The Professional Assistant The Professional Assistant Would you like to know some tips and tricks of the trade? Look no further. I will provide you with up-to-date information on organization, prioritization and even some technical information on keeping your work and life organized. 
Articles
Blogging Here and There - Part 2
2008-04-24 21:22:00 As you may have noticed, I haven't been posting any articles for quite some time now. I do apologize for this, but my life has been really busy lately and unfortunately, could not share my thoughts with you during this time. I will try to post articles when I get a chance, but it will be quite infrequent. I do appreciate all of the feedback that I have been getting from all of you and thank you so far for reading my blog. If you have any articles that you would like to contribute, please e-mail me. Subscribe to The Professional Assistant feeds or get posts e-mailed directly to you today. Until next time, Take care - of your clutter! Post from: Assistant Tips More About: Blogging , Part
Productivity With Shared Files
2008-04-01 14:55:00 Do you share your files with others in your firm? Do you find that you are being bombarded with updates to the same files time and time again? Imagine that your boss comes to you and asks you to merge several files into one main file (Microsoft Word document). You spend quite a bit of time copying and pasting everything together. Then you think to yourself, "How can I make this more efficient?" One of the most productive ways to update information on files is to either create or move a file into a shared folder on your company's network drive. Instead of each person creating their own files and you having to merge them together, it would be much faster for everyone to add their own information to one main file. This cuts down on you having to do the same job twice and saves you and the company time and money. If your company doesn't have a network, since you might be in a smaller organization, you can e-mail the file ar... More About: Organize , Productivity , E-Mail , Files
Get A Job With A Thank You Letter [Digg]
2008-03-28 14:50:00 Did you just get out of an interview? Did you attend a few recently? Do you really want to get one of the jobs that you just applied for? More About: Letter , Digg
Get A Job With A Thank You Letter
2008-03-28 10:00:00 Did you just get out of an interview? Did you attend a few recently? Do you really want to get one of the jobs that you just applied for? One of the simplest things you can do to help the manager of your dream firm decide if you are right for the job, is to send them a Thank You letter after the interview. Of course, you have to present yourself well, answer the interview questions properly, have the skills and knowledge of the position you are applying for and a few other factors that help you get the job. But you would be surprised that a simple Thank You letter can win over the hiring manager. It shows that you are eager to help the firm grow by showing initiative and productivity. This is how I was able to get one of my past jobs. The hiring manager told me that he was debating between hiring me and another person. We both had similar skills, education, etc. The only thing that helped me get the job was sending the Th... More About: Letter
4 Steps to Setting up E-mail Distribution Lists [Digg]
2008-03-27 13:46:00 Do you find yourself having to write each person's e-mail address over and over again for certain e-mails? Do you wish that you could make life simpler by just entering one item that would include a list of e-mail addresses? More About: Mail , Distribution , Digg , Lists , E-Mail
4 Steps to Setting up E-mail Distribution Lists
2008-03-27 13:43:00 Do you find yourself having to write each person's e-mail address over and over again for certain e-mails? Do you wish that you could make life simpler by just entering one item that would include a list of e-mail addresses? Here are 4 simple steps to creating an e-mail distribution list in Microsoft Outlook: Make sure that you are in the "E-mail" section of your Outlook. Click on the arrow down button right beside the "New" button, then click "Distribution List" Here you can either "Select Members" or "Add New". Select Members is used to find contacts that are already in your address book. Add New, of course, would be used to add a brand new contact. Save the new e-mail distribution list by giving it a name that this corresponds to whatever it is being used for. For example, if I need to send out a newsletter to all... More About: Organize , Mail , Productivity , Lists
Why People Gossip At The Office [Digg]
2008-03-26 15:49:00 Do you gossip at the office? Do you get sucked into the gossip of others? I'm sure that this has happened to all of us at one point or another. More About: People , Office , The Office , Gossip , Digg
