How do admins bring value to their roles? We asked administrative assistant Eileen Behr, who recently won the 2010 OfficeTeam Administrative Excellence Award. Here’s how she brings a “value-added” focus to her job:
The demand for highly skilled assistants has increased the past several years, as shareholders and customers demand greater access to executives. Among the most desired: assistants with tech savvy and “demonstrated longevity.” In other words, admins who have built over time a strong working relationship with their executive bosses.
One reader, Linda, wrote us with this quandary: The company she worked for was acquired by another company. Previously, she’d been offered perks, such as reimbursement for the graduate degree she earned. But the new employer has frozen pay and promotions, cut pay and issued layoffs … Should Linda hang in there or leave?
Doing weekly status reports for your boss is a good idea for four reasons: It forces you to think about what you accomplished; allows you to toot your horn regularly; helps during your performance appraisal; and provides fodder for your résumé.
Interviewing for a job? Ask whether this is a new position or whether you are replacing someone … Avoid misunderstandings by asking others to repeat what they heard … Trade in old electronics for cash or discounts … Humanize interoffice communication by relaxing some of the grammar rules you grew up with …
“Genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration,” Thomas Edison once said. Making ideas happen is usually more difficult and time-consuming than announcing it in the first place. Jack Dorsey, creator and co-founder of Twitter, offers these tips for making ideas happen:
Administrative professionals could be a secret weapon in helping companies bounce back from the recession. New research by OfficeTeam and the IAAP shows admins are moving beyond their traditional roles to take on responsibilities in areas such as cost control, technology and the use of social media, hiring and corporate social responsibility.
Someday, hopefully not too terribly soon, you’ll be looking for another job. And when that happens, you’ll need to sharpen your résumé so that it captures the attention of hiring managers. The main focus on your résumé should be itemizing victories, so that your future boss can imagine you doing the same things for him.
Consider two administrative assistants within the same company: Tara forges relationships across departmental lines while Max is mainly interested in meeting his team’s needs. When it’s time for company leadership to tap employees to work on a new, interdepartmental project, whom do you think they’ll pick?
Many of the mistakes people make when job hunting could be avoided, says Robin Ryan, a vocational counselor. “I divide my time between talking to hiring executives, HR folks and working with job search clients. This gives me a very broad view of what people do that works, and what trips them up—often without realizing it,” Ryan says. The top reasons job hunters fail:
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