I've been a Chief of Staff for close to two years but I've held similar positions in the past without the title. 

People often ask me "What is it that you actually do?"

Chief of Staff roles have become popular over the last few years, especially in tech. Many of the big companies have a Chief of Staff for all of their SVPs and above, and some even for VP and above. 

I find the Chief of Staff role quite unique depending on who the executive is that you support. I'm lucky to have an amazing leader who I work with hand in hand which allows me to learn and grow. 

But back to the question about what is it that a Chief of Staff does every day. Let me go through a day in my life, however, before I begin I have to say that the Chief of Staff job is so versatile and frankly not every day is the same because the role itself relies on the ability to pivot, adjust and be flexible pretty much all the time as there are often last-minute fires to be put down. So I will focus on explaining the key daily responsibilities. 

A Day in the Life of a Chief of Staff in Tech

As some of you know I served a five month internship at Montpellier Public Relations – a PR consultancy in the UK – between September last year and February this year. This was an invaluable professional experience. It not only taught me a lot, but it also proved that I have made the right career choice, which is why I decided to share with you what I’ve learned and what I would advise others who want to work in PR.

While serving this internship I gained firsthand insights into how exactly a PR agency functions and how relationships with clients are being established and maintained. I developed thorough understanding and appreciation of the management and business model of a full service PR and marketing communications consultancy operating across a range of clients from various sectors – from healthcare, facilities management, professional services to recruitment. This helped me realise that really comprehending client expectations is the first and probably even the most important step towards meeting client needs.

First of all, I am glad that I chose a smaller agency, because I was given a lot of work, which I very much enjoyed, and I had the chance to learn a lot both on my own and with the supervision of the team. Working in a smaller rather than a large consultancy has allowed me to take on more responsibilities, be in a direct contact with clients and the media and so progress faster and develop a set of essential PR and marketing skills.

Last summer I served an 8-week internship in Social Media Marketing at Delta Agentur – Advertising and Communications Agency in Germany. I was part of their Social Media Team and it was certainly a very enlightening and fun experience too.

I am not going to write about everything I actually did that summer, but about the most relevant ones I believe are of importance for my future career in PR. So, among other things I was writing various blog posts (listed here) and copy for different websites and publicity materials that the agency was responsible for. I was also engaging with Facebook followers and supported the agency’s Twitter stream with content.

All this included a lot of research, monitoring and listening in various online channels and I must admit these activities very much helped me gain a deep understanding of social media networking.