Executive Assistant - Expression of Interest

Bond University has opened an expression-of-interest register for Executive Assistants rather than advertising a single vacancy. The listing on the university's jobs portal carries reference number 201393410 and closes at 11:59 pm on 1 November 2026. The successful 'applicant' is not one person chosen for one desk; it is a pool of names added to the university's Casual Administration Register, held for short-term and fixed-term appointments as they open up.

A colleague — call her Dr K — recently spent eleven working days trying to schedule a research panel because the administrative officer was on leave and no one had written down the room-booking contacts, the catering minimums or the committee pack template. That is the gap this register exists to fill. Senior executives go on leave, grant cycles compress, accreditation visits land with six weeks' notice and someone has to keep the diary, the inbox and the committees moving without any handover.

Here is the base rate. Most expression-of-interest registers are silent: a CV is lodged in a system and the university may never call. The exception is a register with a published hourly band, a defined closing date and a live operational need behind it. Bond has all three, and that changes how you should apply.

What the register really is: a pool, not a job

The register is not a permanent appointment. Bond's own listing says candidates will be contacted as suitable opportunities arise that align with their skills, experience, and availability. That means you do not get a start date. You get a phone call or an email when an executive is short an assistant for three weeks, or when a team needs fixed-term cover for six weeks while someone is on parental leave or secondment.

The work itself is familiar to anyone who has supported a senior leader, but the university bundles it into one listing. Duties include:

• End-to-end executive office support, including diary and inbox management
• Coordination of meetings, committees, travel, events and executive priorities
• Preparation of high-quality correspondence, reports, briefs, agendas and minutes
• Management of sensitive and confidential information with discretion
• Coordination of events, projects and engagement with internal and external stakeholders
• Financial and administrative support, including budget tracking and approvals

The advertised hourly rate sits between $56.05 and $64.10 plus 12 per cent superannuation, depending on the skill level and expertise required for the assignment. At Bond's standard 36.75-hour working week, that band would annualise to roughly $107,000 to $122,000 before paid leave, but a casual engagement is not an annual salary. You are paid for the hours you work, and you do not accrue paid annual or sick leave unless you move onto a fixed-term appointment under the Bond Workplace Agreement.

That pay band is competitive for Gold Coast casual EA work, and it sits alongside Bond's other advertised EA rates. A full-time Executive Assistant in the Medical Program commences at $71,938.46 per annum plus 12 per cent super (HEW 4 equivalent), while a continuing Executive Assistant in the Faculty of Health Sciences and Medicine commences at $85,707.07 per annum plus 12 per cent super. The register's hourly ceiling exceeds what those annual salaries produce at standard hours, which tells you these are often high-trust, short-notice placements where the university is paying for judgement rather than spare hands. The full listing is on the Bond University jobs portal.

Experienced Executive Assistants remain in demand across Australia. The latest Robert Walters business support market update names Executive Assistants among the three roles most in demand at the start of 2026, alongside team assistants and receptionists or office assistants. Its survey found 60 per cent of business support professionals were considering a move, while 86 per cent of employers planned to hire. Hays puts it in plainer terms: more than 80 per cent of organisations report skills shortages, with the strongest demand for experienced administrative and office management professionals, along with the project support staff who keep transformation programs running. Someone with strong judgement and a record of committee administration is walking into a candidate's market even as overall vacancy numbers cool.

Bond University is Australia's first private, not-for-profit university, established in 1987 and teaching since 15 May 1989 from a 50-hectare campus at Robina on the Gold Coast. It teaches around 5,700 students across four faculties — the Bond Business School, the Faculty of Law, the Faculty of Health Sciences and Medicine, and the Faculty of Society and Design — and runs a three-semester calendar with intakes in January, May and September, plus a teaching calendar that moves faster than the standard two-semester year. For an Executive Assistant, that trimester tempo is meaningful. There is no long January lull of the kind semester-based campuses enjoy, and peak periods such as accreditation visits or examination boards come around three times a year rather than twice.

For appointments made under the Bond Workplace Agreement, the university advertises a package that includes free staff car parking, a 36.75-hour standard week, flexible work and work-from-home arrangements where possible, up to 18 or 26 weeks of parental leave depending on eligibility, salary packaging for FBT and non-FBT items, 17.5 per cent of base salary as leave loading, a staff wellbeing program, confidential employee assistance, study assistance for staff and dependants, corporate health and finance discounts, and onsite medical, counselling and sports facilities that include a gym and pool. Some items carry eligibility criteria or membership fees. The expression-of-interest listing itself promotes a narrower set: competitive hourly rates, free parking and a collaborative team environment. Casual employees generally do not attract the full continuing-staff package, so anyone offered an assignment should confirm exactly which benefits apply before accepting.

What this means for your application is fairly simple. A register rewards specificity, so do not submit a generic CV that lists diary management as a bullet. Lead with the committee and discretion work: the minutes you took, the confidential briefs you handled, the travel you rebooked during an executive's medical leave, the budget line you tracked. If you have supported a demanding health, professional services or tertiary environment, say so in the first half page. Bond states plainly that applicants must have current work rights in Australia at the time of application, and that status is verified during recruitment. Conditions of employment, including any appointment, are governed by the Bond Workplace Agreement.

The one next step is to open the Bond jobs page before 1 November and tailor a two-page CV around those judgement-heavy duties. Put your availability in the cover note — the days you can work, whether you can take short-notice calls, and whether a two-week leave cover fits easier than a six-week fixed term. Then submit to the register and keep a copy of the reference number. You will not get feedback, and you may wait weeks before a call, but when the call comes it will be because someone needs exactly the trust, discretion and committee sense you put on the page.