Monique Helstrom

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Monique Helstrom

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Elevate Your Executive-Assistant Partnership

11/01/2026

Congratulations to Christina W, who starts today as the new Executive Assistant to the CEO at Drake & Associates!

I’ve always loved candidates who bring experience from healthcare or the sciences into administrative work. Those environments often build incredible precision, logical thinking, attention to detail, and the ability to process a lot of information without losing accuracy. Not to mention customer service!!!

For this particular role, those transferable skills mattered. Tony needed someone who could think clearly, stay three steps ahead, and get the details right.

Christina brought exactly that.

Congratulations, Christina! I’m so excited to see what you do in this role. 👏

10/29/2026

I’ve talked a LOT this month about writing better resumes and having better interviews. But if you walk away with nothing else from this month, I hope you remember this:
Know yourself so well that no surprise question can catch you off guard.

Ultimately, interview preparation is NOT about trying to predict the 75 questions someone might ask you and memorizing the perfect answer to each one.

Know your experience.
Know your accomplishments.
Know your mistakes.
Know your stories.
Know your strengths.
Know how you work.
Know what you’re looking for next.

Because when you know your own material, you don’t have to predict the question...
You already know the answer.

10/27/2026

I’ve rejected some really, really good Executive Assistants lately.
And I do not take that lightly.

Over the last few months, I’ve been recruiting for several positions at once. I’ve reviewed hundreds of applications, talked to dozens of candidates, and sent some incredibly talented people to my clients.

These were candidates I genuinely liked and I happily recommended!
And some of them ultimately still got a “no.”

Some of these "no's" broke my heart. And I know the candidates didn't exactly enjoy hearing it, either!

But the thing is, when I send a candidate to an executive, we’re no longer asking: “Is this person a good Executive Assistant?”
We’re asking: “Is this the right Executive Assistant for THIS executive/team/organization?”

And the reality is those are two very different questions.

You can have the experience and the skills; you can interview beautifully; you can be smart, capable, thoughtful, proactive, and DAMN GOOD at what you do.....And another candidate may simply have a working style, personality, background, communication style, or specific experience that aligns more closely with what THAT particular Executive needs.

So EA's, I need you to hear me: That does NOT erase everything you brought to the table!

I know rejection sucks, especially when you made it through multiple interviews and started picturing yourself in the role, but please don’t turn one person’s hiring decision into a verdict on your career.

I have met SO MANY talented Assistants lately who I couldn’t place in the role they applied for... but I remember them.
(Trust me, recruiters remember the candidates who impress us.)

So if you’ve gotten a “no” from me recently (or from anyone else, for that matter!) take whatever feedback you can from the experience. Keep sharpening your skills. Keep learning about yourself. Keep showing up.

Keep. Going.

And remember that the goal isn’t to convince every Executive that you’re the right Assistant.
It's to find the one who says: “Yep. This is my person.”

10/26/2026

Believe it or not, you do NOT need to check every single box to apply for a job.

Sometimes the best next step in your career is SUPPOSED to feel a little out of reach.

The key is being able to connect the dots for the person hiring you:

"Here’s what I’ve done.
Here’s what I know.
Here’s what I’m capable of learning.
And here’s why I believe I can do THIS job."

And if you’re ready to shoot for the job that feels just out of reach, but you’re not sure how to connect those dots for a hiring manager—that’s exactly what my resume and interview coaching can help you do.

Find out more here: https://www.moniquehelstrom.com/resumeandinterviewcoaching

10/25/2026

Today's soap boxes:

1. The em dash is real punctuation. I'm keeping her. Please leave her alone.
2. If you’re looking for an Executive Assistant who knows how to use AI, you cannot also disqualify candidates because you suspect they…used AI.

AI fluency is increasingly part of the job. Using the tools available to work smarter should be a green flag, not forensic evidence against someone.

And if they use proper punctuation? More power to them.

What do you think: bring back the em dash or let it rot in AI slop?

10/22/2026

Knowing what you want to earn doesn’t make you greedy, difficult, or ungrateful.

Know your number. Know your range. Know your MINIMUM.
Get comfortable advocating for yourself, and know what you are and aren’t willing to compromise on.

Your employer knows what they want to pay. You should know what you want to earn.

And if the “What salary are you looking for?” question makes you sweat a little, I wrote an article about this one and three other interview questions every Assistant should be prepared to answer. Read it here: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/4-interview-questions-every-assistant-should-prepared-helstrom-ph5sc

P.S. If you want even more encouragement on this topic, please check out Bonnie Low-Kramen. Her work has changed the face of assistant work, and there is NO better advocate for assistants—particularly women—knowing their worth than her.

10/21/2026

Candidates, I genuinely want your opinion on this one.

If I know early in an interview that you’re not the right fit for this particular executive, when would you rather I tell you?

A. Stop the interview and tell me right away.
B. Give it another 20–30 minutes, then tell me before we hang up.
C. Finish the interview normally and let me know afterward.

And no, “D. Ghost me” is not an option. I would NEVER do that to you. 💚

What would YOU prefer?

10/20/2026

Sometimes you just need someone on the outside to remind you what you’re capable of—and give you a little nudge toward asking for more.

More confidence, more growth, a better opportunity, and career that actually reflects what you bring to the table.

Michael, thank you for trusting me to be that nudge. 💚

And if you’ve been doubting yourself, selling yourself short, or wondering if maybe you’re capable of more than you’ve been giving yourself credit for… let’s talk.

10/19/2026

Assistants: what may be "just another Tuesday" to you may actually be incredibly revealing to an interviewer.

In fact, if incidents that reveal your judgement, anticipation, problem-solving, resilience, discretion, influence, and trust have become so routine that you barely think twice about them, that doesn’t make them insignificant—it may actually be evidence of just how skilled you’ve become.

You don’t need a dramatic, once-in-a-career story to answer a “tell me about a time when…” question well.

It can be as simple as how you handled a last-minute reschedule, smoothed over tension in the office, caught a problem before it became a bigger one, or how you've protected your executive’s time; just something that shows how you think, how you respond, and how your work positively impacts the people around you.

Take yourself seriously. Tell your stories. What feels ordinary to you may be exactly what makes you exceptional at your job.

Read about the 10 Things I Don't Want to Hear in an Executive Assistant Interview here: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/10-things-i-dont-want-hear-interview-executive-monique-helstrom-xjh0c/

10/18/2026

Ladies, we need to talk.

This EA—a male—reached out about a role with a salary range of $115K–$145K and asked if there was flexibility to go HIGHER.

And guess what? I'M GLAD HE DID.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with asking this question. This EA knows what he wants. He knows what his experience is worth. And rather than assuming the answer was no, he simply asked. And when I told him the answer WAS no, he said thank you kindly and went on his merry way. He didn't settle.

Meanwhile, I talk to incredibly qualified female EAs all the time who are nervous to negotiate WITHIN the posted range, let alone ask for more.

Ladies: PLEASE take notes. You are allowed to ask for what you want.

The answer might be no, but YOU get to decide what to do with that answer.

Moral of the story: please stop saying no to yourself before anyone else gets the chance to say yes.

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1447 Quince St, Denver, CO 80220, United States
Denver, CO
80220

Website

https://moniquehelstrom.com/

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