usa job typing

As in every aspect of life, relationships are two-way. Both parties have a responsibility and work to do to make it work. In the admin/boss working relationship however you do have an edge since it is you who schedules your executive�s calendar. Schedule yourself in for one-on-one meetings with your boss on a regular basis. Each situation will be different, but either short daily meetings or longer meetings once a week will work. Make your meetings count and come prepared with relevant questions you need answers to or with information your boss needs to know. Also use it as a time to get to know them a little bit better. It makes for a better working relationship when you have respect for each other and respect comes from knowing the other person and appreciating who they are as a person as well as for their position. Give your boss a reason to have confidence in you. Write down any direction or information they give you when you are meeting with them and follow up on items th...

As an admin it is sometimes hard to know when you should go ahead and make a decision and when you need to wait for your boss.  Recently, on an admin site, someone suggested setting out every scenario she could think of and ranking whether it needs the boss's approval or not.  Although I understand why she would want to do that, I thought an easier way would be to break it down as follows: Will it impact your company? If it is something that could embarrass your company or bind it financially in any way, this is definitely something your boss should be deciding, not the admin.  Will it inconvenience your boss? If it is something that will impact your boss directly then it should be done in collaboration with them such as making travel arrangements, booking meetings outside of business hours or during their lunch hour or booking them with someone they have never met or may not want to meet.  Things that will directly affect them should be...

As women working in an office with men, who are more than likely in authority, this is something we undoubtedly will come across at some time in our careers.  I think men probably experience it as well, but it is not reported as often. I recall as a young woman working for a large mostly male organization in the late 70s, it was just an expected thing that you would get your bum pinched while walking by someone's desk or have sexual remarks made about you. At the time I just went with the flow and thought it was normal, although I found it uncomfortable. Nowadays this would not be acceptable behaviour. We have come a long way in the law, but also in our thinking on what good office behaviour is. Further to my blog post on Workplace Harassment and Bullying , I was contacted by a lawyer from California who asked if they could post an article on sexual harassment.  I thought it would be interesting to hear from an expert so they could actually give...

As I mentioned in my previous post, I was giving a webinar on minute-taking yesterday.  There were a few questions that as I pondered last night, I wanted to give a more fulsome answer to today.  Since some of you are on my blog, I thought this would be a good way to answer those questions. Do you need to record in the minutes when someone abstains from a vote? This is a good question, but doesn't have a simple answer.  It all depends on what type of meeting you are recording at and what rules they follow.  The meeting recorder should have a good grasp of the rules of order that their meeting follows as that will help to answer questions like this.  But rest assured it is always OK to go back and find the answer.  I keep the rule book with me in the meeting and have tabbed it to some things that I want to be able to find quickly.  Here are some frequently asked questions about voting at a meeting. For the m...

The first time my boss asked me to take minutes I gulped and the fear took over.  I'm sure many of you can relate and know exactly what I mean.  As I was walking to the boardroom I chattered nervously to him that I hadn't taken minutes since high school.  It ended up being a ploy to get me to the boardroom for a baby shower - Surprise!!! Whew, I had dodged a bullet, but I knew this, I never wanted to take a job that required minute taking.  But fast forward a bit and now I really enjoy taking minutes. So what changed? Well... I wanted to progress in my career and knew if I was going to do that I would have to learn to take minutes.  There are not many Executive Assistant jobs that don't require minute taking.  In our office all the administrative assistants also have to take minutes.  I'm the type of person that when I want to do something I learn everything there is about it.  I bugged everyone I knew that had ever taken...

I use the Ctrl keys so frequently that I almost forgot a few good ones.  To open a new blank document in Word, press Ctrl n .  To open a document, press Ctrl o .  Ctrl F4 will close the document, Alt F4 will close the document and the program.  If you haven't saved the document, it will prompt you to Save, Don't Save or Cancel.  Or you can press Ctrl s before you close it. Many of these Ctrl key functions will work in other Microsoft programs, but not always.  The regular formatting ones such as Ctrl b , Ctrl i , Ctrl s  and Ctrl u etc. do work, but some of the others do not work in Outlook, Excel or PowerPoint. The one we are probably most familiar with is of course Ctrl Alt Delete.  I think we all know what that one is for.

