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Beware of Golden Handcuffs
Can you have golden handcuffs as an Assistant?
Absolutely.
If you are not looking to be a career assistant, in our training we suggest before you hit your 2.5 year mark working as an assistant that you know where you want to progress to in your career. You then need to take this desire of yours and express it to your boss and human resource department well before an opportunity for you to make a career change presents itself.
If you don’t, you’re going to be type cast as an assistant and it will be much harder for you to make the switch to another position within your current company or at another company as something other than an assistant.
This is just a fact of life in the corporate world: become great at something and that’s what you’ll be known for. To use us as personal examples, both Stephanie and I have turned into career Executive/Personal Assistants. We both love our bosses, we have an immense amount of trust and responsibility placed on us from our bosses and we both get paid very well for our work which has afforded us a great life.
On the flip side though, we both say to ourselves, “What do we want to do when we grow up?”
This post is not meant to scare you away from being a career assistant, it’s just that we want you to be aware of how your boss, you co-workers and others in your industry will view your experience after working as an assistant for an extended length of time; we say four years or longer.
Lastly, we have to remind ourselves at times that our quality of life –which can’t be measured in dollars and cents– is very high for living in New York City AND that we have the time and money to do things like create this course outside of our day jobs… or write the next great American screenplay… or volunteer as a big sister… and having the freedom and time to do those things is very satisfying indeed.
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My First Office Friend
After graduating college, I was offered a job as an editorial assistant at a high-powered Washington, DC consulting firm. We edited and produced all of the World Bank and IMF’s publications. I was so psyched since I had always loved to write and this sounded like the most glamorous job. Me, working for the World Bank?? Suhweet!
My first day on the job, I arrived to find a huge stack of paper and a tape dispenser on my desk. That’s all. My new boss, the editor-in-chief, came over and told me to go in the conference room and hang each sheet of paper on the wall, in chronological order. And it had to be done before the client arrived in 30 minutes. I didn’t ask any questions, I just hung.
Of course my mind was a flutter: How far apart should the pages be? Will there be enough wall space for 196 pages? Why the heck am I doing this???
But then I got to watch my boss work his magic on the document and in turn, the clients. He drew all over the pages and renumbered paragraphs with a marker. There were scribbles on each page that meant something to him…and eventually to me too. It was his way of seeing the big picture and figuring out how the flow of the document should go.
After the first few “wall sessions” with clients, I began to see how the documents really transformed under his crazy artist’s hand. Despite the sniggers around the office at my paper hanging responsibilities, I secretly enjoyed being part of these meetings, where the pages were being transformed into important publications. More importantly, I learned that it took about 20 minutes to hang a 200-page document on the wall. But man, I hated those cumbersome tape dispensers. There had to be a better way…
Right before heading home for the Christmas holiday, my boss left a Scotch handband tape dispenser on my desk as a gift. He didn’t say much in the way of praise or feedback but I knew that he appreciated my hard work.
Moral of the story? There might be easier ways to “skin a cat” so either look for those ways or ask someone else if they have any ideas. As for my new handband tape dispenser? Let’s just say it was the beginning of a beautiful friendship.
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PermalinkA “pat on the back” from us to you…
Happy Administrative Professionals Day!
Today is the day when bosses are supposed to pat their assistants on the back for a job well done. In fact, the whole week is supposed to be in recognition of administrative professionals but for us, here at ProAssisting, we’re just focusing on THE day which happens to be today! Happy Earth Day too, while we’re at it!
So please accept a “pat on the back” from us to you and just for good measure, you get a gold star too.
At the advertising agency that I work for, they throw us a breakfast and hand out $50 AMEX gift cards… very nice indeed and we all appreciate the fact that they take the time out and give a great gift to show us that they care but… we are the lucky ones.
You see, it’s the job of an assistant to remind their boss of all the important dates that busy bosses have on their calendars. And if you’re in a smaller company that doesn’t have an HR department to handle such events, the question then becomes: how do you go about reminding your boss that today is the day that they should appreciate you? Our answer to that question is: you don’t.
If you find yourself in this situation, don’t let the fact that your boss doesn’t have a clue that it’s Administrative Professional Day get you down. Take the “pat on the back” from us, the gold star up above and go about your day as any other. You know you do great work, we know you do great work and deep down inside, so does your boss.
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PermalinkThe Most Powerful Assistant in The World
Who is the most powerful assistant in the world?