Why People Gossip At The Office
2008-03-26 13:41:00 Do you gossip at the office? Do you get sucked into the gossip of others? I'm sure that this has happened to all of us at one point or another. Gossip has never been a positive matter. It always leads to negative productivity and sometimes people even get involved on a personal level. People generally gossip at work due to boredom, insecurity, wanting to belong. To combat these problems, here are some tips you can follow: Boredom: Ask your manager or fellow colleagues to see if they need help with anything. Insecurity: Try to only get into small talk with others, but once you hear gossip or get involved on a personal level, tell them that you have to get back to work. Wanting to belong: Keep in mind that you were hired by your firm to do a job. It's your responsibility to get things done. If others want to waste their time, so be it. You're there to get paid and get that promotion or... More About: Office , The Office , Productivity
View Microsoft Office Files Without The Software [Digg]
2008-03-24 13:36:00 You're sick at home, can't seem to get access to your computer at work through your computer at home and your boss calls you up and asks if you can review a particular file. You scratch your head and start wondering, "How do I go about doing this?" More About: Software , Microsoft , Office , Microsoft Office , Digg
View Microsoft Office Files Without The Software
2008-03-24 13:34:00 You're sick at home, can't seem to get access to your computer at work through your computer at home and your boss calls you up and asks if you can review a particular file. You scratch your head and start wondering, "How do I go about doing this?" I'm sure that almost every company has computers and Microsoft Office software installed for all of their staff members. But there are times when you need to access certain Microsoft Office files that you cannot open, due to the fact that you don't have the software installed, for example, on your home computer. You can download the following viewers for Microsoft Office files, where you don't have to purchase the entire piece of software. This enables you to review files, just like Adobe PDF Reader does. Microsoft Excel View er Microsoft Word Viewer Microsoft PowerPoint Viewer Now you can rest assured that your boss will get the informati... More About: Software
Are You an Office Shrink? [Digg]
2008-03-23 15:26:00 Do you find yourself being bombarded with questions? Do people come to you for all sorts of answers, whether it is work related or otherwise? More About: Office , Digg
Thinking Outside the Job Description Box
2008-03-20 13:46:00 Editor’s note: This is a guest post by Patricia Robb of Laughing All The Way to Work: The Ultimate Secretarial Survival Blog. Today’s assistants are computer savvy, smart and up-and-coming, and consider themselves professionals in the workplace. They are no longer stuck within the job description box, but have the freedom to break out of the mould and redefine their roles and sometimes even change their careers. Employers have begun to recognize our changing roles in the workplace and some have reflected that by changing our title from “secretary” to titles that more accurately describe the positions we are performing in our organizations such as: Legal Assistant Personal Assistant or Personal Aide Medical Assistant Executive Assistant Office Coordinator, etc. Administrative assistants are highly skilled in many areas and sometimes we take it for granted, not recognizing where we could go with our skills. Here are s... More About: Productivity , Thinking , Description
Are You an Office Shrink?
2008-03-19 13:45:00 Do you find yourself being bombarded with questions? Do people come to you for all sorts of answers, whether it is work related or otherwise? In the beginning of my career at my current job as an Administrative Assistant, I was the outsider, the newbie if you will. I had to shut my mouth and open my ears to learn how things work in this company. Over time, I gained the trust and respect of my fellow colleagues. Now I consider myself the "Office Shrink". The reason behind this is that everyone comes to me for answers. I either know it or I don't. If I don't, it's my responsibility to play detective and snoop around for it. This usually is work related. I do distance myself if people ask me for advice on matters of a personal nature. I politely ask them to speak to a friend, family member, their HR representative or their manager (whomever they feel comfortable confiding in). Going back to "shutting my... More About: Productivity , Meetings
Administrative Discussion Forum - Now Live!
