Need some advice about my job...

Hey all...

I was wondering if any of you out there is currently or was in the past an Administrative assistant. This is my first Admin Assistant job and I'm finding the learning curve to be difficult at best. I'll go into details when I get home *on break now, not a lot of time!* but I could use some hints on how to do better. I don't think anyone thinks I am doing a bad job but I feel that I have room to improve.

Thanks in advance!

Edit

Ok. Here's what I'm kind of having a problem with. I think I am pushing myself into being too much of a perfectionist. I am paranoid about things and I'm sure it shows. Does anyone have any ways to combat this? I'm getting better but I still try "too hard" to be perfect. I also take things WAY too personally. :(

Advice from anyone is apriciated too! I just was wondering if anyone else here was in my line of work.

I'm an "Office Manager," which means basically I am a glorified underpaid secretary. I hate it. I'm always making mistakes and my boss is always catching them and calling them to my attention. She makes me feel like I'm being babysat. If I calculate the tax wrong on something, or forget to call someone about something, you'd think the world was coming to an end. It's not as bad as it was when I first started, over a year ago. but it's nearly every other day I'm screwing something stupid up. Mostly because my boss works across the state in our other office, and I was hurriedly trained, so I end up in an lot of situations where I have no idea what I'm supposed to do, so I just guess. Anyway, the only thing that keeps me from going insane is the internet. I spend all day (sometimes, literally ALL DAY) browsing the web, posting on sites like PT and searching CareerBuilder for a new job. One day, I'll find one that's worth leaving this one for.

Now - I am ALWAYS harder on myself than anyone else is on me. I take everything personally, I worry about my mistakes, I mess something up and I convince myself I'll get fired. I hate messing up, even if I don't care much about the job. So, while I can't offer you a lot of advice on how to stop being hard on yourself, I can tell you I understand where you're coming from.

:)

You hit the nail on the head. Ive only been doing this for a month but I still am hard on myself. My boss is really mad because we are being audited and it's been a royal paper fit all week.

Siggh...

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Originally posted by lizzielou742
I'm always making mistakes and my boss is always catching them and calling them to my attention. She makes me feel like I'm being babysat. If I calculate the tax wrong on something, or forget to call someone about something, you'd think the world was coming to an end.

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Wow, does this ever sound familiar! :( I get so tired of it, too. At least your boss is in another starte; mine sits behind me and has me facing a wall so that she can watch my monitor all day. I feel like a 5 year old with her watching me over my shoulder. :rolleyes: At least I know it's not personal, she's like this with everyone in the office and is a MAJOR control freak. I could do this job with one had tied behind my back, but with her always watching me, and harping on every mistake, I screw up more from the pressure. *sigh*

Sorry, I have no advice for you DJ, just know that you're not alone. :)

From the other side....

not all bosses are ogres and most boss want people to succeed. One....a great administrative assistant is a tremendous asset and...expensive to replace. It cost ALOT to hire people.

So...what about talking to your boss? If you understand what his/her expectations are your life will be easier. Explain that you are a perfectionist and that lots of feedback...especially at the beginning will really help you. Ask what you are doing right and what you could do better.

Be prepared to accept any criticism as crisicism of YOUR WORK and not you and an opportunity to improve.

When I had administrative assistants I did not want to be bothered with hovering...but I also needed to know what was happening. Tell your boss when projects or tasks are completed.

I had one AA who...whenever I asked the status on something would say..."what? do you think I don't know how to do my job?" which made me uncomfortable asking and when things fell through the cracks...it was ultimately my butt on the line. When she was good, she was the best, but I struggled with telling her when there was a problem -- and that wasn't good for either of us.

Maybe ask your boss if...for a while anyway...you have a regularly scheduled time each week or so to sit down and discuss your work. It is his or her evaluation that matters...

and remember...it is your work you are talking about...not you as a good and valuable human being....

"Focus on the situation, the issue or the behavior....not the person."

You probably need to make short goals and targets. This will enable you to get a sense of accomplishment when these tasks are mastered. Make check lists for yourself, just bullet point notes really. Stop and ask yourself, What is most important and what needs to be done first. Then list all your other tasks behind the first one that you nominated. Try to get some type of a routine happening with your work. When that is established, things that come at you from out of the blue will be easier to handle from being organised from a routine. Observe and listen to experienced people at work. It will give you an idea on how to approach tasks.
Above all keep up your effort. This will be appreciated. One day you will just find everything clicking into place and wonder what on earth the worry was about.

