Reviewed by Stan, Head of Hiring Department, TLNT.ae"My English is B1, is that enough?" is the question that stops more people from applying than any other. The honest answer is: it depends on the role, and less on grammar than most candidates think. An administrative assistant to a Russian-speaking owner and an executive assistant to a C-level executive in an international company need different English, and both are real jobs in Dubai. This article from our School of assistants series explains what level each assistant type actually needs, how employers test it (rarely with a certificate), how to prepare in 60 days, what the mixed-language reality of Russian-speaking employers looks like, why Arabic is a plus and which phrases carry most of the daily work. Levels are given on the CEFR scale (B1, B2, C1) as orientation, not as a rule.
Talk to usEnglish in this profession is mostly written and mostly on someone else's behalf: your email is the principal's email. That is why writing matters more than accent and why a short, correct message beats a long fluent one. The table gives orientation levels; a specific employer may ask for more or accept less.
| Assistant type | Orientation level | What you actually do in English |
|---|---|---|
| Administrative assistant (team or office) | B1 strong to B2 | Emails to suppliers and colleagues, phone calls, documents, data entry, visitors; templates cover most of it |
| Personal assistant to a Russian-speaking principal | B1 strong to B2 | Bookings, clinics, schools, landlords, government portals, vendors; the principal speaks Russian with you |
| Personal or lifestyle assistant to an international principal | B2 | Daily spoken and written communication with the principal and their circle, restaurants, travel, events |
| Executive assistant | B2 strong | Writing in the principal's voice to partners, banks and authorities, meeting notes, calendar negotiation with other assistants, calls |
| Executive assistant to C-level or a family office | C1 | Board papers, sensitive correspondence, legal and financial vocabulary, negotiation by email, presentations |
| Virtual assistant | B2 (depends on clients) | Written communication almost entirely: inbox, research summaries, bookings, social media admin |
| Chief of staff | C1 | Leading meetings, writing strategy notes, representing the principal with partners and the team |
Employers in Dubai almost never ask for an IELTS or TOEFL certificate for an assistant role. They test on the job, in the interview, in four predictable ways.
Two months of focused daily practice move a working B1 to a solid B2 for this specific job, because the vocabulary of an assistant is narrow and repetitive. The plan is about an hour a day.
A large part of the assistant market in Dubai is Russian-speaking owners, executives and families. Their assistants live in two or three languages at once, and the role is realistic for a candidate whose English is still growing.
Most of an assistant's English is twenty situations repeated daily. Learn these shapes and adapt the names. Keep every message short, specific and with a next step.
TLNT is a hiring consultancy. For employers we define the real language requirements of the role with you, search for candidates and check their English and other languages on tasks from the actual job, not on a certificate; you make the hiring decision and agree the terms with the candidate yourself, the person is employed directly by your company, the employer sponsors the visa and we give you a step-by-step checklist.
For candidates: send your CV through our candidates page or build one in the free CV builder; we let you know when an employer has a matching vacancy. Candidates never pay us.
Our fee is fixed for each role and agreed before the search starts. A 10% prepayment of the fee starts the search, the rest is due once the person has started work. If it does not work out, we find a replacement free of charge; the period is set in the contract. Consulting and CRM projects are priced after a free review.
As orientation on the CEFR scale: B1 strong to B2 for an administrative assistant or a personal assistant to a Russian-speaking principal, B2 for a personal or lifestyle assistant to an international principal, B2 strong for an executive assistant, C1 for an executive assistant to C-level or a family office and for chief of staff. Written English matters most, because you write on the principal's behalf. Employers test it on tasks in the interview, not with a certificate.
Yes, in some roles: administrative assistant in a team, or personal assistant to a Russian-speaking owner or family, where the principal speaks Russian with you and English is used with clinics, schools, vendors and portals. Prepare templates for the twenty most common situations, practise for 60 days and be honest about the level in the interview. Executive and C-level roles need B2 strong to C1.
Our fee is fixed for each role and agreed before the search starts. A 10% prepayment of the fee starts the search, the rest is due once the person has started work. If it does not work out, we find a replacement free of charge; the period is set in the contract.
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Message on WhatsAppReviewed by Stan, Head of Hiring Department, TLNT.aeCite as: TLNT.ae, "English level for an assistant in Dubai what each role really needs, how employers test it and how to prepare in 60 days", 2026, https://tlnt.ae/en/guides/english-level-for-assistant-dubai/. Prepared by TLNT.ae, a hiring consultancy working in the UAE since 2022.