Professional Assistant Blog

MARCH 20, 2008

Professional Organizer: Organization is a must if you are an assistant. One of our main duties is to keep our bosses organized. While being organized seems natural to us because of the nature of our jobs, some people are not organized and need help and are looking for skilled and organized people to do the job for them.

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Laughing all the Way to Work

DECEMBER 19, 2009

© Copyright Patricia Robb 2010 19 December, 2009 Meetings Plus: Taking them offline I organize a lot of meetings in a day, week, month; heck, even into next year. There are a lot of good organizing tricks out there and whenever I find one that works, I pounce on it and it becomes something I cant work without.

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Time Zones IAAP International Meeting Minutes 100

Laughing all the Way to Work

MARCH 13, 2010

They had enough time as they saw the bus approaching, they know they will need it, but time and time again, they are searching for it. I like to be prepared and I find life just works better for me at home, work and even on the bus, when I am organized and ready for whatever is coming up. I find the same thing at work.

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Laughing all the Way to Work

SEPTEMBER 6, 2008

© Copyright Patricia Robb 2010 6 September, 2008 Going Checklist Crazy I am organizing a Board meeting and I have checklists and to-do lists coming out of my ears. Being organized helps de-clutter any task and makes it more manageable and doable. Using a Bring-Forward System to Help Organize Your. 23, 1 p.m. .

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Laughing all the Way to Work

APRIL 5, 2010

Does your boss ever organize a meeting behind your back? He will have a quick conversation with a staff member and set up a meeting, but not tell me anything about it. Mine does and it can cause problems with my scheduling.

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Laughing all the Way to Work

MARCH 15, 2009

© Copyright Patricia Robb 2010 15 March, 2009 When you need it later: The Bring-Forward System My boss likes me to keep him organized and the way I do that is to have a system to bring forward items, which I then bring to his attention when he needs to see it. The system I use is quite simple and has been around for a long time.

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Laughing all the Way to Work

JANUARY 13, 2009

In some organizations raises are tied to how well you do and it is also a record that is kept on your personnel file. Can you believe we are already into a new year and will have to think about completing a performance appraisal again? As painful an exercise as this may be, I wouldnt downplay the performance appraisal.

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Laughing all the Way to Work

OCTOBER 11, 2009

There are some assistants however who enjoy the organizing and the business of being an administrative or executive assistant and they are good at their job and get great satisfaction in what they do. They dont want to change their career and that is all right too.

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Time Zones IAAP 2009 International 100

Laughing all the Way to Work

MAY 16, 2010

The person sending out the request for the meeting and asking for dates would usually be considered the meeting organizer. If you are not the organizer, you still have a responsibility to provide available dates in a timely manner, set a reminder to make sure there is an agenda and if there isnt, email to ask for one.

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Laughing all the Way to Work

JULY 12, 2010

The Stevie® Awards is a prestigious award honouring the achievements and positive contributions of organizations and business people worldwide. The fact that they have a category for Support Staffer of the Year is recognition of the important role support staff play in any organization.

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Laughing all the Way to Work

NOVEMBER 8, 2009

Does your boss need to be at the meeting? What dates and times does he or she have available (keeping in mind time zones for away meetings)? If the meeting is accepted -- What does your boss need for the meeting and who will be in attendance? Meeting with Mr. Brown and Ms.

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Laughing all the Way to Work

APRIL 10, 2009

I find the best way for me to keep my Inbox organized is to immediately deal with the e-mail when it arrives. I never have more than four or five e-mails in my Inbox for any length of time. Here are five buts you can do without: But I dont have time!

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Laughing all the Way to Work

FEBRUARY 14, 2009

Another time I wanted to try a career in the travel business. I have become familiar with time zones, airport codes and international holidays to avoid. I love the planning, organizing and running around that goes into bringing a conference from a thought to a successful event. You couldnt survive if you werent.

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Laughing all the Way to Work

APRIL 17, 2010

I went to my boss with my newfound knowledge and she arranged to get me some new technology to make transcribing voicemails less time consuming. Now that I knew what was taking the time, I could do something about it and make adjustments to organize my day better. Keep your desk organized with a place for everything.

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Laughing all the Way to Work

JULY 16, 2010

Manage: Consider these points as you organize your workload. It reduces confusion by improving organization and leaves your work space clean. Put the least important one on the bottom and the most urgent on top. As you complete tasks, peel off the sticky notes to reveal the next priority. Check: Are you prioritizing tasks correctly?

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Laughing all the Way to Work

DECEMBER 13, 2008

You also dont want to get too relaxed and drink too much because even though you are at a party outside the office, these are still the people you work with and if you have plans for your career then what you do at the office party counts. The office party can be a good time for some networking with the different people in your organization.

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Laughing all the Way to Work

OCTOBER 4, 2008

The head of your organization can often set the tone for how the rest of the office functions. Everyone helping each other and working together to achieve the goals of the organization. Even though you may have someone in your office that is like this, that does not mean you have to become involved.

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Laughing all the Way to Work

JULY 1, 2010

One person can be great at software programs and know all sorts of tricks to get things done quickly and another might be excellent at organizing and managing their email account. .© Copyright Patricia Robb 2010 2 July, 2010 We dont know what we dont know We really dont know what we dont know do we?

