Administrative Assistant's Update - sample

7 Administrative Assistant's UPDATE Rhonda Scharf Credit: JeJai Images/Shutterstock "Temping" beneficial for both sides By Staff Often a position that begins as tempo- rary turns into fulltime. Sometimes the temp position was designed for that to happen, but more often than not, says OfficeTeam's Gena Griffin, there's a business reason that the position cannot be filled right now on a permanent basis: a pend- ing headcount or budget approval or uncertainty as to the exact role to be filled, for example. But the work needs to be done, so a temporary position is created. Down the line a bit, the person filling the temp position may well be a perma- nent hire, although there's no guaran- tee at the outset that that will happen. Other times, an employer will take on a temp with no thought of creating a fulltime role. Then the person filling that temporary role turns in such a stellar performance that the employer creates a fulltime position so as not to lose this high-performing person. In today's fast moving employment marketplace, says Griffin, employers are often going directly to fulltime hires in order to gain access not only to the temporary pool but also to people who are currently working but looking to make a move. However, the "temping" route to a fulltime position continues to yield benefits for both employers and employees, who can take the measure of each other over weeks or months of observations and interactions. "Some candidates see the value in it and some don't," says Heather Oldenziel of Adecco. "Numerous times someone gets into a permanent position and finds they don't get along with a manager or this is not quite what they told me it would be. So the individual resigns. "In a temporary capacity … it's an easier out for them, so on their resume they don't show a position held for two or three months and I quit be - cause I didn't get along with my boss or manager." An additional benefit of the temp experience could be hands-on experi- ence with software, such as an enter- prise resource planning system (ERP), customer relationship management system (CRM) or a database. Scope is another term that seems to be leaking outside of the project manage- ment world. Scope is how you define the boundaries of a project: what it will and will not include. In our corporate awards banquet example, the scope would cover things like who was invited, who would speak, the meal served, the location, the flowers, awards, etc. Outside the scope of that project (things we wouldn't consider when planning the event) would be wheth- er the venue was unionized or not, or whether spouses would be invited. In scope means we are dealing with it and it is part of the clear definition of the project, and out of scope means it isn't on the table for discussion. Mission creep or scope creep oc- curs when your project exceeds its original boundaries, a common and often dangerous thing, and it can eas- ily incur cost or time overruns. My husband and I landscaped our backyard last year and put in a pool. We had allocated our budget and con- tracted a company to install the pool and interlock. Then I found Pinterest. I found all kinds of great things I wanted to add to my backyard. It wasn't in my budget, but it needed to be added dur- ing the construction phase (and quite frankly, my fire table is lovely!). That is scope creep at its finest. We spent more money and more time than the original plan called for because I wanted to add things. Scope creep. Whether you are operating using a project management style or not, these terms are useful to know, to understand, and most importantly, to use correctly. Rhonda Scharf is a certified speaking professional and president of ON THE RIGHT TRACK Training & Consulting. www.on-the-right-track.com Continued from page 6 Project management

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