Laughing all the Way to Work

JANUARY 30, 2016

When learning something new it is usually the little things that can seem overwhelming. I just learnt a new program to search patient names for information and medical records. I recall the person telling us how to use the program and it seemed complicated. Log in, enter your password, press F1 if you want to do this, F2 if you want to do that. When you get to this screen, look on the right hand side and press F11.

Medical 100

Medical Learning 100

Laughing all the Way to Work

DECEMBER 30, 2015

It's funny how as I have moved through my career from office to office the way I organize myself has changed. When I was at the law firm, I used tasks extensively and had a wait bin where I put things I was waiting on. I had a lot of trigger dates I needed to remember such as when to file a statement of defence after receiving a statement of claim, or putting in a reminder when the mandatory mediation kicked in.

Filing 100

Filing Travel Time Zones International 100

Laughing all the Way to Work

DECEMBER 28, 2015

During the holidays it is important to have people in the office to keep things going. I like working during this time because you can get so much done that you normally don't have time to do. Here are some of the things I will be doing: Cleaning out my desk drawers - I just started this job a little over a month ago. The girl who was there before me was there for 9 years and before they hired me there were two temporary people sitting at my desk so you can imagine the desk drawers were very dis

Staples 100

Staples Holidays Agenda Filing 100

Laughing all the Way to Work

NOVEMBER 25, 2013

'Travel Planning for Administrative Professionals Hi everyone, I will be presenting a new webinar on travel planning. Please join me on Jan. 3 from 1 to 2:15 p.m. For more information and to register, please click on the following link : Or if the link does not work, please cut and paste this link and put it in your browser: [link] I am excited to do this new webinar so I can share everything I''ve learnt over the years about arranging travel.

Administrative Professionals 100

Administrative Professionals Travel 100

Laughing all the Way to Work

OCTOBER 27, 2013

'I share the CEO''s Outlook calendar with my assistant. Since we both book meetings for him, it is important if we have proposed dates for a meeting that we secure them in his calendar so one of us doesn''t use it for another meeting. We do this by putting a hold on the date and time with a brief note with what the meeting is about, for example ''HOLD Strategy mtg w/DCEO''.

Calendars 100

Calendars Management 2013 AT&T 100

Laughing all the Way to Work

AUGUST 27, 2013

'I found this great site with basic filing rules for names. I found it very useful so I thought I''d share: [link] I''ve also added it to my sidebar under Filing for your future reference.

Filing 100

Filing 100

Laughing all the Way to Work

MAY 15, 2013

'Minute taking can seem scary at first but once you know what you need to record, you will get better at it over time. My next minute-taking webinar will be on May 31 at 1 p.m. EST and I will go over the basics of minute taking as well as the actual process so you will feel more confident in this role. This webinar is well suited for those who have never taken minutes but want to learn, beginners or those at an intermediate level.

Confidence 100

Confidence Learning Management UPS 100

Laughing all the Way to Work

FEBRUARY 14, 2013

If anyone missed my February minute-taking webinar, there is another one coming up on March 8th. If you are interested, please register here. In this session I want to provide tips and ideas on what to do before, during and after the meeting. I find there are three important things you need in order to take good minutes: You need to learn how to take the minutes and have a clear idea on what you need to record; You should have guidelines and checklists to ensure quality and so you won’t forget a

Confidence 100

Confidence Learning UPS 100

Laughing all the Way to Work

JULY 14, 2012

I have been involved in conducting a few interviews for admin jobs and here are two of the main things I have noticed about those who are unsuccessful: resumes are out of date and not relevant to the job applied for and the person was not prepared for the interview. When you go for an interview you have to keep in mind that they really do want to hire someone, but you have to make it worth their while to hire you.

Temping 100

Temping Mentoring Resume Interviewing 100

Laughing all the Way to Work

JULY 8, 2012

The admin role is a service-oriented position. Basically we are there to serve management - whether that be one executive or multiple managers and staff members. Managing our time can become more challenging when serving more than one person. Not that the volume is greater, because as someone who serves the CEO of our organization, I know that is not the case, but because it is coming from multiple sources it can seem overwhelming.

Management 100

Management Goals Email UPS 100

Laughing all the Way to Work

FEBRUARY 16, 2012

As I mentioned in my previous post, I was giving a webinar on minute-taking yesterday. There were a few questions that as I pondered last night, I wanted to give a more fulsome answer to today. Since some of you are on my blog, I thought this would be a good way to answer those questions. Do you need to record in the minutes when someone abstains from a vote?

Agenda 100

Agenda Finance Etiquette Legal 100

Laughing all the Way to Work

FEBRUARY 4, 2012

The first time my boss asked me to take minutes I gulped and the fear took over. I'm sure many of you can relate and know exactly what I mean. As I was walking to the boardroom I chattered nervously to him that I hadn't taken minutes since high school. It ended up being a ploy to get me to the boardroom for a baby shower - Surprise!!! Whew, I had dodged a bullet, but I knew this, I never wanted to take a job that required minute taking.

