Administrative Assistant's Update - sample

5 Administrative Assistant's UPDATE Credit: totallypic/Shutterstock Recognition of admins' value edges upward By Staff Compensation for administrative pro- fessionals has consistently fallen short of recognizing their true worth to an organization. Gender discrimination has played a part; the preponderance of admins are female. As well, "secretarial" skills were perhaps seen as narrow, even though essential to the functioning of a business. So now with the emergence of the multi-skilled, multi-tasking adminis- trative professional, has the compen- sation picture changed for the better? Maybe. A little. As employers come up with perks and rewards to retain their high-performing employees, ad- mins are more often included, instead of watching from the sidelines. While monetary compensation has not surged, flexibility in workday scheduling (arriving at the office ear- lier and leaving earlier, for example) and allowing employees to work from home one or two or more days a week are gaining acceptance. This can represent real savings to the employee on transportation costs, for example, and provide flexibility for child care or elder care. "We meet a lot more candidates to- day than probably ever before where there's an arrangement where they're able to work from home one day a week, or a couple of days a week," says Gena Griffin of OfficeTeam. Grif- fin says she has been noticing this kind of accommodation, which costs the employer little or nothing, increas- ing over the past five years. Heather Olden- ziel of Adecco says she's noticed that executives' respect for their admins "has gotten way bet- ter over the years" and that employers will offer addi- tional benefits that "make their whole compensation package, other than the salary, look more valuable. "It's not just the salary. There may be a bonus, extra vacation or extra personal days … not to mention the health and medical benefits; maybe they're 100 per cent employer paid, maybe they're 80. Don't look just at the salary, look at the package." Admin versatility plays well with employers By Staff At TorontoJobs.ca, an online recruitment firm that serves the Greater Toronto Area, company president Marc Belaiche says ver- satility is a key trait of successful administrative assistants in today's job market. "Especially in small and me- dium size businesses, people wear a lot more hats than they used to," says Belaiche. "The job descrip- tions we are seeing [for adminis- trative assistants] have so many things on them." A recent posting on TorontoJobs. ca for a full-time administrative assistant lists 11 "roles and respon- sibilities," including the creation of bid books and project manuals, facilitation of reproduction and ar- chiving of project drawings, main- tenance of the company database and creation of computer job files. Another employer seeks a bilin- gual admin to handle all electronic correspondence, administer sales incentive programs, co-ordinate national sales meetings and assist with staff events. Those equipped with diverse skills have a better chance of making a positive impression with a potential employer than those who fail to respond to a chang- ing job market, says Belaiche. For example, most admins are adept at using Outlook and Excel, but some set themselves apart by also getting trained in specialty software such as human resources information systems. As well, the ability to use social media for business can help an admin stand out in a job interview, says Belaiche. An employer may not be interested in an admin with 500 "friends" on Facebook but could be very keen to hire that same candidate who knows how to post on LinkedIn and Twitter to boost the company's (or the boss's) online profile. The key to employment success, says Belaiche, is adaptability. "If you are in a small and medium size business you have to show that you can do a lot of different things and that you can multi-task," he says. "You have to juggle a lot of different things rather than doing one thing over and over again."

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