Sample shortlist · candidates written by us, real screener output
Executive Assistant
This is what every search delivers: finalists screened against the brief, each with a score, screening notes, structured answers, and a graded work sample. These sample candidates were written by us and run through the real screener — the scores and notes are its unedited output, not a mock-up.
The brief they were screened against
Role: Executive Assistant · Band: $900–1,400/mo
Must-haves: calendar and inbox ownership for a US founder, research briefs that end in a recommendation, native-level written English, 4+ hours of US overlap
Nice to have: travel booking, light vendor and contractor chasing, Notion or Coda
Scored by the same rubric the production screener runs on real applicants (executive-assistant, claude-sonnet-4-6), on 2026-09-20. Nothing below was edited afterwards — including where it went against a candidate. The rubric and weights are published.
Angelica T.
SCREEN 88/100Screening notes
The work sample is the standout: it delivers a structured competitive brief with a concrete conditional recommendation ('30-day pilot on one department' vs. 'much weaker case'), not a summary — that is rare and directly matches the must-have. The scenario answer is operationally specific and confident ('I do not ask him which to prioritise — that is the question I am there to stop him answering'), with a real catch embedded (hotel card-present at 11pm) rather than generic prioritization language. Experience is heavily evidenced with named tools (Superhuman, Navan, Brex, Notion), real numbers (40-person company, Series A, ~30 trips/year, 90-minute note turnaround), and a concrete outcome (founder stopped reading inbox by month three). The one concern is that all specificity traces to a single employer — seven years of career reduces to essentially two roles, and the Manila logistics stint adds almost nothing to the picture — so depth of versatility across exec styles is unproven; worth probing in interview. At $1,150 inside the band and 9am–6pm EST overlap, this is a high-confidence present-to-client candidate.
Experience
5 years EA to the founder of a 40-person US SaaS company (Series A, Austin). Owned his calendar and inbox outright — he stopped reading the inbox in month three. Ran a 6-person weekly leadership meeting: agenda out Friday, notes and owners out within 90 minutes of the meeting ending. Booked ~30 trips a year including two board offsites. Before that, 2 years as admin coordinator at a Manila logistics firm.
Scenario answer
First ten minutes: I look at who is actually on the investor call. If it is a partner we are mid-raise with, that one does not move — I message the customer's main contact from his address, own the delay in one line, and offer 4:30pm or 8am Friday. Escalations survive a two-hour slip far better than an investor does, and the customer hears from someone rather than nobody. Next thirty: I sit in the escalation prep instead of him. I pull the account's last four tickets and the contract renewal date into six lines at the top of the doc, so when he joins at 4:30 he reads for ninety seconds rather than asking questions I could have answered. Then the inbox. I do not read 40 emails — I sort them. Anything with a date in it goes first, because those are the ones that get expensive. Last week that surfaced a signature deadline buried in a thread he had already replied to. Everything from a name he knows gets a holding reply from me. The rest waits until Monday and most of it dies on its own. Last fifteen: the Friday flight. Check-in, seat, and — the one that has actually bitten us — confirm the hotel does not need a card present at 11pm arrival. I put the confirmation numbers in the calendar event body, not in an email, because he will look at the calendar from the airport and not his inbox. What I would not do is ask him which to prioritise. That is the question I am there to stop him having to answer.
