Careers in the Administrative Support Role

[napoleandynamite]

Please give your opinion. All positive and negative responses are welcome.

[Tony T]

You have to be a LOT more specific than that. An administrative support role can be anything from Secretary of Defense in support of the president to administrative secretary in support of the Chairman of the Board.

[napoleandynamite]

I meant more the Executive Assistant support role.

 

hope this helps

[bluechocolate]

That entirely depends on the executive & the parameters of the job. Some execs hire PAs, (which is what I think you're talking about) not only to work in the office, but to handle their personal lives as well. That has to be spelled out right from the very beginning.

 

I know a woman who has done this type of work now for many years. She has ended up working for people whose names we would all recognise. She loves it & is great at her job. I would love to hire her as my PA but I probably couldn't keep her busy enough! I think it takes a special kind of person to take on this kind of role, it is often thankless & demanding & people say, "oh, you're a secretary" all the time.

 

btw - one of the reasons I know she is good at her job, aside from who she works for - she never dishes dirt, no matter how hard I try!

[HokeyReligions]

It's a lot different now than it used to be. Many EA positions require a college degree because of the scope of work. There is often accounting and bookkeeping involved; human resource work (involving confidentaility), payroll and tax responsibilities and a host of other work that formerly was done by the executives themselves because the old-school 'secretary' was not trained for it. A friend of mine who was a senior secretary at a bank ended up being on the board of directors with lots of responsibility in managing the bank after her boss passed away. She stepped into the role after having done so much of it for so long. She did not have a college degree.

 

The down-side is the way the position is often viewed. With less respect. I've heard the "just a secretary" phrase so much I wanted to scream! Along with more responsible roles there are things like making copies for everyone, picking up and delivering mail, ordering office supplies, making coffee, ordering food and cleaning up after meetings, and general 'baby-sitting' for staff members. Those are the reasons I left that field. I was managing an office, supervising others, hiring and interviewing and training, and issuing POs and Requisitions and when I left that position and went looking for a new one it was like starting over. Its hard to walk into that same role in another company when you are under the heading of Administrative Support. I just wasn't willing to keep starting over and I really didn't want to do all the 'grunt' work anymore.

 

We have a great secretary though - she takes a lot of pride in her work and does a great job. She has a fantastic attitude too - which I began lacking and why I decided to do something different. I just got burned out. Although, if my last boss ever had an opening for an executive assistant I would work for him in that role in a heartbeat. The only reason I don't work for him is because all the time I was there I was contract - as was he. He has moved to another project and said if he could he would bring me back - but he is restricted by the terms of his contract and can't.

 

It's a great field to learn in though - you get to know all about a company and how the business world functions and a good AA or EA can take that experience and knowledge and go far. It's sad that its not as respected as it should be.

 

An anology I used to use when interviewing was that one could have the best, most luxurious, most expensive car in the world - top of the line Jaguar with all the bells and whistles for example, but if it doesn't have a great set of tires supporting it - its not going anywhere. That line landed me several jobs!

[Tony T]

I meant more the Executive Assistant support role.

 

hope this helps

 

Your question is way too general. That role could be GREAT if you have a good boss, work for a good company, make good money, aren't given twice the work you have time to do, have good benefits and aren't called in late at night and on weekends. It could also be a nightmare under other than optimal conditions. It's like any other job.

 

If you assert yourself and mold the job into what you would like it to be, you might just be OK.

 

As a general question, any paying job is nice but there are too many variables to go on from there.

[alphamale]

Please give your opinion. All positive and negative responses are welcome.

the "executive asst." position is a superb way to meet, date and then marry rich executive. this, of course, assumes the asst. is physically attractive.

[pricillia]

the "executive asst." position is a superb way to meet, date and then marry rich executive. this, of course, assumes the asst. is physically attractive.

 

 

Ok there is more to a woman than being physically attractive

It is the way she carries herself and the way she takes care of herself.

 

Maybe she will end of being the rich ececutive. The she can scope out only the men who are physically attractive.

[Moose]

Jamie has been a blessing to me.

 

She can literally read my mind, and knows how to make my day go smooth as glass.

 

Less than a year ago we put in an ad for an EA. We had over 300 applications to sift thru. We interviewed 30. Noone cut it, at least to my boss' standards.

 

We sifted again, got more in during the sifting, and then here she comes out of the blue.....young, college student, worked for her Father's business most of her life.

 

She was, out of all applicants to interview ME. And not the other way around.

 

Giving her background, working in a family business, I spilled it to her, and told her all of things I'd like off my back, and the behaviour she could expect from me, and others in the office.

