AdminSecret

Are you looking for a higher salary? Explore some of the top paying administrative positions in the field. Depending on your level of education, you could enter any number of exciting and fulfilling admin positions. The national median salary for today’s Administrative Assistant is $30,004. Further, Medical Secretaries earn $27,786; Legal Secretaries earn $40,917. By furthering and expanding your education, you ...

Even with near-identical job descriptions, two administrative professionals can wind up earning very different salaries. Why the difference? Industry, geographical location and employer are big factors. Follow these tips to ensure you get the most buck for your work on payday. The Financial Industry "There is a hierarchy where support salaries are concerned," says Jennifer Star, copresident of the Jennifer Group, ...

Make sure your resume is in top-notch shape by avoiding the top 10 resume blunders: 1. Too Focused on Job Duties Your resume should not be a boring list of job duties and responsibilities. Go beyond showing what was required and demonstrate how you made a difference at each company, providing specific examples. When developing your achievements, ask yourself: • How ...

When you're looking for a new legal position, the quality of your resume can make or break your job search. Follow these 10 tips from recruiters to produce a winning legal resume that will help you stand out. Make a Good First Impression When you receive up to 700 resumes a week, as does Hudson Legal placement director Penny Burke, you ...

Your cover letter is the first thing employers see when they open your materials. Avoid these 10 mistakes, and make your first impression a good and lasting one. Mistake #1: Don't Overuse "I" Your cover letter is not your autobiography. The focus should be on how you meet an employer's needs, not on your life story. Avoid the perception of being ...

Describing your work experience isn't easy. To help you, we've compiled a list of action phrases and power verbs. The purpose of using them is to show employers that you know how to get results. Begin your job descriptions with a power verb or phrase: enlisted the support..., formed a committee..., sold, budgeted, improved, increased, maintained the client relationship. Power Verbs ...

Imagine you're an employer and you have two resumes in front of you. One is filled wall-to-wall with text and uses four different fonts. It's also peppered with dozens of bolded, italicized and underlined words and phrases. The second resume is much more visually pleasing. It, too, offers a lot of information, but you can quickly scan the document because it ...

While it isn't a far reach to say most people automatically think of secretaries as women, Joe Carpenter's gender helped him score his first administrative job in 1971 as secretary at a factory where women weren't allowed inside. "I love being an admin, and I've been lucky for almost 35 years to work in a field I love," he says today. ...

As an administrative assistant, you can stretch your professional wings and take on many other positions with your transferable skills. But many admins allow themselves to get stuck in a rut, not realizing their own true value. Being successful requires a combination of hard skills, including word processing, software knowledge and research skills. And working in different areas often requires learning ...

Your job description doesn't include the word manager, but sometimes you're forced to wear a manager's hat. You may find yourself hiring temps to help complete a project, or your department may grow and move you up the totem pole. Unfortunately for administrative professionals, many organizations don't train staff in management skills, yet companies pile on supervisory expectations. Part of the ...

Most admins start their jobs with the best of intentions, never thinking they could be fired. After all, that's a fate reserved primarily for incompetents and workers caught with their hand in the company till, right? Wrong. You might not realize just how slippery the slope out the door can be. Workplace Mistakes to Avoid To guard your job security, be ...

The ad looked like the perfect set-up for a Cloverdale, Indiana, man: He could earn good money working at home while caring for his three children and sick wife. He called a toll-free number and heard that for $377, he would get everything he needed to launch a lucrative medical-billing business from home, including software and the names of doctors who ...

Cover letter openers are often pretty generic, but they don’t have to be. "Most cover letters begin with something like, 'In response to your job advertisement, I'm forwarding my resume for your review and consideration,'” says Abby Locke, speaker, writer and president of Washington, DC-based Premier Writing Solutions. “Make a stronger first impression by writing something different -- something that will ...

Are you a healthcare professional with high career aspirations? Before you take over the hospital (or, heck, the whole healthcare system), you’ll first need your bosses to recognize you as a rising star. Experts offer six tips on how you can stand out from your peers and get noticed. 1. Focus on Your Individual Talents Rather than attempting to improve in ...

Gwen Dickerson, CPS, decided to strengthen her resume by earning Microsoft Office Specialist (MOS) certifications in Word, Excel and PowerPoint. "I wouldn't say the vast majority of employers are requiring or asking for MOS certification, but it is a way to validate that you have a good working knowledge of office software used by approximately 95 to 98 percent of the ...

Successful administrative professionals don't stay on top by accident; they work at it by constantly improving their skills. "You must take classes and continue training, because software programs and other things are constantly changing," says Cynthia Lively, past president of the International Association of Administrative Professionals (IAAP). Lively, who has 36 years of admin experience, is also the administrative assistant to ...

Anyone in the administrative profession knows that the job of the traditional secretary has evolved substantially to include much more than typing, filing and pouring coffee. But even as admins take on more and more managerial skills and bosses type their own emails, many report that old stereotype still lives on in the workplace. "Years ago, you were that piece of ...

Not meeting deadlines can spiral into project or career failure. Yet deadlines are one of the most vexing pieces of the time-management puzzle. But there are ways to manage your deadlines, according to Jeffrey and Laurie Ford, coauthors of Deadline Busting. Five Deadline-Busting Tips 1. Create and Maintain a Due List of All Deadlines: Write down any promised result, communication, product ...

If you want to start developing leadership skills in your first job, here’s Lindsey Pollak’s advice: Begin with your eyes and ears. That’s what she did in her first role as a program coordinator for the American Woman’s Economic Development Corp. in Stamford, Connecticut. “My pay was very low, so my terrific boss - the executive director of the organization - ...

In today’s workplace, admins are expected to possess many skills that extend beyond computer know-how and teamwork. Among them are strong leadership abilities, which are now more important than ever. So how do you develop your inner leader? By embracing a handful of behaviors and attitudes proven leaders possess. Here’s how. Leaders Show Initiative The first step is being proactive, according ...