Just starting out? Take a shortcut with our assistant training:

  • Take advantage of our 20+ years of assisting experience
  • Get answers to any assisting question you have directly from us
  • Access a library of tools, templates & resources assistants use daily
  • Use our training to shine from day one
  • Get promoted in the shortest time possible
Learn more about the program or
Dress for Success
Our 1-for-1 partnership with Dress for Success®:
For every person who enrolls in our training, we donate a full year scholarship to a Dress for Success client. It's an easy way to help someone in need during these difficult economic times! Learn More Here.
Interpersonal Skills

Communication only becomes more critical as your career advances. Fine-tune those communications skills for phenomenal performance.
Organization

Ever hear of a fantastic disorganized assistant? Neither have we. Get the tools and tactics you need to stay organized and on the ball in your assisting duties.
Stress Management

Keeping a cool head in a crisis is one of the most oft-neglected essential skills of an assistant. Learn how to keep stress at bay so you can rise above.
Technology

There are innumerable programs, websites, and online tools to help make your job easier. We’ll review and recommend the best ones for assistants.
Tricks of the Trade

Take the shortcut to gaining years of experience by getting our Cliffs notes version of what we’ve learned from our 20 years in assistant positions.
All Posts, Technology,

Our E-Learning Module Introduction and Outline
May 27, 2009 at 05:19 PM | (0) Comments

Introducing our Module intro and outline…

Just a quick note to let you know about the addition of two more pages to our site that will give you an understanding of what the E-Learning Module section of our course consists of.

At just under 70 minutes long, this online training module was written and designed by us to give you a complete knowledge base of how to be a top-notch assistant.

Click the drop-down tabs above under the “About the Program” tab or click HERE to view the module outline and HERE to view the introduction to the course.

As always, let us know if you have any comments or questions below. Thanks!

 

All Posts, Tales from the Trenches,

There’s a POTUS & FLOTUS but ROTUS?
May 19, 2009 at 05:22 PM | (0) Comments

rotusYou’ve probably heard of the abbreviations POTUS and FLOTUS (President of the United States and First Lady of the United States respectively) but have your heard of ROTUS?

ROTUS stands for Receptionist of the United States and currently, Darienne Page holds that position. That’s her on the phone to the right (photo credits: Doug Mills/NYT) and HERE’S a link to a profile of her via The New York Times.

Darienne is tasked with meeting any official visitor who comes in to have a meeting with the President or any senior staffer in the White House. She has had to chat “small talk” with the likes of everyone from Tiger Woods to Tony Blair all while making sure the waiting area for the West Wing runs smoothly. As a follow-up on our post about Reggie Love, the most powerful assistant in the world, I’m highlighting Darienne and her position for two specific reasons… and one of them is NOT her $36,000-a-year salary but rather in spite of it.

rotusobamaReason one: Even though the salary might not knock your socks off, having “The White House” on your resume will certainly knock your future employer’s socks off, not to mention a letter of recommendation from the President himself. The point is that assisting (and receptionists are a type of assistant) an organization that everyone knows of goes a long way… and when you combine that with the people you’ve met in that position, you become a very attractive candidate for a different company just by association.

Reason two: THE PERKS ARE HUGE! Darienne is tasked with giving out the President’s tickets to his box at the Kennedy Center. Did I mention Tiger Woods? AND she has placed herself at the nexus of history being made. I’d say those are very nice perks indeed… something to tell the grandkids.

So, if you’re young and don’t have any huge financial obligations, you might be given the opportunity to work for a very well known company or individual for not that much money and my advice is to take that position, run with it and shine.

UPDATE: Below is video of Darienne from NBC’s “Inside the Obama White House” documentary:

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

 

All Posts, Technology, Tricks of the Trade,

How do YOU look online?
May 13, 2009 at 06:29 PM | (0) Comments

google-homepage

How much do you want to bet that when you meet with a human resource manager at a company you’re interviewing with that they Google you before you step in the office?

Don’t take that bet… you’ll lose.

Do you know what comes up when you put your name into Google? How would a potential hiring manager look at you after viewing those links?

Are you sweating yet?

Don’t worry… there are some things you can to do to be proactive about how your ONLINE self appears to the random searcher.

Sure, there might be a picture of you downing a funnel in the parking lot of a college football game but that doesn’t have to be the last impression the HR manager gets after frisking you online.

What to do?

We suggest that you put MORE of yourself out there instead of trying to hide. You can do this by updating your MySpace and Facebook page with an eye towards what outsiders see when they come across those pages; you can put up a LinkedIn profile, which is more business oriented, with detailed information about you and what you’re about. The point being, the more information there is online about you, the less likely anyone searching is going to spend the time to really find that picture at the college football game.

You can also create a Google Profile (you have to have a Google account, which is free, before you can create a profile) all about yourself with a picture and various bits of information. Then, when someone puts your name into Google, your profile will pop up. Thanks to AdminSecret for this one!

You could also, for free, start a blog… a blog about your job search; about key qualities you have to offer a future employer; express a desire to perform well for a company you care about; detail your work ethic by writing about past jobs you’ve held and how you excelled at them; and you could post about things outside of work like any organizations you’re involved with or creative outlets and hobbies you enjoy.

Lastly, if all else fails, tell the HR manager that: “I’m sorry but you got the wrong [insert your name]. I would NEVER funnel a beer at a college football game… only at concerts would I ever do such a thing.”

 

All Posts, Tales from the Trenches,

A Night Out for the Assistants!
May 08, 2009 at 06:33 PM | (0) Comments

assistants2-screening

Other than Ryan Reynolds in the front row, all the others (mostly men) in the crowd are assistants. On her blog, Deadline Hollywood Daily, Nikki Finke reports about a screening for the new Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds movie, The Proposal, that was screened just for assistants in Hollywood.

The movie’s distributor thought it would be a good PR opportunity to invite assistants to a screening just for them as Reynolds plays an assistant in the movie who is forced to marry his mean boss (Bullock) to keep her from being deported… and we’re pointing it out here as just one of the many perks that an assistant in Hollywood gets; NOT the proposal mind you but the free movie screening.

Perks are a great part of the gig… tickets to Rangers games, concert tickets, parties, gifts given to your boss that they don’t want or need, free lunches, free gym memberships; depending on where you’re working and in what industry, don’t discount the perks.

Through her blog, Nikki highlights the assistant position from time and time like HERE and HERE where she details two of the agencies and the training programs they’ve set up for their assistants. By looking at the “class schedule” though, it seems that these “classes” leave a bunch of important information, tactics and “tricks of the trade” out and given my own experience navigating the treachorous waters of Hollywood as an assistant I’m sure ProAssisting can help you fill that gap!

 

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