The short answer: business support professionals are the operational backbone of most organisations, and the impact of this hire, positive or negative, is felt immediately across the whole team. In FY26/27, the most capable Executive Assistants, Office Managers and customer service leaders are not sitting on job boards. They are performing well in organisations that value them, and they move only through trusted networks and relationships.
There is a particular cost to getting a business support hire wrong that does not show up on a profit and loss statement.
It shows up in the executive who cannot find anything, the office that operates below capacity, the customer who does not get the response they expected, and the leadership team that is quietly absorbing operational tasks that should belong to someone else.
Business support professionals are often described as the glue that holds an organisation together. That description understates the role. The most capable Executive Assistants, Office Managers and customer service leaders are not just keeping things running. They are actively making the people around them more effective, and their absence is felt long before a replacement is found.
Getting this hire right starts with understanding what you actually need and taking the process as seriously as any senior leadership appointment.
What is driving business support hiring in FY26/27
Q1 of FY26/27 has brought a familiar pattern. New financial year, new headcount approvals, and an immediate recognition that certain gaps, often in business support, have been papered over internally for longer than they should have been.
We are seeing three types of business support briefs dominating the market right now.
Replacement hires for long-tenured EA and PA roles. When a capable EA who has been with an executive for five or six years moves on, the gap is immediately apparent. These are often the hardest briefs to fill quickly because the outgoing person had built institutional knowledge that takes time to develop. The replacement needs to be assessed not just on skills but on fit with the executive's working style, communication preferences and pace.
Office Manager appointments in growing businesses. As organisations scale through Q1 and beyond, the operational complexity of running the office environment exceeds what can be absorbed by an existing administration team. The Office Manager hire is often deferred until the pain is significant, which means the search needs to happen quickly when it finally starts.
Customer service & sales support leadership. Organisations that have invested in customer experience as a differentiator are now investing in the leadership capability to sustain it. Customer Service Manager and Client Services Manager appointments are active across financial services, technology, healthcare and professional services and the pool of genuinely capable talent at this level is smaller than most hiring managers expect.
The EA versus PA distinction, and why it matters
This is one of the most commonly misunderstood distinctions in business support, and getting it wrong before you go to market adds significant time and cost to the search.
A Personal Assistant typically focuses on supporting one individual, managing their diary, correspondence, travel and day-to-day administrative requirements. The role is person-specific and relationship-dependent.
An Executive Assistant operates at a broader level. Supporting multiple senior leaders, managing projects and initiatives, handling confidential and commercially sensitive information, acting as a liaison across the business, and sometimes taking on responsibilities that look more like a Chief of Staff. At the senior end of the market, a capable EA is a genuine strategic asset to the executive they support, someone who anticipates needs, manages complexity and frees up leadership bandwidth in a meaningful way.
Before briefing either role, be clear internally about what the actual scope involves, who the person is supporting, and what the expectation is on autonomy and initiative. The brief determines the profile and the profile determines the outcome.
Why the most capable business support talent is not on job boards
This is the central reality of the business support market that most businesses do not fully account for when they start a search.
Capable Executive Assistants, experienced Office Managers and high-performing customer service leaders tend to stay in good roles for a long time. They are valued where they are. Their employer knows what they contribute. And when they do consider a move, they do so through trusted relationships, a recruiter they have worked with before, a professional contact who knows their work, or a direct approach from someone with a genuine understanding of what they are looking for.
They are not updating their profile on a job board and waiting to hear from you.
This means that the talent you access through a job advertisement is, by definition, not the most capable talent in the market. It is the talent that is actively looking, which, in business support, tends to be a much narrower and less experienced pool than most organisations realise until they are several weeks into a search that is not going anywhere.
A specialist who has real relationships with capable business support professionals, built over time in this specific market, can access the talent that would otherwise never surface in a standard recruitment process.
What to get right before you go to market
Be specific about the executive or team this person is supporting. Business support is uniquely personal. A highly capable EA who thrives with one style of executive may not be the right fit for another. Give the recruiter as much context as possible about the working style, pace and preferences of the person or team being supported.
Do not underestimate the brief. Business support roles are sometimes briefed as straightforward fills. The most capable talent can read within the first interaction whether a business understands what it actually needs. A vague or dismissive brief will not attract the talent you are looking for.
Salary benchmarks have moved. Business support salary expectations, particularly for senior EA, Office Manager and Customer Service Manager roles, have shifted in FY26/27. If your range was set 12 to 18 months ago, it is worth reviewing before you go to market.
Run a process that reflects what you are asking for. If you want a business support professional who is detail-oriented, organised and communicates clearly, your hiring process needs to demonstrate those qualities. Slow responses, unclear next steps and disorganised interview scheduling send exactly the wrong signal to the most capable people in this space.
A note from our team
At FutureYou, our business support specialisation works with organisations across Sydney and nationally to secure business support professionals from administration and coordinator level through to senior Executive Assistant and Office Manager appointments.
We take this practice seriously because our clients do and because the right hire in a business support role has an outsized impact on the people and the organisation around them.
If you are planning a business support hire in FY26/27, or you are a business support professional thinking about your next move, we would welcome a conversation.
Get in touch with FutureYou's Business Support team.
FutureYou is an Australian super boutique talent agency with a dedicated business support recruitment practice. We work with organisations across Sydney and nationally to secure the business support professionals who keep organisations performing at their best.