Someone at work was trying to paste something by right clicking and using the paste option.  There were three options to choose from with a symbol for a paint brush, an arrow and the letter 'A'.  She tried one and it wasn't the paste she wanted so she said in frustration, "I never know which one to choose."  Each of the paste options do have a purpose, but for what we were trying to do I told her to just press Ctrl v and that would do it.  I have been using Ctrl keys for years and they are so simple and easy to use. For those not familiar with the Ctrl key, it is located in the lower left-hand corner of the keyboard. To use it you need to press the Ctrl key and while holding it down press the letter for whatever you wish to do.  For example, these are very user friendly because the letter relates to what you want to do: Ctrl s  for S ave Ctrl p  for P rint Ctrl f  for F ind Ctrl c for C ...

As many of you know, I have been in administrative work for over thirty years.  As much as I've enjoyed it, a lot of injuries come with our line of work.  Recently, I was being assessed by a personal trainer at my gym and was complaining about my weak arms and she immediately asked what profession I was in.  As soon as I told her what I did for a living she gave a knowing nod.  She then listed a number of things that office workers suffered from because of our long hours sitting at the computer.  I had experienced most of them.  I am hoping she will be able to help me get some strength back, but in the meantime someone sent me this article that I thought was important to share to avoid some of these problems. 18 Important Ergonomics Tips for Online Students &Workers. http://www.onlinecollegecourses.com/2012/01/18/18-important-ergonomics-tips-for-online-students-workers/ If you are a younger worker, please take note of the tips as it will cert...

http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-an-administrative-assistant.htm

We spend most of our time at work so it stands to reason that the relationships we have at work are very important and worth spending time making them better.  As an admin we work very closely with our bosses, but also with other admins.  I'm sure everyone has experienced a day when they feel that their boss just doesn't understand them or another assistant is being nasty, but can our reaction make a difference?  The only person we really have any say over is ourselves.  We can choose to be bitter and angry towards our co-workers or we can choose to get along.  But they deserve it you might say and you could very well be right, but getting back at them doesn't make our work life any better and in fact makes it worse because then we are angry too.  For my New Years resolution I have decided to look at the positive and concentrate on that, rather than the negative.  As parents we are told to encourage our children and t...

Have you ever worked for someone and they under-utilized you or just didn't seem to know how to work with an assistant?  I once worked for a young boss and you could tell he wasn't quite sure what he could give me or what I was capable of doing.  I had enough experience that I just started doing some of the things and when he saw I was ready, willing and able to do it, he gladly passed it on to me.  For other things I spoke to him about it and asked if it was something I could do.  He was very appreciative of the effort.  Another young woman I worked for seemed to be intimidated by me at first because I was the age of her mother, but over time we started to have a great working relationship.  I would often tell her to quit apologizing every time she gave me work to do as she was my boss and I was there to assist her. IAAP has an article on their website about how to work more effectively with an ad...

I am not a lawyer and this is not considered legal advice in any way, but we recently had a lawyer come to speak to us about workplace harassment and bullying and it really cleared up a few things for me. As a supervisor I was especially interested because I don't want to cross the line, but because I am a supervisor I do have times where I need to speak to staff about various matters. But even if you aren't a supervisor there are things we can say that might be offensive and hurtful to others.  I was happy to learn that workplace harassment and bullying is based on how a reasonable person would have reacted given the entirety of the circumstances. Therefore if you are an overly sensitive person and found something to be harassing or bullying, it might not be considered so. For instance if I walk down the hall and fail to greet my co-workers, that might be rude, but not fall under workplace harassment and bullying. Also, having to speak to an empl...

I work with a boss who is very self sufficient (in other words he could live without me, but chooses not to) and a friend of mine works with someone who wouldn't know what to do without her help.  Which would you prefer? My job is unique in that I do my own work apart from my boss.  He does his thing and I do mine.  My work is generated by what he does, but I pretty well carry on with my duties on my own.  I do provide other support to him, but he doesn't really need it, but likes it.  The problem is when we are both working on the same thing and I think I am the one doing it, but in the meantime he has done it, i.e. we both contact the same person and he says he is available and I say he is not.  Of course when I check his calendar he really isn't.  Too many cooks in the kitchen is not a good thing. My friend's boss needs assistance in every little thing.  I prefer having a job that gives me a little more indepe...

