] because they’re not being heard at work. And so whether they are not using the correct language, whether they are in the wrong place, but they are trying to prove their value constantly and they’re getting bummed out because it’s not being heard or they’re not progressing as they wish when something’s happening, feel completely stuck.
[00:03:06] The other reason why they might feel stuck is because maybe they have been heard and the company really loves them and compliments them, but they’ve basically been told you’re at the top. This is, this is all the growth possibility there are, there is at this company. Now one, that could be a short sightedness on the part of the company or two, it could be they’re telling you exactly who they are, whether they say, believe people and they tell you who they are.
[00:03:31] They’re telling you, you’ve outgrown the company. So maybe it’s time to start believing them. So those are some of the things we’ve seen about people feeling stuck.
[00:03:39] The other is, uh, when they’re applying for roles. So maybe being a top assistant, being great, their company, their company loves them, but they feel it’s time to move on and they’re applying for lots of roles.
[00:03:51] And nothing’s happening. And so there’s some really quick tips we were able to give people there, but it shows again and again that understanding the value bring to the role and how to create a CV that gets past the application tracking systems and then hooks people when they actually human eyes see it is essential.
[00:04:10] I find that a lot of the mentorship that we do here, the officials is on that particular subject and I will continue to drill this home. So if there’s someone in that space, we got to talk. Okay? So then feeling her job description, career progression.
[00:04:26] There were also a lot of talks, just not necessarily whether their company heard them or not heard them, but people talking about being in this place where some kind of transition needs to happen now, whether it’s they need to make more money or they’re looking to move out of the PA/EA admin role in general.
[00:04:46] And so there’s a lot of questions around that and how I feel that the skills here can transition. Now, while I think “that’s great.” I want everyone to be successful in wherever they feel pulled.
[00:04:55] In fact, while we were at the PA Show, I met the former head of communications for the F1 and she was a former assistant. I can’t wait to talk to her further and see if I can get some more details from her. She’s now trains in communication, but, uh, she was fascinating.
[00:05:10] But of course there’s ways that we can progress. Okay. I progressed to founder, right? And so, it really depends on what that looks like, but also I want to make it really, really clear, because it’s something I’ve been hearing lately, uh, too many times lately, is that, is asking about this, well, you know, I think I’m done with this profession, because there’s nowhere else to go, there’s this ceiling, is that I think that is BS, when I explain that to people, they don’t realize what is available to them. We don’t necessarily have to change our title. We might just be adding more responsibilities. You might become the lead of a network of assistants or department of assistants.
[00:05:52] It could be that you move into supporting someone more senior. So that was like a trend that I kept hearing as well. Like I can only move up if who I support is higher up and that’s definitely not the case. It is one trajectory, but it’s not the only path. And so I found myself making sure that before somebody left our profession, that they understood where they could go with our profession.
[00:06:16] There’s definitely a technology trend still where a lot of assistants are still very Microsoft based and also very frustrated with the task tracking tools within Microsoft and are very unaware of the alternative technology that is outside of that ecosystem and how that prevents them from applying for jobs in maybe a Google based environment with a different tech stack.
[00:06:40] And so we find we’re doing a lot of work in that space as well.
[00:06:44] But were you at the PA Show? What trends did you see? What sessions really stood out to you, who you talked to? I would love to hear if you, if you were there, please let me know your thoughts on the PA Show.
[00:06:54] But thank you again for another fantastic year and to the MashMedia team for putting it [00:07:00] on and we can’t wait to come back next year.
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