You unfortunately won't always have a boss that is encouraging and promotes a team environment. But try to get through these times, as it is a learning experience in it's self. It will make you a better person and a lot more efficient when you become the boss.:D

Hi Kristina,
I worked as an adminstrative assistant to the director of a Senior Center and I loved it! It DID take a quite awhile to learn everything and also learn that my role was mostly to make my boss look good (yes glorified secretary at the very beginning) and still help everyone in the office as I was able. I did not ever see my work as "menial". I also was the office manager but main duty was to the director. I got to know him pretty well and scheduled one on one meetings once a week. I liked him very much, learned his quirks and worked hard to make his work easier and always to make him look good and that was a good feeling for me - when the boss was happy - the staff was happy and and I felt needed and appreciated. He promoted me to executive assitant and then lots of jealousy became apparent with the staff. I did not have time to baby them like I had in the past and they felt he picked favorites. It was too bad because I really did work hard and wished I had time to do things for everyone. It was hard for these people who had been peers to work beneath me.

I would say always dress nicely and keep a pleasant and professional attitude.

Hang in there Kristina! An administrative assistant can move forward and is a very valuable asset!! Good for the self esteem if you work hard and show your talents. In my job - I got to do things I really loved also - like set up, design and maintain a website for the agency, have a network installed and maintain the system, and begin to sit in on meetings for my boss.

I think the main thing is to serve willingly and the payback is rewarding! That is how I felt anyway. I finally left the agency when we started losing funding and I knew that my next promotion was not going to happen.

This job was out of my old career fields which were teaching school and nursing but I wanted to try office work. I could have stayed on but wanted to be home kitty mom:D

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Originally posted by lizzielou742
I'm an "Office Manager," which means basically I am a glorified underpaid secretary.

If I calculate the tax wrong on something, or forget to call someone about something, you'd think the world was coming to an end. It's not as bad as it was when I first started, over a year ago. but it's nearly every other day I'm screwing something stupid up.

and I was hurriedly trained, so I end up in an lot of situations where I have no idea what I'm supposed to do, so I just guess.

Now - I am ALWAYS harder on myself than anyone else is on me. I take everything personally, I worry about my mistakes, I mess something up and I convince myself I'll get fired. I hate messing up, even if I don't care much about the job.
:)

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OMG you sound exactly like me!!! Talk about underpaid- I only get paid a dollar more than my assistant who sits around and does nothing while I work!:mad: I was also hurriedly trained and I tend to do the same things as you mentioned. One day I will find something better and will make the amount of money that I deserve...but for now I just keep sinking further into debt while my boss seaches for his new million dollar home.

Hi again Kristina,
After reading Michele's experience, I have been thinking about my comments about my years as an admin asist. Remember that I took this job simply for *enjoyment* since hubby was near retirement and I was not using my nursing or teaching degrees - so it really did not bother me that I may not have ben paid well. I started at about $10-11 an hour, raise was $14 an hour and the salaried position never materialized because of budget cuts and I only worked 30 hours per week.

I guess most of the things I mentioned still were good suggestions. However, I do agree that I was not paid nearly enough for the work I did and that may be the case with you as well?? It is hard to do all the tasks happily if you feel underpaid:( I am a perfectionist like Lizzie-Lou and Michelle and always felt stressed that the job was never done as well as I thought it should be!! I was hard on myself at all my jobs - but in this one - I did not feel the pressure because I did not *need* the job and it was a venture out of my career field - rather a curiousity about what I could do...:rolleyes:

I don't think I'm too underpaid. I make 11.00 an hour which around here keeps me afloat. I apriciate all your suggestions.

For all state jobs here, each person has to pass a 1 year probationary period. In this time they can fire you for whatever reason. I think this is just used to scare people as I don't know of many people who have not passed. It's hard to hire people for state work because of the paper involved. I know from experince since I handle some personell stuff as part of my job.

My boss did complement my work today, and that makes me happy. I am getting more work from one lady. I think this is a sign that she at least thinks I do a good enough job to trust me to handle her paperwork. I've learned more in a month than I think some people learn in six months. I got hired on at the busiest point of the past two years with it being legislature season and all.

I am begining to enjoy what I do from the standpoint that I make peoples lives a bit easier. I am learning just a bit about every aspect of our operation so I can be usefull wherever I'm needed.

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Originally posted by DJFyrewolf36
For all state jobs here, each person has to pass a 1 year probationary period. In this time they can fire you for whatever reason.

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In the state of Kentucky, your employer can terminate you at any time, for ANY reason, and is not legally required to tell you that reason. So I could get fired for being a Democrat, for being female, for wearing purple, or for chewing gum, and I'd never know it. This goes for all employees - in government or in the regular public jobs.