Work sample
RESEARCH BRIEF — Ramp (ramp.com) WHAT IT DOES Corporate cards plus spend management for US companies. One product: issue cards, capture receipts automatically, close the books faster. Sells against Brex and Amex, and increasingly against Bill.com on the AP side. PRICING Free tier for the card and basic spend management — Ramp makes money on interchange. Ramp Plus at $15/user/month adds procurement and advanced approvals. Enterprise is quoted. The free tier is the wedge and it is a real one: a 40-person company can run the whole card program at $0. COMPETITORS 1. Brex — same category, moved upmarket to startups with venture funding and away from SMB. Charges for the software tier earlier. 2. Amex Business — incumbent, better rewards, far worse software. Most switchers come from here. 3. Bill.com — owns AP workflow for SMB accounting. Ramp is eating into this rather than the other way round. FIVE TAKEAWAYS - The free tier is not a trial. Interchange pays for it, so there is no upgrade cliff coming. - Switching cost is the receipts history, not the card. Ask what an export looks like before committing. - Their AP push means the finance team will feel this more than the card holders. - Brex's move upmarket left the sub-100-person segment to Ramp; that is where the product is sharpest. - Worth asking: does it integrate with the accounting stack you already run, or does it want to replace it? RECOMMENDATION If we are on Amex Business and closing books late, this is worth a 30-day pilot on one department. If we are already on Bill.com and happy, the case is much weaker — you would be buying overlap.
Valentina R.
SCREEN 87/100Screening notes
The research brief is the clearest signal: it is structured, specific on pricing tiers, identifies the actual switching cost (mid-year tax-filing seams), and ends in a conditional recommendation with a decision threshold — exactly what the role brief required, and most candidates produce summaries without a point of view. The scenario answer demonstrates genuine prioritization reasoning (deadline vs. urgency distinction is precise and non-obvious), and the inbox triage logic (four emails surface to founder, tell him what I answered) reflects real EA practice rather than aspirational description. Experience specifics are credible — board deck number-sourcing, calendar ownership through two fundraises, tools list matches the workflow described — though no headcount, ARR, or fundraise size is named, which leaves the seniority claim partially unverified. Salary at $1,350 sits at the top of band and the candidate pre-justifies it, which is a minor friction but not disqualifying; verdict is present to client, advance to interview.
Experience
4 years as EA then chief of staff to the two co-founders of a Bogotá-based fintech that sold into the US. Ran the weekly operating review, owned the board deck assembly (I did not write the strategy, I made sure every number in it came from one source), and managed the calendars through two fundraises. Full US Eastern overlap from Bogotá — same hours, no night shift, which is the reason I cost more than a Manila hire.
Scenario answer
I would not treat this as a scheduling problem. It is a question of which meeting has a deadline attached. The investor call has one — their diligence window, or their partner meeting on Monday. The customer escalation does not; it has urgency, which is different and which I can absorb. So the investor call holds and I move the escalation, but I move it by talking to the customer, not by sending a reschedule link. Two sentences from me, an apology with a reason that is true but not detailed, and two concrete alternative times. While he is on the investor call I do the escalation prep so the 4:30 version is shorter than the 2:00 version would have been. Account history, what we promised, what we actually delivered, and the one number he will be asked for. Inbox: I work it in two passes. Pass one is thirty seconds per email, sorting for anything time-bound — a contract, a renewal, an invite that expires. Pass two is replies. He sees maybe four of the forty. The other thirty-six get answered by me, filed, or left to resolve themselves, and I tell him at the end of the day what I answered on his behalf so nothing is a surprise. The Friday flight is the easiest piece and the one people drop. Check in, confirm the car, and send him one message Thursday night with the departure time, the terminal, and the hotel address — in the message, not in a link. The pattern underneath all of it: he should end the day having made two hard decisions, not twenty small ones.
