Dire predictions permeate the airwaves for the 21st century. Alarmists proclaim the Y2K computer bug will wreak havoc on our daily lives -- bank mortgage records will be purged from computers as they miscompute the year as 1900; prisoners will flood into the streets as jail security systems fail; and even vital public safety links like 911 centers and microchipped defibrillators are due to malfunction. And the worst sin of them all, as a San Francisco Examiner article put it, we might even "run out of premium bubbly to ring in the year 2000."

As the new century approaches, you can choose to buy into all this “sky is falling” hype. Or, you can put your new millennium energy into a positive pursuit like landing a dream job as an executive assistant to one of Silicon Valley’s top CEOs, chairmen, or partners.

What qualities are CEOs looking for in an executive assistant?

Professionalism - Executive assistants have to lay their gossiping days aside and employ a high level of poise and discretion.

Just imagine you are coming into contact daily with people in the news -- the movers and shakers of Silicon Valley, governors, celebrities, and the media. You need to have composure so that if Tom Cruise were to walk into your office, your eyes wouldn't pop out of your head like a lovesick fan. On the same token, the personal information of these renown individuals (their phone numbers, faxes and email addresses) and the million dollar transactions that they are involved in with your business have to be kept top-secret; the life and reputation of your company may depend on it.

Also, as in any type of relationship whether it is a marriage, a friendship, or an office partnership, you have to know that the other person can keep confidences. What if the CEO is seeing a psychiatrist on the side? What if the partner down the hall is going to be fired? Or, what if the company is about to make an announcement of reduced earnings? These are the kinds of precarious situations that can't be shared with others.

Sense of Humor - In today's fast paced business-world, executives are under enormous pressures. Mergers and hostile takeovers are rampant; and competitors hover in every corner. That is why it is important for an executive assistant to have a sense of humor -- the right comment at the right moment can lighten heaviness in the air.

Kim Giannini, who was an executive assistant herself for 10 years before opening up her own specialty placement firm, told about a confectionery company president she worked for who had a triple-A personality, "One day I kidded him saying, 'You think you are the King of everything.' Although he had a serious demeanor most of the time, the president laughed back and replied, 'You know, my family even sits around the diningroom table calling me the King, the King.'"

This little light-hearted comment broke the ice, brought the working relationship a little closer together, and allowed for a touch of humanity in an otherwise sterile office environment.

Savvy - Webster's Dictionary describes savvy as being shrewd. However, I would say it was more akin to an intelligent sponge -- someone who soaks up everything around them and then makes perfect sense of it. This might mean immersing yourself in the company by delving in and finding out its direction and goals, or taking on new tasks and making independent decisions with a hint of caution, or it might mean making suggestions to refine your position. Anyway you choose, exuding inner confidence, maturity and common sense are all subparts to savvy, an attribute that leads to comments like "she walks on water."

The executive assistant position has been around a long time although methods and technologies for communication have changed. Even during ancient times, rulers had scribes who would serve as confidants and chisel out messages for them on clay tablets or write on parchment scrolls. According to the International Association of Administrative Professionals, positions for secretarial and administrative assistants will increase on into the 21st century and take on a higher level of responsibility as middle managers are downsized away.

An U.S. Department of Labor survey showed that 400,000 secretarial positions will be added to the existing 3.4 million by the year 2005. And local compensation packages for executive assistants, according to Kim Giannini, can range from $50,000 to a high of $100,000 (with only a handful falling in the six-figure range at her firm each year).

So muster together your best Abraham Lincoln stature and poise, throw in a little Charlton Heston walks on water, and add a pinch of Whoopi Goldberg comic wit to your repertoire. Then approach the 21st century with a glimmer of excitement by landing that dream job as an executive assistant with premium benefits like prestige, high pay, travel, bonuses and stock options.

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