That would be Reggie Love; President Obama’s personal assistant or “Body Man” in presidential speak but a personal assistant nonetheless.
This reporting by ABC News does a good job of explaining what Love does for his job by listing some of what he carries with him to take care of his boss:
“…an array of small, everyday items, such as a toothbrush, mouthwash, cough drops, aspirin and wet naps.”
A graduate of Duke University and a varsity member of both their basketball and football programs (in addition to being on the Dallas Cowboy football team before being cut), I’m sure helped Love secure a spot working for then Sen. Obama.
What is interesting and relevant for anyone looking to be or already working as an assistant is to read all of the menial and mundane tasks that Love completes for the President of the United States contrasted with powerful politicians, heads of state and celebrities who want to be his best friend since he controls access to the most powerful man in the world.
The same holds true for any assistant. Namely, you will have to complete projects and tasks that you might feel are below your skill level or not worth your time but you need to keep in mind that with the menial tasks comes great access to information and interactions with superiors and outside contacts that will further your career path.
By not letting the small stuff get you down and keeping an eye on the big picture of your job and career path, you’ll be able to have a smile on your face when your boss asks for that wet nap.
You can learn more about Reggie and his job in this NYTimes profile done during the ‘08 campaign.
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PermalinkPlans. Always. Change.
Plans always change… you can count on it & you should plan for it. What was that quote?… oh, yeah:
“The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry.” - Robert Burns from “To A Mouse” & used in the title of John Steinbeck’s “Of Mice and Men”
And as an assistant, or future assistant, you would be wise to remeber that quote when making plans… meeting plans, travel plans, office plans… you get the point.
If you start from the point of view that whatever you’re in the process of planning has a high probability of changing, you can organize those plans in a fashion that makes them easy to change.
Whether it’s buying a refundable plane ticket instead of non-refundable, ordering food for two or three more people than are scheduled to be in the meeting, reserving a conference room when your boss says that their office is fine but you have a feelin’ they’re going to add more people to the meeting… all of these things are setting yourself up to add, subtract or delete as needed. You’re ready for those plans to change so bring it on!
On the flip side of that coin, sometimes plans change and there is nothing humanly possible that you could have done to expect the change or have prepared for it ahead of time. Weather delay which strands your boss in a city with no hotel rooms available; car breaks down; god forbid, a death in the family… each of these situations present changes that you don’t have any control over. And in these uncontrollable instances, if you’ve organized effectively, you’ll be able to have all of the information you need at your fingertips to alternate to a brand new plan “B” in the blink of an eye.
The take away? Think of how the plans that you are making can change, prepare for those potential changes AND be as organized as possible so when a change occurs that you could have never foreseen, all the information you need to implement an effective plan “B” is at your fingertips.
Last point: Accept the fact that plans change and don’t let changing plans get you down (especially when you put in a lot of work to make those plans perfect); such is part of your job as an assistant.
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PermalinkUnder Promise + Over Deliver = Success
If, as an assistant or intern, you are able to under promise but then over deliver on any task or project presented to you, you will be a success in your boss’ eyes.
This concept is simple at first glance but much harder to pull off in real-world work situations. You see, your boss always will ask for the world and you are there to give it to them… that’s just the way it is. When you have an assistant yourself, you’ll be the one getting the world but that discussion is for another post.
For now, we’ll explain our advice on how to under promise but then over deliver for your boss.
Following through on this equation, the first step is to communicate properly the obstacles that are in the way of getting what your boss wants… an example might be that the afternoon flight from NYC to LA is always booked in business and first class so getting one of those seats might be difficult when making a reservation two days before the trip. You need to communicate any facts like this to your boss so they realize that it will be an uphill climb to get that first class seat (or whatever it is that they’re asking for).
The second step is to find the first class seat. In the example above this could be accomplished by checking all three NYC airports for flights instead of just your boss’ preferred airport, La Guardia, AND you can have the flight agent search other airlines that your boss might prefer less but if there’s a first class seat, they’ll take it. When all else fails, you can take a look at your boss’ schedule to see if things can be moved around to accommodate an open first class seat at a less desirable time. Lastly, if you back is really against the wall, wait-list your boss in first AND business class on their preferred flight and keep your fingers crossed that one of those seats clear.
