AdminSecret

What’s the chief characteristic of being a great Administrative or Executive Assistant? It’s knowing everything, or at least seeming like you do. The best assistants are those that can aptly handle managing the boss’s calendar, sorting his mail and screening her calls without having to always stop and ask for information or permissions. But how do you get to that miraculous ...

I don’t know about you, but those words are the bane of my existence. Part of our job as administrative professionals is to design office processes and to improve on old ones. The first step in improving an existing process is to understand why it’s being done as it is. That’s when the dreaded words appear. “Because we’ve always done it ...

Business Building Action Steps From Terry Brock Today’s economy requires innovative ideas to generate more revenue. That comes from creating dazzling customer experiences that bring customers back again and again. Recently I had the opportunity to hear Cathie Black, the President of Hearst Magazines, make a presentation at a Harvard Business School Alumni Club meeting in Atlanta. The insights she had ...

I had a question this week about the security of Gmail, the very popular on-line e-mail service from Google. "Please let me know, how safe the confidential documents keeping in mails….????? I would be much much thankful to you if u kindly provide me some details on it….As i would like to share with you that, i have kept some of ...

After you’ve successfully completed a job search, shouldn’t networking be the last thing on your mind? Not so, say networking experts. In fact, internal networking, right from the beginning, is key to maintaining the upward trajectory of your career. Here’s how to successfully launch your networking campaign at a new job. Why Network from the Start? “When you start in a ...

Came across an article from the site Careerealism recently that was a great story about the difference between being professional and “not so” professional in your communications at work and how that can affect your reputation, responsibilities and yeah, Dying to Get Ahead? 10 Tips for Reinventing Yourself

We all know what Microsoft Excel is. It’s a spreadsheet software. It’s not a database. It’s never been a database. It never will be a database. Do I sound strident there? GOOD! Seriously, it’s not a database, folks, so please quit using it as one. I can’t tell you how many places I’ve worked keep critical data in spreadsheets, jumping through ...

You spend most of your day at work, right? Why not make some friends while you're there? You won't just have more fun — you'll work better. Gallup research shows that developing close friendships at work boosts employee satisfaction by almost 50%. And while we don't always choose our friends with career success in mind (company happy hour, ahem), there are ...

You may recall me mentioning that my theme for 2010 is going to be “organization”. Two of the things I pride myself on in my business are knowing where everything in my office is and making steady progress in my business. But, I’ll be the first two admit, things are not always as organized as they could be. I think this ...

I know this is a loaded statement, but here goes: I have always said that I don’t trust women who don’t have female friends. You know the type — the girl who spends her time exclusively with men. She thinks women are catty (women other than her, of course). For some inexplicable reason, other women just don’t like her. And she ...

It's not your imagination, and it's not a joke: Your job may in fact be making you sick, robbing you of sleep and running down your immune system, making you more vulnerable to illness. Things really are more stressful these days. In fact, workplace stress has more than tripled in the past several years according to researchers. Expectations are higher and ...

The economy is sour and we have yet to see signs of the recovery in our own lives, but there’s no need to hoard every penny you’ve got and live in fear. Why? We’ve been through bad times before. And we didn't just survive — we emerged even stronger and smarter than before. When? The Great Depression of the 1930s, for ...

Since my previous post on COBRA in my So You’ve Been Laid Off series, I’ve had a few more questions concerning COBRA. I figured I’d just answer them all in one post and save us all some time. Can I Get COBRA if I’ve Been Fired? This is a question I hear a lot. And the answer is, “It depends.” According ...

After my last article on What to Do When Your Boss Is Wrong appeared on AdminSecret, I received a number of notes from friends and coworkers. Most found the advice helpful. One went so far as to say “I'm sure I'll be able to put this to use every day!” and informed me he was looking to change jobs (no surprise ...

There's an interesting article in the Wall Street Journal today about high-flying executives who have been laid off. Seems many of them have kept up their lavish (by an admin's standards) lifestyle on their severance pay: "Paul Joegriner hasn't worked since March 2008, when he was laid off from his $200,000-a-year job as chief executive officer of a small bank. But ...

Did you read about the recent PepsiCo debacle? It was a big story in the news last week. Here is an excerpt from finance.yahoo.com. “In court papers, PepsiCo claims it first received a legal document related to the case from the North Carolina agent on Sept 15 when a copy of the co-defendant’s letter was forwarded to Deputy General Counsel Tom ...

You probably didn't start out as an Administrative Assistant — but that's definitely possible! Babysitter? Burger flipper? Dog walker? What was your first job? Join the Discussion!

Are you ready to create different results in your business in the new year? Most of us are. Whatever level of success you may have achieved in 2009, it’s almost certain that you can expand that in 2010. But what is going to be so different about the new year? I can’t foretell the future and I don’t know what exciting ...

Are you happy in your present workplace? Do you feel that you've finally found your calling in your career or do you feel that you are just going from paycheck to paycheck in another J-O-B? Many people from all around the world feel the latter for the most part of their work lives. I even was stuck in dead end jobs ...

What sets you apart as an administrative professional? Is it the way you conduct yourself in social settings? In business settings? Is it the type of speech you use or the positive attitude you display? Is it the way you treat your co-workers and the executives you support? I think we’ve all worked with someone during our careers who simply stands ...