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Category: Career

Admins with ‘longevity’ in hot demand

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.

Jump ship now, or stick it out?

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?

Get the most from your training

Your time and your organization’s training budget are precious commodities. Therefore, when you decide to invest in training, ensure that you will gain high-priority skills and information to help you do your job better and advance your career. Here are several things to keep in mind.

Speakers to grads: Go forth and fail

Last year brought a batch of good commencement addresses, often on how failure can lead to success. For example, J.K. Rowling, author of the Harry Potter series, told Harvard grads that seven years after her own graduation, she had “failed on an epic scale.” She said, “It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all—in which case, you fail by default.”

Why you need weekly status reports

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.

No self-control? Trick yourself

The problem of self-control goes back to Adam and Eve, says Dan Ariely, author of Predictably Irrational: We would all like to be in the Garden of Eden, but eating an apple right this moment may be too tempting to avoid. Next time you’re trying to accomplish a long-term goal, consider these two strategies for “tricking” yourself into sticking with your plan:

Striking a work/life balance

Question: “I can’t seem to find the happy medium between too much work and not enough. Although I’ve been doing training for 20 years, I still spend a million hours on my lesson plans and class materials … I’d like to nurture my creative side by trying out some new hobbies and activities. How can I stop devoting so much time to my work?” — Too Dedicated

Worst part of the recession?

No pay raise is the worst part of the recession, say more than a quarter of administrative professionals, while slightly less (21%) say their workload has increased, according to a new survey from the International Association of Administrative Professionals.