Two days late, but no less valid
Apr. 23rd, 2004 12:39 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tanaiseIt is so hard to work here. not because of the work, but because of the place--It's so much like ESSI was, and I remember how trapped I felt doing admin for them, how much I wanted to be doing the more interesting stuff, the stuff I eventually did get to do, the stuff everyone around me here is doing.
I don't regret working as an Admin Assistant. I truly believe *everyone* should have to do it at some point in their career, and take refresher courses when you're an executive. It makes you value not having to do that anymore, and I know I helped my admin staff whenever I could even after I'd been promoting because there were all those days that I could have desperately used just one person doing something extra, maybe, just maybe, i wouldn't feel like I was drowning and going down for the third time.
It's not just the type of work, or the never ending quantity, it's both, and it's that feeling that you have to do this work because their time is too valuable to be spent filling out expense reports or typing up meeting notes. And yes, the executives I supported were billing at something like $120 an hour, i'll concede the point that their time was more valuable than mine, but the same was not true for the whole depeartment, and there were always some people who annoyed me more than others. Here's a general rule of thumb--If you ask the admin staff to do something for you--even if it is nothing more than their job--thank them. Repeatedly, even. It doesn't cost you anything, and it's going to make them more willing to help later on. Thank them right away, don't hold back until you've looked at it and made sure it's right--you can do that later, and suggesting that you think they're incapable of doing the job correctly (even if it's true) is not going to make you any friends.
I *hated* being Admin because there's an assumption that someone who is an admin isn't capable of doing anything more difficult. And it may be true, but it may not be, and it sure as hell wasn't true in my case. I had *exactly* the same education and skills and all that, or better, as all the perky little girls who got hired after me, and I made 3K a year less than them automatically, and it drove me crazy, because there wasn't anything different between us, I had to do more work, and yet I was lesser. I was furious with my company when I was passed over for a promotion for a year because I'd been admin my first year there. According to them, that time didn't count. Might as well have never existed. Quite seriously, they are lucky I went to Clarion and didn't have to time to appeal that argument in detail, because I would have. I was so mad. 9 months I'd spent working for them, doing everything they didn't do for themselves, and it counted for so little in the long run? Oh, so mad.
And I think I'm about ranted out, so I'll just leave you with this: if you have anyone helping you in an admin capacity, and you didn't on the 21st, get them something monday morning. Anything. Coffee, something breakfast like, a handful of flowers from the seller at your metro stop. It's the thought that counts, and in this case, the thought is "Thank god I have you so I don't have to do these expense reports all by myself." :)
I don't regret working as an Admin Assistant. I truly believe *everyone* should have to do it at some point in their career, and take refresher courses when you're an executive. It makes you value not having to do that anymore, and I know I helped my admin staff whenever I could even after I'd been promoting because there were all those days that I could have desperately used just one person doing something extra, maybe, just maybe, i wouldn't feel like I was drowning and going down for the third time.
It's not just the type of work, or the never ending quantity, it's both, and it's that feeling that you have to do this work because their time is too valuable to be spent filling out expense reports or typing up meeting notes. And yes, the executives I supported were billing at something like $120 an hour, i'll concede the point that their time was more valuable than mine, but the same was not true for the whole depeartment, and there were always some people who annoyed me more than others. Here's a general rule of thumb--If you ask the admin staff to do something for you--even if it is nothing more than their job--thank them. Repeatedly, even. It doesn't cost you anything, and it's going to make them more willing to help later on. Thank them right away, don't hold back until you've looked at it and made sure it's right--you can do that later, and suggesting that you think they're incapable of doing the job correctly (even if it's true) is not going to make you any friends.
I *hated* being Admin because there's an assumption that someone who is an admin isn't capable of doing anything more difficult. And it may be true, but it may not be, and it sure as hell wasn't true in my case. I had *exactly* the same education and skills and all that, or better, as all the perky little girls who got hired after me, and I made 3K a year less than them automatically, and it drove me crazy, because there wasn't anything different between us, I had to do more work, and yet I was lesser. I was furious with my company when I was passed over for a promotion for a year because I'd been admin my first year there. According to them, that time didn't count. Might as well have never existed. Quite seriously, they are lucky I went to Clarion and didn't have to time to appeal that argument in detail, because I would have. I was so mad. 9 months I'd spent working for them, doing everything they didn't do for themselves, and it counted for so little in the long run? Oh, so mad.
And I think I'm about ranted out, so I'll just leave you with this: if you have anyone helping you in an admin capacity, and you didn't on the 21st, get them something monday morning. Anything. Coffee, something breakfast like, a handful of flowers from the seller at your metro stop. It's the thought that counts, and in this case, the thought is "Thank god I have you so I don't have to do these expense reports all by myself." :)
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no subject
Date: 2004-04-23 11:12 am (UTC)You had to stay on top of things, remember everyone's names, keep track of all the various tasks you had to do and any more that might come your way. Do all sorts of various things that may or may not have been part of your job description. That's how it was there, though I don't know about other places.
I have respect for them, since I'm too scatter-brained for it myself.
no subject
Date: 2004-04-23 12:52 pm (UTC)Yup. There are a lot of reasons why I've stayed in my current job, but this is the reason I hate it when people ask me what I do for a living.