Anyway - I started out making about the same as you, DJK, now I make a but more. I still think I am way underpaid. According to this chart, - http://www.iaap-hq.org/ResearchTrends/Salaries2004.htm - the typical Office Manager (my title) in the United States made between $27,500 - $34,500 in 2004. I make thousands less than that. And I don't even get any sort of retirement benefit. I bringing this all up to our owner/VP in two weeks, when we meet to discuss my next raise. I'm not the kind of person to be afraid to ask for more money. Why the heck not?? I need it!

Anyway I agree wholeheartedly with Oggyflute. Making lists helps me so much. Usually I just take a legal pad and jot down in shorthand things to do that day, and number them in order of importance. At the end of the day, anything I still need to wrap up the next day goes on the next day's list. It helps.

I'm glad you're finding a way to enjoy it.
One thing I am glad to have discovered is that it matters who you impress more. My crabby boss I was complaining about, for example - she's not the one that sets my salary. The owner/VP is. And he loves me, thinks I'm great, even though I feel like I don't get jack done. He thinks I do. That's all that matters. ;) :D :D

It's rough in Kentucky! We have a similar system down under , in the sense that I can dismiss someone within a probabtion period. Even so there is a government department that an employeee can go to if he/she feels that they have been unfairly dismissed. As a result I log any indiscressions that my staff may make and always councel the staff on any.

In Nevada, for private jobs you can get fired for any reason and no one has to tell you why. For the state government however, it is much harder to fire someone and you need a LOT of documentation. Most bosses just don't bother. My boss really does try to let you know if you can improve and admittedly she is nicer about it than most people. I prefer it when a boss discusses things with me right when they have a problem rather than letting things fester and then blowing a huge fuse later. I have a lot of respect for a supervisior who instructs rather than just yells all the time. Yiou sound like a fairly nice person to work for Oggyflute :)

Liz, according to that chart, I make a little over the average for a entry level admin assistant. Not bad, concidering Im guarenteed a rase every year if I pass probation.

Man though I tell you TGIF though. This week has been rough. My boss is really antsy because she has a budget hearing on monday and she has been kind of snippy. I don't blame her. Monday is supposed to be a holiday for us and she has to come in because the legislature refuses to reschedule. No one is happy!

Lizzie...you are correct that in most parts of the United States (California being an exception of course...:rolleyes: ) the doctrine of "employment at will" prevails. That means you can be fired at any time for any reason* and you can quit at any time for any reason. However, there are LOTS of exceptions by both federal law (which means it applies to almost EVERY employer) and state law. Granted Kentucky is not a trend-setter in employment law but rest assured you CANNOT be fired for being a woman. You cannot....under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (and amended in 1990) be fired because of your race, color, religion, gender or national origin. Furthermore, there is other federal law that prevents you from being fired for your age (age 40 or older) or disability. And Kentucky DOES have state employment law that fairly mimics the federal....

Federal law also applies to Nevada....

Time is money as they say. So training someone takes a certain amount of time and usually a fair bit of money. As such I would much rather keep my investment in training someone by making them more evicient with better training techniques than bouncing of walls shouting and having them leave. To harrangue a new employee is just about the most illogical thing you can do in a business.

I too am hard on myself. But I try to learn a new thing every day. Remeber you weren't there for the time they are auditing for (wereyou?)so take a deep breath. Im the superviser/manager for a large gift shop. I have been learning the buying and dealing with salesmen and my staff. Just master one task at a time and before you know it you will have it all down. Smile and breathe. :D

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Originally posted by Oggyflute
Time is money as they say. So training someone takes a certain amount of time and usually a fair bit of money. As such I would much rather keep my investment in training someone by making them more evicient with better training techniques than bouncing of walls shouting and having them leave. To harrangue a new employee is just about the most illogical thing you can do in a business.

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I wish more people shared that philosophy!

Federal law is a great thing in that it protects people from injustice in the work world . Unfortuneatly most people who are fired for unjust reasons *especially in low income jobs* around here at any rate choose to just accept thier fate and get another job rather than fighting it. I myself wouldn't stand for it but a lot of people would rather just not rock the boat. In Nevada, there are a lot of resources for free/low payment legal help for just that reason. I think employers would be more apt to be on the level if more people would stand up for themselves. I wasn't denying that protections exist Edwina, I'm just sad that most people don't bother researching the rights that they indeed do have. What are employment laws like in California? I'm kind of curious because I have heard they are much different than in most places.

I wasn't there for the time they are auditing Corinna (Mostly they are looking at the 2003-2004 fiscal year). I think the pickyness of the auditors is just starting to get at everyone. It seems as if NOTHING is right for them. Then again, they get yelled at by the governors office if they don't make sure every I is dotted and every T is crossed so they must be under a lot of stress too! Excrement does indeed roll downhill!!