The employer wants evidence that you can manage competing stakeholders using objective criteria, communicate the reasoning clearly, and preserve working relationships under pressure, all of which are daily tasks for an executive assistant.
Use a short STAR story with a clear conflict, the objective rule you used to decide, the exact words you said to the stakeholder who had to move, and the concrete result. Emphasize that you did not ask the executive to pick sides.
Start by grounding your story in the specific resource that was scarce, whether it was a conference room, a manager's two-hour window, or a shared laptop for a group report. Say plainly that you first verified the facts with each person, asking for their deadlines and the downstream impact if they waited, rather than accepting their word that they were the priority. Then explain the objective rule you applied, such as the earlier deadline, the larger number of people affected, or a pre-existing commitment that could not move. Be explicit that you communicated the decision to both parties in the same calm tone, and that you did not ask your executive or supervisor to arbitrate, because that shifts the burden upward and weakens your credibility. Offer the person who lost the resource a concrete alternative, like a specific time slot tomorrow or a shorter version of the request, and say you sent a written confirmation to both so there was no ambiguity. Finish with the outcome, such as the meeting happening on time and the other stakeholder thanking you for the clear heads-up, which shows you preserved the relationship while holding the line.
Many fresh grads over-apologize and say 'Pasensya na po, kayo na lang po bahala' which forces the stakeholders to fight it out themselves. That reads as weak. Say instead: 'The finance rehearsal can move to tomorrow morning because your actual presentation is on Thursday. I can send the updated notice to your members right now.'
Situation
In my university student council, the events committee and the finance committee both demanded to use the audiovisual room on the same afternoon to rehearse for the university week presentations, and both chairs told me their run-through was non-negotiable.
Task
As the council secretary, I had to allocate the room fairly and keep both committees on track without damaging my working relationship with either chair.
Action
I pulled up the room booking log and the university week master schedule. I saw that the finance committee's actual presentation was two days later than the events committee's, so I offered the events committee the original slot and asked the finance chair if they could move to the following morning. When the finance chair pushed back, I explained that the room would still be available with the exact same setup and that I would personally re-send the updated notice to their members. I also offered to reserve a backup classroom as a contingency in case the audiovisual equipment failed.
Result
Both committees rehearsed, the finance chair later said she appreciated that I had checked the master schedule before deciding, and the university week presentations ran without a room conflict.
Using an objective criterion like the actual presentation date makes a prioritization decision easier to explain and defend.
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