Your Experience Is Not the Same Thing as Your Visibility
Why having done the work for years is not the same as being known for it and what to do about it.
I spent a long time earlier on in my career believing experience would do the talking for me. That if I kept turning up, kept delivering, kept being the person who made everything work without being asked twice, someone would eventually notice.
Nobody said a word! The work was good. I knew how to run a complex executive’s world, manage competing priorities without blinking, and read a room before the meeting even started. The track record was there for me. What was not there was any way of making it visible to the people who were deciding what happened to my career next.
I am pretty sure you know exactly what I am talking about? if you do leave me a comment 👇
That is the so-called gap most executive assistants and administrative professionals never quite understand, let alone say our loud. It is not imposter syndrome, perhaps just the uncomfortable reality that you can be genuinely good at your job and still be almost entirely invisible to the people who shape your future.
Are you new to Substack? What is it all about Jodie?
Substack is a platform where writers publish directly to their readers - no algorithm, no ads, no noise. When you subscribe to The Assistant’s Edge, editions arrive straight to your inbox every Thursday.
Two tips to get more from it:
1. Download the Substack app. All your subscriptions in one place, easy to comment, easy to connect with other readers. Search “Substack” in your app store - it’s free.
2. Reply to any edition. Your reply comes directly to me. Not a bot, not a team - me. If something resonates, if you have a question, or if you’d like the templates from my EA Ignite sessions - email me back and I’ll respond.
FREE subscribers get the Thursday long-form edition every week. Paid subscribers (£10/month) get the full deep-dive below the paywall, access to the complete archive, and the option to join group coaching calls. This week’s call is open to paid subscribers - reply with “group call” to register.
Experience tells the story of what you have done. Visibility is whether anyone else is reading it or noticing it.
I think about this a lot when I am working with executive assistants and personal assistants who tell me that executive assistant career development advice never quite connects for them. And honestly, I get it. The advice is always the same: get a qualification, take on a new initiative, learn a new tool. Add more. It is just solving the wrong problem.
If the work you already do is not being seen by the right people, more work is not the answer.
What I hear, again and again, from administrative professionals at every stage and in every sector, is a version of this: I have put the years in. I know what I am doing. And I still feel like I am explaining myself from scratch every time someone needs to understand what I actually contribute. That exhaustion is real and I dont think it is a skills gap.
If you are wondering how to stand out as an executive assistant when you have already put the years in, I want to offer you something different from the usual advice. Not more to do. A different way of looking at what is already there. That is what we get into below.
📌 Paid subscribers get three deep dives:
1. Why experience stops counting without a paper trail - How the gap forms, why it widens the longer you stay in a role, and the specific signals that tell others what level to place you at.
2. How to make your experience readable without talking about yourself constantly - A practical approach to translating tenure into presence, using language and moments that already exist in your working week.
3. The conversation you need to be having, and probably are not - What to say, when to say it, and how to open a dialogue about your career without it feeling like a performance review or a complaint.
Plus: For Leaders & EA Managers - why the most experienced person on your team may be the least visible one, and what that costs you.
Special Offer before you go…
A rare recommendation from me.
If you’re looking for practical ways to improve how work flows through Microsoft 365, Copilot and AI, take a look at Paul Pennant’s Executive Assistant Productivity Architect Programme. The October cohort is nearly full and the 2027 cohort is already filling fast.
If funding is the barrier, message me and I’ll help you put together a business case. If you’re self-funding, don’t wait too long.
Register through my link and I’ll personally send you a £50 or $50 gift card once your place is confirmed. View the programme and dates here
Become the Microsoft 365 automation expert your leader needs. A 10 week live transformation programme for Executive Assistants and senior support
