Take stock of your worth to the company
Protect your job—or set yourself up for a promotion—by communicating your quantifiable on-the-job results at a moment’s notice. Warm up with this exercise:
Category: Career
Why do I feel so chained to the job?
A working mom writes that she likes her job and feels lucky to have it. But, she says, “I feel chained to the job and out of the loop at home and everywhere … Working part time is not an option. Any advice for finding a better balance?”
Get healthier or expect to pay more
Veridian Credit Union issued this ultimatum to workers: Quit smoking, curb obesity, or you’ll pay more for health care in 2013. That workplace trend is on the rise, giving us one more reason to make “get healthier” a resolution for 2012.
What gives an admin ‘wow’ factor?
Being a stellar admin requires the skills of a mind-reader. So it was a boon recently when admins heard two executives speak candidly at the 18th Annual Conference for Administrative Excellence about the administrative profession.
Spice up a ‘same old, same old’ job
If you’ve ever wanted a new challenge to keep your administrative job from feeling “same old, same old,” consider how Catherine Russell must feel. She has played the same role in an off-Broadway play for 25 years. She offers good advice for staving off the feeling that your work is repetitive:
1-Minute Strategies: Dec. ’11
Focus on knowing where to get information quickly rather than knowing how to do everything … Watch what you say on Facebook: More than 90% of job-screeners say they’re using social network tools to weed out applicants … Take the lead in developing your own professional skills.
Career mistake #4
Executive search firm CEO Skip Freeman calls it “Fatal Career Mistake #4”—not branding yourself as a person who can save or make money for a company. These days, you won’t be hired merely because you have the know-how, he says. You’ve got to be a problem-solver.
Speak up without losing your job
Stupidity isn’t what stops good teams from being successful. More often, what happens is that people see a problem but choose not to speak up about it because raising the issue could be taboo. How to speak the truth without losing your job:
1 in 5 know a résumé fibber
A recent survey by OfficeTeam reveals that one in five employees knows someone who has lied on his or her résumé. Here’s the type of information employees are most often misrepresenting or exaggerating about:
Admin career advice that never gets old
A few bits of career counsel from Lilit Marcus’ Save the Assistants: A guide to surviving and thriving in the workplace: Know the difference between a job and a career. Do your job, and do it really, really well. Pay your dues intelligently. Learn everybody’s name and develop the right allies.