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Laughing all the Way to Work

AUGUST 29, 2009

Going through some major organizing and filing here at our office and this is another 'a propos' topic that hits home. Posted by Patricia Robb at 4:33 PM Labels: Administrative Assistant , e-mail correspondence , managing e-mail accounts , professional assistant , trolling Reactions: 3comments: Helene Sinclairsaid. THanks for sharing!

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Laughing all the Way to Work

SEPTEMBER 17, 2010

I also had a reception to organize and I am never sure how many appetizers to order for everyone and normally go by what the hotel staff tell me I need, but I noticed there is always so much food left over that I tried something different this time. What a relief -- that was the best lunch I ever had.

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Laughing all the Way to Work

MAY 24, 2009

Send a Meeting Request, without getting replies You know how it is when you send a meeting request to the whole organization and then get 40 replies in your Inbox. There is little chance that someone will miss that and double book them. If it is not necessary to see the Replies then just turn off your Request Responses button.

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Laughing all the Way to Work

DECEMBER 31, 2009

This of course prompted me to write the following thought of the day on my blog, "The location of your Office Suggestion Box can give you a good idea of how important it is to your organization. If it is located near the garbage can, dont expect your suggestions to be taken too seriously."

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IAAP 2010 Time Zones International 100

Laughing all the Way to Work

JULY 5, 2009

I find talking it over with a friend can be a good way to organize your thoughts. Thank goodness the Internet was also down so my friend couldnt e-mail her frustration to her husband. It is always worse to have things in writing and harder to take back. She ended up calling her husband back and apologizing for her bad mood.

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Time Zones IAAP Meeting Minutes International 100

Laughing all the Way to Work

JULY 11, 2009

Perhaps, you are reading this and thinking some of these things can be a big time commitment. Check out some of the sites and organizations and see which you would find to be most useful. Ask yourself if you have the time to go to a meeting once a month. I understand!

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IAAP Time Zones Administrative Professionals International 100

Laughing all the Way to Work

OCTOBER 4, 2009

It saves your boss asking if you got it done and in time they will not ask because they will just know you have handled it. Show your boss that you want to contribute to their success and to the organization. Take initiative and do some tasks that you know need to get done. Its worth trying to work it out.

Management 100

Management Time Zones IAAP Meeting Minutes 100

Laughing all the Way to Work

SEPTEMBER 13, 2008

Using a Bring-Forward System to Help Organize Your. . ► June (3) ► May (7) ► April (4) ► March (5) ► February (7) ► January (8) ▼ 2008 (215) ► December (3) ► November (6) ► October (5) ▼ September (5) Cystic Fibrosis Using an electronic Check Box - Check! Why I love my job?

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Laughing all the Way to Work

AUGUST 8, 2009

Is everything organized and in the proper place so when you need it you can just grab it? Of course you have to be prepared and know your stuff, but knowing you look good when you walk in the door will do wonders on how you present yourself. What about your work space? Is it neat and tidy?

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Time Zones IAAP Meeting Minutes International 100

Laughing all the Way to Work

SEPTEMBER 7, 2009

I recently received an e-newsletter from Jane Watson regarding Acronyms and Initialisms , which I thought was timely and wanted to share with you. Each organization we work for will have their own acronyms that we have to get familiar with fairly quickly if you want to know what they are talking about.

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Laughing all the Way to Work

MAY 9, 2010

If I deal with someone and can see that they have organized something well, I will make sure to ask them about it. She received a job posting that she thought I would be interested in so passed it along to me and I have done the same for others. I also get good tips from other assistants. I have learnt some great tips that way.

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Time Zones IAAP 2010 Meeting Minutes 100

Laughing all the Way to Work

JANUARY 23, 2010

Another office raised almost $1,000 in a fundraising effort they organized. Recently, with the Haitian earthquake disaster, a friend mentioned that one of the doctor`s at the hospital where she works was asking people to sponsor him in a swim for Haiti. He raised over $1,000. The old adage `every little bit helps`, really does.

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Time Zones IAAP AT&T 2010 100

Laughing all the Way to Work

FEBRUARY 8, 2009

That is a good time to recognize assistants for all that they do. Imagine, if we had assistants at home to pay the bills, do the budget, organize dinners, answer our calls and follow up with reminders -- it is starting to sound pretty good.

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Laughing all the Way to Work

FEBRUARY 21, 2009

If a conference comes up and they are looking for someone to do the registration, we can step in and do that or we can organize it from start to finish. Our job is not just one thing, but many different tasks and it changes every day. If someone is needed at the Reception Desk to greet guests and take calls, we can easily step in.

Time Zones 100

Time Zones IAAP 2009 Meeting Minutes 100

Laughing all the Way to Work

SEPTEMBER 29, 2008

Using a Bring-Forward System to Help Organize Your. . ► June (3) ► May (7) ► April (4) ► March (5) ► February (7) ► January (8) ▼ 2008 (215) ► December (3) ► November (6) ► October (5) ▼ September (5) Cystic Fibrosis Using an electronic Check Box - Check! Why I love my job?

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Time Zones IAAP Meeting Minutes Holidays 100