Work sample
RESEARCH BRIEF — Gusto (gusto.com) WHAT IT DOES Payroll, benefits and HR admin for US small businesses. Runs payroll, files the payroll taxes, and handles benefits enrolment. The pitch is that a 20-person company does not need an HR person, it needs Gusto plus one afternoon a month. PRICING Simple $49/mo + $6/person. Plus $80/mo + $12/person, which adds time tracking and multi-state. Premium is quoted. Benefits brokerage is bundled at no extra software cost in states where they operate. COMPETITORS 1. Rippling — broader (device management, app provisioning), more expensive, aimed at companies that want one system of record. Wins when IT is also a problem. 2. Justworks — PEO model, so they become the co-employer. Better benefits pricing at small headcount, less flexibility, higher per-head cost. 3. ADP Run — incumbent. Cheaper at scale, notoriously hard to leave, support quality is the common complaint. FIVE TAKEAWAYS - The real switching cost is mid-year: moving payroll providers between quarters creates tax-filing seams. Move in January or accept the mess. - Gusto's benefits brokerage is where the margin is, so expect the sales motion to push there. - Multi-state is the upgrade trigger. One remote hire in a new state moves you from Simple to Plus. - Rippling is the real comparison if we expect to be over 50 people in 18 months. - Contractor-only payroll is $35/mo flat — relevant if most of the team is contract. RECOMMENDATION If we are under 30 people and US-only, Gusto is the default and the decision is not worth more than an hour. If we are planning to hire in four states and issue laptops, price Rippling in the same week — the gap closes fast.
Nomsa D.
SCREEN 72/100Screening notes
Strongest evidence is eight years of real, named EA/PA roles with recognizable tool sets (Concur, DocuSign, SharePoint) and clear diary/travel/board-pack duties that map directly to the role. The research brief is clean, readable and ends in a recommendation, but it lacks any numbers that matter to a decision-maker (market-share figures, actual user counts, real pricing as of a specific date) and reads closer to a Wikipedia summary than a brief that drives action — it meets the bar but does not clear it. The scenario answer shows sensible sequencing but leans on asking the executive to make the scheduling call rather than demonstrating the candidate's own prioritization judgment, which is a notable soft gap for a role where autonomous judgment is a must-have. The 4-hour US overlap requirement is the hardest miss: 2 hours at standard SAST hours is explicitly below the stated minimum, and while the candidate volunteers flexibility, no concrete extended-hours commitment is made; at $1,000 this is workable but the overlap risk warrants direct probing before advancing.
Experience
6 years as personal assistant to a managing director at a Johannesburg property group, then 2 years supporting two directors at a UK consultancy remotely. Diary management, travel, expenses, board pack printing and distribution, minute-taking for monthly board meetings. I have very strong written English and I am used to a formal environment where confidentiality matters.
Scenario answer
I would start by speaking to the executive and asking which of the two meetings he would like me to move, because he is the one who knows the relationship history with both parties. Once he tells me, I would contact the other party immediately, apologise for the change and offer two alternative times that afternoon or the following week. I would then work through the inbox systematically from oldest to newest, flagging anything urgent for his attention and drafting replies to the routine items for his approval. I keep a running list of items awaiting his decision so nothing is lost. For the Friday flight I would confirm the booking, complete the online check-in as soon as it opens, and email him the itinerary with the boarding pass attached. I would also confirm the airport transfer and the hotel reservation. Throughout I would keep him updated so he always knows where things stand. I am very organised and I pride myself on being reliable and discreet.
Work sample
RESEARCH BRIEF — Xero WHAT IT DOES Xero is cloud-based accounting software for small and medium businesses. It handles invoicing, bank reconciliation, payroll, expenses and reporting, and it is used by accountants and business owners alike. It is particularly strong in the UK, Australia and New Zealand markets. PRICING Xero offers several plans. The Starter plan is around $20 per month and limits the number of invoices. The Standard plan is around $47 per month with unlimited invoices. The Premium plan is around $80 per month and adds multi-currency support. Prices vary by region. COMPETITORS 1. QuickBooks Online — the market leader in the United States, with a very large accountant network. 2. Sage — an established provider, strong in the UK, with both desktop and cloud products. 3. FreshBooks — simpler and aimed at freelancers and very small service businesses. FIVE TAKEAWAYS - Xero is well suited to small businesses that want cloud accounting. - It integrates with a very large number of third-party applications. - QuickBooks is more widely used in the US, which matters when hiring a bookkeeper. - The Starter plan's invoice limit catches businesses out as they grow. - Multi-currency is only on the most expensive plan. Xero would be a good choice for a business looking for straightforward cloud accounting software.
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