You know it's time to move on from your present job when you see these things happening: Lack of interest The challenge has gone out of the job and things are becoming routine and mundane. Lack of trust You notice that you are not getting the same respect as before and things you do are being questioned more often. Lack of fun When the fun is gone then it becomes work and that is no fun at all. Over the years you start to see what things about your job spark the most interest.  For instance I really like organizing things and have a little jump to my step whenever I start the planning process for an event.  I also enjoy training and passing on information.  I am in the process of developing testing for admin interviews and I really enjoyed doing that.  I also like creating job manuals.  To me it is fun to put the pieces together and come up with a manual that will be helpful to any new person starting the job (I think that goes alon...

I have been super busy at work.  On top of managing the work lives of two very busy executives, I've also been planning a large dinner, board meeting and another event along with my other regular jobs.  Here is how I've been surviving: Keep Organized If it wasn't for the fact that I am organized, I don't know what I would have done.  At least I have my systems and know where everything is and that is half the battle.  You need to be able to grab what you need quickly.  You wouldn't believe how much time is wasted just looking for things. Ask for help Thankfully we have a great admin team who are always willing to help out in a crunch and I have been taking advantage of that.  There is always a small job here or there that if given away will relieve your workload and will definitely relieve your mind.  You know how it is when you know you have to do something, but just don't have the time to do it -- it weigh...

I'm not even going to ask if you have ever made a mistake, because I already know the answer.  Everyone makes mistakes, but how you handle it makes all the difference. Acknowledge it Whether it is a big mistake or a small one, you probably should admit it to your boss.  I say "probably" because sometimes, depending on the mistake, you can "fix" it and nobody really needs to know about it and it wouldn't be good to tell your boss about every little thing you did wrong.  For instance if you are organizing a meeting and send the meeting request to the wrong person, you can easily fix it by apologizing to whoever you invited by mistake, cancel that invitation and then invite the correct person.  Other times you really do need to tell your boss because it might have repercussions and it is best to admit it up front.  You can determine whether you need to tell your boss or not, but you absolutely should admit it to yourself. Learn from ...

It's hard to believe it was 10 years ago today that this tragedy happened.  It was certainly an event that changed a lot of things in our world and I'm sure each of us can remember exactly where we were on that fateful day. I heard one of the wives speak whose husband was a pilot on the second plane that crashed into the World Trade Centre.  What an inspiration she was as she and her family dealt with the loss.  Sometimes our little complaints or problems are miniscule compared to what others are going through.  It is good to do a check now and again to see if what we are concerned about is really that bad. Since the World Trade Centres were office towers there were many office workers such as managers, lawyers, bankers, administrative and executive assistants and many, many others.  To all those who were affected directly and lost loved ones I send you my deepest sympathy. 

I've mentioned this before, but it is true -- proofreading is a lost art.  I think people are over confident with spell check and forget that it can only do so much.  Lists: I was working with someone and we were comparing a list to make sure we had all the right people with their names spelled right, correct title and address.  The first thing I did was count the number of people on the list I was working from and then I counted them on the list I was getting the information from, it was out by three so that was a quick way to know that there was an error.  I then had someone read it over with me so we could easily identify the missing people and add them to our list. Another time we were doing a large RSVP list.  The first thing I did was a spell check.  That identified about 10 errors.  Next I eyeballed it and compared the names to the email addresses.  If it was spelled one way in the name section and spelled another way in the email addr...

Whether you are an Executive Assistant or an Administrative Assistant, email management of your boss's account has become a big part of our jobs.  But with that job comes responsibility and accountability.   Depending on what your boss's title is, we are often privy to some very confidential information.  Our boss either has allowed us access because he or she is just overwhelmed with email and has no choice, but also because they trust that we will keep it to ourselves and not spread the information in the office.  My boss has asked that I not read anything that has CONFIDENTIAL in the Subject Line and believe me I am grateful.  I have my own emails to read and process so when I go into his account, I am thankful for the emails I can skip over. These are the questions I ask myself as I am going through my boss's account: Is this email for my information only? Sometimes my boss cc's me on an email or I read it in his account and as ...

Join me for an effective minute-taking webinar on Thursday, July 28 at 1 p.m. EST  If you are interested, you can register here .