All of these tactics are a bit of outside the box thinking and that’s the whole point. The average assistant would not outline to their boss the difficulty of fulfilling their request and when they run into one road block in completing that task say that it’s not possible. You, on the other hand, set expectations properly and then use all of your skills and ideas to get the request filled.
Thanks to Network Performance Daily for the pic; they believe in under promising and over delivering in their customer satifaction so much that they wrote it on their wall… literally.
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PermalinkReader Question: Asked & Answered
In the comments on another post, I told a reader that if she had any specific questions that she would like to bounce off of us to feel free. Well, she took us up on the offer and below you’ll find her questions and hopefully a satisfactory answer. If you have any questions you’d like answered, leave a comment or email us and we’ll get to it.
Cheryl B:
Sure, Ethan! I’ve got a big one for ya (or maybe not so big…but it’s big in my head). How do you sell yourself as an assistant to a company that currently has no assistant positions? Or simply sell the idea of an assistant to a company that is starting to expand and might not have a full grasp of how crazy things might get for them in the near future?
Thanks for the question, Cheryl. Having worked as an assistant in a 25 person company and the only assistant in the organization, this type of situation is unique in that as the sole assistant, you have to wear many different hats.
In my situation, I was the assistant to the CEO and by default, I also handled HR administration, office management, payroll/accounting, office tech & party planner in addition to all of the regular assisting duties for the CEO. So to answer your question, you could explain to this company that being an assistant in a start-up or small company can mean much much more and thus take various tasks off of other people’s plates to encourage growth and promote efficiency. If you are not afraid to get your hands dirty and explain to them other skills that you have that fall outside the normal definition of being an “assistant” (like knowing Quickbooks, etc.), they could more than justify making the hire and adding the position.
Lastly, I would also suggest that you “sell” the idea more as an office manager/assistant role instead of just a straight assistant role to more than justify the added expense of adding a new employee. Does that make sense? Thanks again for asking the question.
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PermalinkYour boss: Tough love, hot head or push over?
Bosses come in all shapes and sizes… does your boss treat you with tough love, are they a hot head or push over?
Everyone initially thinks that they want a push over for a boss but believe us, you don’t. Why? Because you won’t work as hard or get noticed for that promotion you want.
Do you want a hot head for a boss? In our view, it depends. If this boss has a reputation of being a hot head and you can survive working for them for an extended period of time, maybe even thrive, your reputation around the office will be that of ’saint’ for being able to put up with them. Which in turn will open more doors to promotion should you want to step through them.
In my opinion, I want a boss who gives tough love. Sure, the first six months can be brutal as you try to get up to speed and satisfy their demanding ways but boy, once you get that first compliement for a job well done, you’ll walk through fire for that boss. You see, a tough love boss is kinda in the middle between hot head and push over in that once you’ve proven yourself, the tough love boss will overlook a rare mistake and give you more freedom to pursue your own path within the organization. Plus, they keep you, and everyone else who works for them, on your toes.
Jerry Roberts of Careerjolt.com wrote a great guest post at Zenhabits on how to deal with a tough boss that’s worth checking out if you do have a tough boss or are considering working for one. However, if your boss is so unbearable that it is having negative effects on your personal life, maybe it’s time to tap your “See ya!” money and get out of there.
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PermalinkContact Categories…set ‘em up and use ‘em!
Almost all contact programs allow you to select different categories, that you can define, for each contact profile. Most people don’t use this feature or even know that it exists but as an assistant, if you set different categories for your boss’ contacts, it will save you time and make you look like a star when planning an event or sending out those holiday cards.
You see, when your boss says to copy a letter to all of your clients, you can select the client category in his contacts to fliter out all of the clients. Then, let’s say that one client is on the fence lately so in that situation, you can ask your boss if the letter should go to that client as well. You’re on the ball and they know it.
We suggest that you have categories for family, friends, clients, vendors, employees, network, potential clients and any others that are specific to your boss. And note that you can assign multiple categories for each contact.
Also, having the contacts broken up this way allows you to “mail merge” them into mailing labels for easy holiday card mailings or company newletters… but we’ll cover “mail merge” in a future post. For now, set up categories in your boss’ contacts and use ‘em… trust us, it helps.
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PermalinkNailing the interview
A majority of our effort here is to help you succeed at your assistant position however before we can do that, you need to land the job you want, right?
That brings us to Steve Errey’s “The Confidence Guy” blog and his post about making a confident first impression in an interview.