2008-03-14 13:38:00 Just a quick note that I have set up an Administrative discussion forum on Google Groups. A few readers have been asking for this and thought that I'd throw it on there. If you have any tips, tricks or stories you want to swap, please don't hesitate to comment on there. Just click here to join the group! Subscribe to The Professional Assistant feeds or get posts e-mailed directly to you today. Until next time, Take care - of your clutter! Post from: Administrative Assistant Your Ad Here! Click to inquire! More About: Networking , Productivity , Forum , Live
Snack Foods for Better Productivity
2008-03-13 13:44:00 Editor’s note: This is a guest post by Brian McCullough of TheJobBored. You ever have one of those days where everything goes bad at the same time? Amongst the several other fires I had to put out today, I’m sorry this blog was down for most of the morning. T’wasnt my fault, t’was the fault of the webhost. Now I’ve gotten everything under control and I’m trying like hell to get back to my normal to-do list so today isn’t a total loss. I’ve elected for a quick scrounge-n-snack lunch to save time. Which made me think of this post. Thought I’d pass it along. 20 Foods To Snack On For Enhanced Productivity (Lifehack.org) Subscribe to The Professional Assistant feeds or get posts e-mailed directly to you today. Until next time, Take care - of your clutter! Post from: Administrative Assistant Your Ad Here! Click to inquire!
Hand Stretching Exercises
2008-03-12 10:00:00 Do you find that you work your fingers to the bone at your office? Ok, well maybe not that much, but I am sure that you are very productive and really don’t know when to stop. Your body is telling you to take a break, but you don't listen to it. You feel pain, but you keep going. This is obviously not a good thing. But it happens to the best of us all the time. You have to listen to your body and stop what you are doing if you feel even the slighted amount of pain. You really should be taking a break every 30 minutes, but of course, with our busy lives, this can be difficult. If you do encounter a small amount of time that you can take your break on, try doing some hand stretching exercises. Here's a great article I found on hand stretching exercises by Stretch Now. It gives you instructions in detail as well as diagrams of how to do them. This will definitely relieve you of your pain in a short period of time. Anot... More About: Exercises , Hand , Stretching
Why be an Assistant When You Can be More?
2008-03-11 13:44:00 One of my readers, Kristina, asked a question of how to let interviewers know that you want to be an assistant, even knowing that you have experience in higher positions. Here’s what she wrote? I'm searching for a job as an administrative/executive assistant. I have about 6 years experience as an assistant. While supporting myself as an assistant I went back to school in the evenings for a 3 year program to be an interior designer and worked as a designer for about 6 years. I then went to a sales assistant position selling lighting to designers/architects and then moved to a job as project manager for a general contractor. This last job as a project manager has only been for about 6 months. It is very stressful and does not give me any free time. My significant other and I have plans to start our own business one day. This means that I need my evenings and weekends free to pursue that avenue. My current job does not give me much free... More About: Assistant
Has The Bubble Burst?
2008-03-10 13:42:00 Editor’s note: This is a guest post by James of Organize IT. In my weekly recap last Friday I pointed out a Lifehack.org article arguing that the current climate for hyper-productivity isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Then yesterday I came across a similar post, claiming that the pursuit of productivity has ended up out of control. It seems to me that there is now an increasing shift toward simplifying our lives. Who needs to be productive when the amount of stuff you have to deal with is cut in half? How many blogs, online tools, software and books are there nowadays providing the latest, fashionable way to hit the peak of productivity? There is an entire industry dedicated to the issue; a sub-niche of personal development, capable of surviving and even thriving on its own. It’s understandable this has come about. Our lives are increasingly hectic and we are bombarded by so much stuff on a daily basis that learning to be productive, so as to handle t... More About: Productivity , Bubble , Burst
Fight or Flight? Dealing with a Difficult Colleague!
2008-03-06 14:36:00 Have you had or are in a situation where your colleague is making your life miserable? I have been in these types of jobs a few times in the past and let me tell you, it’s no laughing matter. A reader recently asked me this question: Saw your web page and felt that I want your take on my situation. First of all I've worked for an organization as an admin asst for years and during this time I have seen many co-workers leave and have had to put up with a lot. Currently there is a clerical staff person, sitting in a cubicle right across from me who has made my daily work experience miserable. She has been here a little over 1 1/2 years and has recently been promoted to an Administrative Assistant. This is a typical work day for her: She comes in late EVERYDAY (not just a few minutes, but 15-25 minutes with an excuse for WHY she's late - traffic - and she lives 10 minutes away). Then she spends at least th... More About: Fight , Productivity , Meetings , Flight
Microsoft Office Poll Results
2008-03-05 13:01:00 I am sure that all of you use Microsoft Office in your workplace. There really isn't a chance that you don't use it, whether you are on a PC or a Mac. The results actually surprised me... Want more? Click the title above to read on! More About: Microsoft Office , Results , Poll
Write An Effective Out Of Office Assistant Message
2008-03-04 16:39:00 Are you going on vacation? Are you going to be out of the office for a short or even long period of time? Don?t forget to set up and turn on your ?Out of Office Assistant? on Microsoft Outlook. It?s... Want more? Click the title above to read on! More About: Organize , Customer Service , Write , Productivity
On E-mail Blackouts...