Confidence 100

Confidence Mentoring Learning Interviewing 100

Laughing all the Way to Work

JANUARY 31, 2012

I use the Ctrl keys so frequently that I almost forgot a few good ones. To open a new blank document in Word, press Ctrl n. To open a document, press Ctrl o. Ctrl F4 will close the document, Alt F4 will close the document and the program. If you haven't saved the document, it will prompt you to Save, Don't Save or Cancel. Or you can press Ctrl s before you close it.

PowerPoint 100

PowerPoint 100

Laughing all the Way to Work

JANUARY 29, 2012

Someone at work was trying to paste something by right clicking and using the paste option. There were three options to choose from with a symbol for a paint brush, an arrow and the letter 'A'. She tried one and it wasn't the paste she wanted so she said in frustration, "I never know which one to choose." Each of the paste options do have a purpose, but for what we were trying to do I told her to just press Ctrl v and that would do it.

Keyboards 100

Keyboards Administrative Professionals 100

Laughing all the Way to Work

DECEMBER 10, 2011

Office talk, or water cooler conversations, can be just that: what did you do on the weekend, what activities are your children participating in, what great new restaurant you tried, etc. etc., but what about when the conversation turns to gossip? Gossip can be vicious and in some cases even lead to disciplinary action or getting fired if you are the one doing it.

Gossip 100

Gossip Restaurants Forms Administrative Professionals 100

Laughing all the Way to Work

SEPTEMBER 11, 2011

I've mentioned this before, but it is true -- proofreading is a lost art. I think people are over confident with spell check and forget that it can only do so much. Lists: I was working with someone and we were comparing a list to make sure we had all the right people with their names spelled right, correct title and address. The first thing I did was count the number of people on the list I was working from and then I counted them on the list I was getting the information from, it was out by th

Email 100

Email Filing Confidence Google 100

Laughing all the Way to Work

SEPTEMBER 11, 2011

It's hard to believe it was 10 years ago today that this tragedy happened. It was certainly an event that changed a lot of things in our world and I'm sure each of us can remember exactly where we were on that fateful day. I heard one of the wives speak whose husband was a pilot on the second plane that crashed into the World Trade Centre. What an inspiration she was as she and her family dealt with the loss.

Management 100

Management 100

Laughing all the Way to Work

SEPTEMBER 4, 2011

Whether you are an Executive Assistant or an Administrative Assistant, email management of our boss's account has become a big part of our jobs. But with that job comes responsibility and accountability. Depending on what your boss's title is we are often privy to some very confidential information. Our boss either has allowed us access because he or she is just overwhelmed with email and has no choice, but also because they trust that we will keep the information to ourselves and not spread inf

Email 100

Email Restaurants Travel Management 100

Laughing all the Way to Work

JULY 16, 2011

Hi everyone, I have been offline for a bit and wanted to touch base so you know I haven't left the planet :) I am planning on adopting a teenager and am going through the stages for that. As you can imagine, it is not without its hiccups, but hopefully I will be welcoming someone into my home by early August. As a mother to a 31-year old daughter, and having gone through the teen years with her, I know there will be bumps along the way, but I am looking forward to the challenge.

Training 100

Training Administrative Professionals 100

Laughing all the Way to Work

MAY 11, 2011

I finally figured out my assistant meant follow up.

UPS 100

UPS 100

Laughing all the Way to Work

APRIL 2, 2011

Someone by the name of Cass posted a comment to my last post (please read it for context) and I thought I would reply as a new post so everyone would have the benefit of joining the dialogue as I think it is a common problem among assistants. The more organized you are, the less work it seems to others so the less recognition you get. Or sometimes assumptions are made that all the group helped, when it really was only one or two.

Finance 100

Finance Email Administrative Professionals UPS 100

Laughing all the Way to Work

MARCH 29, 2011

I just finished a busy few months leading up to our Board of Directors meeting and it went very smoothly. I love it when things fall into place, but that doesn't happen without a lot of planning. To get ready the first thing I do is populate my to-do list with the tasks I need to do leading up to the event. I go through my checklist of what I will need to bring to the venue, anything I need to remember to include in the meeting package and just about anything that doesn't fit goes on my catchall

Agenda 100

Agenda Confidence Meeting Planning UPS 100

Laughing all the Way to Work

FEBRUARY 13, 2011

This is a guest post by Allison Gamble, a content writer representing psychologydegree.net. I thought it was relevant as the workplace is often filled with office politics and misunderstandings that can make your work experience quite miserable. Although, these same scenarios have made for some good fun on shows like The Office , when you are going through a tense work situation it is certainly no laughing matter.

Assertiveness 100

Assertiveness Environment Skills Goals 100

Laughing all the Way to Work

DECEMBER 5, 2010

I used to think it didn't matter if we went to the office party and rarely would go. I'm single and I don't like going to parties alone, especially the office party? At our local IAAP chapter dinner we heard a speaker from an etiquette protocol company Savoir-Faire and she suggested that it was very important to go to the office party because it was more about protocol and networking and how you are viewed as a team player than socializing.

