Administrative
Assistant's
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT FOR CANADA'S OFFICE SUPPORT STAFF
Whether you're interviewing outside your company or
internally for a promotion, here
are a few dos and don'ts from
workplace blog ResumeBear.
• Don't badmouth your company (or boss). You never
know who your interviewer
may be friends with.
• Know something about your
interviewer. Run her name
through Facebook and
LinkedIn. See if you have
some things in common like
a hobby or a past employer.
• Dress appropriately. That will
be slightly different for every
company. Try to find out
what's appropriate for the
job you're after.
• Turn off your cell phone and
don't bring in extras like coffee. Bring only your resume,
work samples and a pen/
paper.
• Follow up with a note.
INSIDE
Mindfulness at work . . . . . 3
You'll have greater satisfaction,
and be less judgmental, by being
mindful at work.
Passwords . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
A few systems to help you create
secure passwords.
Jann Arden . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Success from difficulty.
Grammar slip-ups . . . . . . . 5
Learn from these notable
grammar blunders.
2013 June AAU.indd 1
JUNE 2013
Sharing best practices
Gather admin colleagues and share knowledge
Photo: Pressmaster/Shutterstock.com
Interview tips
UPDATE
Admins are a great source of information and advice. And most great admins
are more than willing to share tips and best practices.
By Helen Latimer
One good thing about administrative work is that admins are nearly
always part of a team.
That team may include other
admins in the same department,
in the organization as a whole, or
even colleagues outside the organization.
It's important to remember that
we're part of a bigger team. Otherwise, we can spend time figuring
out solutions without taking a minute to ask if another administrator
has already solved the very problem we're working on, or streamlined the process that's slowing us
down.
For the organization, it means
duplication of effort and potentially
missed opportunities to improve
efficiencies.
Why are we reluctant to share
best practices? Many of us feel
pressed for time, so a reasonable
concern is that connecting with
others will take up too much time.
We tell ourselves that we can solve
the problem in the time it will take
to hear back from other people.
We may also feel the problem
we're working on is unique to our
team or our department.
When I worked in sales, it didn't
occur to us to check with our
colleagues in accounting or IT, to
share ideas and experiences. We
didn't even check with our sales
colleagues who worked in other
regions. We discussed issues within
"our team" and no further. Our
loss.
Continued on page 4
13-05-14 9:41 AM