2008-03-03 16:33:00 Editor’s note: This is a guest post by Brian McCullough of TheJobBored.com. Hopefully, not too many of you were affected by the email system outages yesterday. Hopefully, you weren’t... Want more? Click the title above to read on! More About: Organize , Mail , Productivity , E-Mail , Tasks
Work From Home? Want to be More Productive?
2008-02-29 14:43:00 Are you a Virtual/Professional Assistant or want to become one? Do you work from home on a regular basis? Are you just starting out or already have a thriving business? Finding the... Want more? Click the title above to read on! More About: Organize , Home , Work , Productivity , E-Mail
Looking for a Job? Network with Personal Business Cards! [Digg]
2008-02-28 14:41:00 Are you in the process of finding a job? Do you want to expand your own small business or even a blog? More About: Personal , Business , Network , Digg , Cards
Looking for a Job? Network with Personal Business Cards!
2008-02-28 14:37:00 Are you in the process of finding a job? Do you want to expand your own small business or even a blog? Network ing has been one of the greatest tools for these types of... Want more? Click the title above to read on! More About: Personal , Organize , Business
Documents On Your Desk With No Note Attached?
2008-02-26 14:44:00 You come back from the weekend or vacation and you see that you have some items sitting on your desk. You sift through it, but can?t figure out what it is. You scratch your head and wonder who could... Want more? Click the title above to read on! More About: Organize , Note , Productivity , E-Mail , Desk
Top Reasons for Working in Large and Small Companies
2008-02-26 14:38:00 Do you work in a large company? A small company? Do you find that you prefer one over the other? I have worked in several jobs where the firms were large and small. I personally... Want more? Click the title above to read on! More About: Companies , Travel , Productivity , Small , Reasons
Do You Have a Pen?
2008-02-22 13:12:00 You’re walking around the office and someone comes up to you, asking for a pen. You search your pockets and realize that you don’t have one. Has this ever happened to... Want more? Click the title above to read on! More About: Customer Service , Productivity , Meetings , Tasks
The E-tiquette of E-mail
2008-02-20 17:46:00 Editor?s note: This is a guest post by Patricia Robb of Laughing all the Way to Work: The Ultimate Secretarial Survival Blog .E-mail is no longer just for personal use, with all our accepted short forms: LOL, U, GB and a co-worker's favourite, OMG! With the increasing use of e-mail as the first choice for business correspondence it opens a whole new world of dos and don'ts for the assistant.Here are Some Good-Sense E-mail Etiquette TipsE-mail Salutations: Although e-mail is less formal than writing a letter it is still polite to open with a greeting. Your company may have a policy on how they want you to address people in external business e-mail. Jane Watson of J. Watson Associates gives the following e-mail tips for Email Salutations in her e-bulletin Business Writing Updates:?There are several options for starting an e-mail in North America as our business culture is not as formal as other areas. You can use ?hi,? ?hello,? ?good day? or any other variant ? including just the fi... More About: Mail , Customer Service , E-Mail , Tasks , Microsoft Outlook
Got A Large Print Job From Your Boss? Not Sure What To Do? [Digg]
More articles from this author:2008-02-19 23:52:00 Your boss comes to your cubicle and asks you to make 10 copies of 5 different sets of publications. She also mentions that she needs it completed urgently, since she had to schedule a meeting with some clients right away. What do you do next? More About: Digg , Boss , Print , Large 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 |
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