What a Chief of Staff Finance at PagerDuty Wishes They Had Known About the Role
Andrew, a Chief of Staff in finance, advises aspiring professionals to thoroughly research the Chief of Staff role before entering the industry because its responsibilities vary significantly between companies; "you'll get chiefs of staff that are former VPs... you'll get chiefs of staff who act as like executive assistants," highlighting the need to understand the specific scope of the role at a target company to avoid potential mismatches in expectations and career goals.
Executive/Leadership, Career Exploration, Job Search, Industry Realities, Workplace Challenges
Advizer Information
Name
Job Title
Company
Undergrad
Grad Programs
Majors
Industries
Job Functions
Traits
Andrew La Follette
Chief of Staff, Finance
PagerDuty
University of Arizona, 2012
UCLA MBA
Political Science, American Studies
Technology
Finance
Scholarship Recipient, Took Out Loans, Transfer Student
Video Highlights
1. The Chief of Staff role varies significantly between companies, ranging from administrative tasks to high-level strategic responsibilities.
2. Thoroughly research the specific Chief of Staff role and responsibilities within a target company before accepting a position.
3. Networking and informational interviews can provide valuable insights into the day-to-day realities of different Chief of Staff roles, helping to align your expectations with the role's actual demands.
Transcript
What have you learned about this role that you wish someone would have told you before you entered this industry?
It's a great question. I think there are a million different descriptions of what a Chief of Staff does, and it depends on the company you work for. Coming into this role, I didn't really know a lot about it prior to this specific position.
This wasn't a job I was necessarily seeking out or looking for with the title Chief of Staff. I wish someone had told me to dive a little further into what that actually means at your company.
You'll find Chiefs of Staff who act as executive assistants, solely scheduling meetings. Others are former VPs who can attend high-level investor meetings on behalf of the CFO. There are many different Chief of Staff roles out there.
It would have been good to look into that more. Now, it worked out for me because I'm where I need to be and it's a great role. But if I had walked into an admin role, just scheduling meetings, I would have been in a different situation and probably would have left. Understanding more about what a Chief of Staff actually does is important because it varies from company to company.