He runs down some of the “oldies but goodies” tips but a few of them really stood out to me like “don’t jump in the first chair you see” and “try to sit a bit diagonally across” from your interviewer so you’re not acting as a wall. Or like his tip about “pacing yourself” which talks about how getting to know someone takes a specific pacing and that you should let the interviewer set that pace and not blurt our your life history when they ask if you found the building OK.
Just some all around good tips to keep in mind when walking into that interview. Check out Steve’s full post HERE.
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Permalink“Are you having a bad day or…”
“…is it something I did (or said)?”
The above question can be used in any number of situations when you get the sense that the other person on the other end of the phone or email or standing in front of you, isn’t happy with you or your question or request.
As an assistant, you’re going to be asking people to do their own individual jobs all day long to get what you need done for your boss. Whether that person is the travel agent, IT help guy (or gal), person in accounting dealing with expense reports or anyone else who you might come in contact with if you sense them not being happy with you, you should ask the above question.
By asking the question you get one of two things:
- You give them an out to say, “Yeah, I’m having a bad day, sorry for my attitude.”… OR…
- You’ll find our real quick if it is something that you in fact did that made them give you their attitude.
You see, you can’t fix a problem or issue with someone else if you don’t know one exists so finding out the answer to that above question is your first step to creating a solid working relationship. We know that confrontation can be hard but if you ask the right question and give the person you’re dealing with an out, you will both be better off for it… and you’ll be surprised at how quickly that attitude you noticed earlier will disappear.
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PermalinkSave up your “See ya!” money ASAP
The advice in this post goes for pretty much everyone but as you’ll see below, assistants have to worry about fraud and ethical lapses within their company and be aware of the potential that they unknowingly could be an accomplice to such actions.
This article is about Bernie Madoff’s assistant, Annette Bongiorno down in FL. A reporter tracked her down and is asking questions about all of her assets and if she personally put through any trades on behalf of Bernie. There are legitimate questions about her involvement and knowledge of Bernie’s scheme BUT if she smelled something “fishy” in the beginning AND had some “See ya!” money saved up, she could have quit and avoided a really bad situation. Now she’s being tracked down by investigative reporters and has probably met a few times with the FBI.
Moral of the story? Save up some “See ya!” money ASAP when you enter the working world so if you ever smell anything “fishy” OR if you need to get away from a maniacal boss, you can.
UPDATE - Below is the video of this report and you can see that Annette wants nothing to do with it:
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PermalinkPhonesheet.com or ProAssisting’s Phone Sheet template?
The phone sheet is one of the most important tools that an assistant and boss have for keeping track of multiple phone calls. Most offices get more than tens calls per day and some get more than 200… yes, 200 phone calls per day. As you can imagine, keeping track of those calls and not letting any slip by you IS a full time job in-and-of-itself.
And that brings us to Phonesheet.com. This web based service was developed by a former Hollywood assistant and as someone who was a “Hollywood” assistant……I know how important it is to have a solid phone sheet with a system of how to use it so I was more than intrigued when I came across his service. But after looking over his site and the video demonstration, call me skeptical.
Don’t get me wrong, Phonesheet.com is a solid utility and gives you and your boss the ability to have access to your phone sheet via the web but I’m still not convinced that a solid phone sheet template with a key and rules in place isn’t any better. And what if your Internet access goes down? Lastly, at $15 per month or $160 for the year, the price seems a bit high to me when we give you our phone sheet template free in our email series as something from inside our the Member’s area. UPDATE: Since our email series is being revamped, you can download our phone sheet FOR FREE by clicking this link. Shhh, don’t tell our members:)!
Just remember, either way you go, using a phone sheet properly as an assistant is one of the KEYS to your success and it’s no wonder someone created a business around this valuable assistant tool.
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PermalinkAnd we’re off…
Hello and welcome to our little corner of the Internet. We’ve designed ProAssisting to be about and for assistants… numerous kinds of assistants such as Executive assistants, Personal assistants, Admin assistants, Group assistants, Second & Third assistants, virtual assistants, office managers, operation assistants and even interns. Yes, interns.
The kind of assistants and their work that we will not focus on are along the lines of medical, veterinary, paralegal or any other kind of assistant that requires specific certification. Rather, here we’ll be dealing with all the various corporate and creative organizations and companies that use assistants.
Thank you for your interest in ProAssisting and hopefully we’ll see you on the inside real soon.
Ethan & Stephanie
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