Etiquette 100

Etiquette Business Cards IAAP Agenda 100

Laughing all the Way to Work

OCTOBER 16, 2010

People don't seem to be as concerned with proofreading as we used to be. I think with texting it has brought a low expectation for accuracy as lots of mistakes are made in emails and texts and are accepted overall. When I was in school the teachers drilled proofing skills into us as they taught us the goal was to create the best product we could and proofing was part of the process to do that.

Administrative Professionals 100

Administrative Professionals Confidence Goals Email 100

Laughing all the Way to Work

OCTOBER 9, 2010

Hi everyone, Contests are always fun and this one sounds like it could be interesting. I'm sure we all have some interesting office stories to tell and if you can win some money too, well that makes it even more interesting. So put your thinking caps on and check it out at this website: [link] If you are like me, you need to read some of the other stories just to get your creative juices flowing and there are some posted on the site just for that purpose.

100

100

Laughing all the Way to Work

OCTOBER 2, 2010

Sometimes I find meeting requests are not as clear as they could be. I like to see at a glance who will be at the meeting, what the purpose is and where the meeting will be held without having to open it. For instance: Subject: Patricia, Adele and Rita meeting to discuss Christmas Party Location: Large Boardroom, 5th Floor If it is a lunch meeting I enter the restaurant name, street address and whether a reservation was made.

Calendars 100

Calendars Holidays Agenda Administrative Professionals 100

Laughing all the Way to Work

SEPTEMBER 27, 2010

I especially like it when the item is useful. I was asked to try out the Dymo 260P Label Maker and by doing so I got to keep it. I immediately brought it to the office to put it to good use. There are so many uses for it and I especially like the fact that it is a hand-held device and very easy to use. Even I didn’t have any problems making a label and that was before I even read the instructions.

Filing 100

Filing UPS 100

Laughing all the Way to Work

NOVEMBER 20, 2007

There are so many things we need to check when we first come into work in the morning: voicemail, email, regular mail and faxes and couriers. What should we do first? I have been finding it is important to check my voicemail first thing. Email at least can be flagged as urgent, but your voicemail you have no idea until you listen to it how important it is, so best to check that first.

Fax 100

Fax Email UPS 100

Laughing all the Way to Work

NOVEMBER 16, 2007

Most business envelopes have their logo and business address pre-printed on the envelope, but if you are in a large organization with many people sending letters out every day, how will your Mailroom staff know who to give the envelope to if it comes back Return to Sender? A good tip is to put your boss's initials under the logo and address on the envelope.

100

100

Laughing all the Way to Work

NOVEMBER 20, 2007

The Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary defines Career as “the job or series of jobs that you do during your working life, especially if you continue to get better jobs and earn more money.”. A Job is defined as “.the regular work which a person does to earn money”. [1] Some questions you can ask yourself are: Do you decide on a job because of availability, money or a wise career choice?

IAAP 100

IAAP Administrative Professionals Salary 2007 100

Laughing all the Way to Work

NOVEMBER 16, 2007

Here is a good tip if someone calls you wanting to check your boss's availability on multiple dates in the next month or so. Instead of going to each date one at a time you can view them all at once. Here's how: Go to your calendar "Day" view. Holding down the Ctrl key, and selecting from the small calendar (the one that shows the full month), click on the dates you want to look at i.e.

Calendars 100

Calendars 100

Laughing all the Way to Work

AUGUST 2, 2007

In all my years as a secretary I have found having a network of other assistants has been a tremendous help when I just can't figure out how to word a sentence in a letter or if I'm wondering where to look to find the information I urgently need, or even "Do you know of an opening, I have to get out of this job!". What a help knowing I have these people that I can email or phone and get an answer to my dilemma in minutes, including another job opportunity.

Networking 100

Networking Forms Phones Environment 100

Laughing all the Way to Work

NOVEMBER 2, 2007

" People who work together will win, whether it be against complex football defenses, or the problems of modern society. " [1] We have all seen it in job postings, “Must be able to work well in a team environment”. How important is it that we be team players in the workplace? In sports it is easy to see how working as a team is the way to win the game.

Fax 100

Fax Finance 2007 Goals 100

Laughing all the Way to Work

FEBRUARY 16, 2008

The North Country Gazette posted an article about an administrative assistant who is being charged with stealing $2,500 of cell phone usage from company cell phones at the NYPD. Click here 1 for the complete article. 1 (accessed February 16, 2008). Tags: criminal cell phone use.

2008 100

2008 Phones 100

Laughing all the Way to Work

OCTOBER 28, 2007

The office fridge can be a mess Something has spilt, something's been left That plastic container has been there a year No one will open it, out of fear Expiry dates have long been ignored Drinks are lined up on the door Is it yours or is it mine? I can't remember if I brought that kind Lots of lunches there to see That one's green though - should it be?

Etiquette 100

Etiquette 2007 Email UPS 100

Laughing all the Way to Work

MARCH 22, 2008

The administrative assistant is the face and voice of an organization to anyone who calls or visits. An assistant can often be the professional gatekeeper as to who gets in to see the boss and how quickly they get to speak to them on the phone. I found this neat blog "The Thin Pink Line: Four Women for Women". I have added it to my links of blogs that I read.

Phones 100

Phones 100