 

I hired her, before the boss could say anything. He did make me call her as soon as she left, just so he could meet her.....

 

Since then, even going to college part time, she keeps all 8 of us in line, the place is always ship shape, the shipping, the watering of the plants, the invoicing, the ordering, the mailing, the mondain duties that occupied each of us in some degree.....all done with complete detail.

 

What I love about her the most, is that she has no problem walking up to anyone, and telling them how it is.....

 

We all worship the ground she walks on. Not because she's a cutie, and she is......a real hottie....but because she pays great detail to the little things that make our day, "click", while covering her greater responsibilties.

 

I'm somewhat restricted in what I can pay her due to her financials with the college, and we've discussed her being a, "lifer", in which we'd cover these expenses. She's indicated that's she's interested, BUT as smart as she is, will still to plan A for now......another admirable trait.....

[pricillia]

Ok there is more to a woman than being physically attractive

It is the way she carries herself and the way she takes care of herself.

 

Maybe she will end of being the rich ececutive. The she can scope out only the men who are physically attractive.

 

oh too funny the way I spelled executive, Like I am drunk or something...

 

[alphamale]

We all worship the ground she walks on. Not because she's a cutie, and she is......a real hottie

I doubt you and your cronies would worship the the ground she walks on if she was fat and ugly. And anyways, you should only be worshipping Jesus Christ.

[Moose]

I doubt you and your cronies would worship the the ground she walks on if she was fat and ugly. And anyways, you should only be worshipping Jesus Christ.

To be honest with you, ALPHAMALE, I don't work with my cronies. The only cronie I work with is the President.

 

Secondly, this young lady deserves respect for taking on such a challenge, and exceeding in it.

 

Thirdly, (in a language you can understand), yes, she's has hottie body, but her demeanor, temperance and homely face is quite a turn off.

[laRubiaBonita]

Please give your opinion. All positive and negative responses are welcome.

 

positive..... you (usually) learn a lot, cause you are the one doing all the leg work, ie...typing up letters, coordinating schedules, answering questions....

 

negative..... You do all the work and do not get paid as much as the others you are doing it for, unless you screw up, you really get no recognition for the hardwork you do.

 

Go to college, get a GOOD job.... that would be my advice to someone wanting to "explore" this field of service.

[blind_otter]

I tried this line of work and it sucked big, hairy, sweaty balls. I hated it. Maybe I have the wrong personality type for it, or a chronic attitude problem.

 

It seems to me that you have to leave your sense of humor at home when you work in these positions. God forbid you crack a joke. And the boss always expects you to have the same sense of urgency. Look, I have a sense of urgency when someone is about to die. That's it. otherwise there is no effing reason to get your panties wadded up. Besides the fact that I'm already pretty high strung as it is. My coping mechanism, to try to take things in stride and not freak out at work -- was interpreted as laziness or being unenthusiastic.

 

Personally I think this is a great job for people who are severely codependent and pathological people pleasers. Otherwise you constantly get the overwhelming urge to tell people to shut up and calm the fruck down.

 

I would never, ever, ever do this type of work. EVER again. I would rather starve and scrape together peanuts doing freelance writing than wriggle under the thumb of a tyrannical supervisor on a sick power trip who has no concept that other people are human beings who breathe, eat, think, feel, and have lives outside of work.

 

IME you get exposed to the worst charactaristics in people when you are in an administrative support role.

 

Plus the work is tedious, to the extreme, and not intellectually challenging. Definately challenges your tolerance and organizational skills, but that's it. Shuffling paperwork is possible one of the quickest ways to lose sight of reality. Then people get stuck in the 9-5 work mode and hit 55 wondering WTF happened to their lives and then they scramble to piece together some meaning using the hapless individuals in their families, like their spouses or children, or worse yet - God.

 

But it's all covering up the fact that they whittled away their lives yolked to an inbox.

[alphamale]

To be honest with you, ALPHAMALE, I don't work with my cronies. The only cronie I work with is the President.

I stand corrected...

 

Secondly, this young lady deserves respect for taking on such a challenge, and exceeding in it.

Agreed.

 

Thirdly, (in a language you can understand), yes, she's has hottie body, but her demeanor, temperance and homely face is quite a turn off.

ok well thats different. you did not expound on that originally.

[laRubiaBonita]

... I, personally, only slept with bosses AFTER i had moved on from the company. I was a temp. for 2 years... it was Fun!

[alphamale]

... I, personally, only slept with bosses AFTER i had moved on from the company. I was a temp. for 2 years... it was Fun!

you're a crafty girl LRB