Professional Assistant Blog

JANUARY 14, 2008

By The Professional Assistant on Monday, January 14, 2008 Filed Under: Client Service , Organize , Prioritize , Productivity Y ou write an e-mail to a staff member about a client having an issue with something. The staff member writes you back, but you don’t quite understand it. You write them again, asking for clarification.

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Professional Assistant Blog

MARCH 26, 2008

Until next time, T ake care - of your clutter! Home About Me Advertise Why People Gossip At The Office By The Professional Assistant on Wednesday, March 26, 2008 Filed Under: Meetings , Office Gossip , Productivity D o you gossip at the office? Do you get sucked into the gossip of others? Gossip has never been a positive matter.

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Professional Assistant Blog

OCTOBER 21, 2008

There are some companies that, unfortunately, don’t allow for purchases such as stationary , fax machines , toner , etc. You can even get new items, if you aren’t into used items or feel that they might not work as well. Since I work for a large corporation, this is my case as well. Whats next?

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Professional Assistant Blog

NOVEMBER 8, 2007

See what you can change about yourself, don’t try to change others. At times, the person that conveys this tone doesn’t realize they are coming across in a harmful manner. If someone is making a difference by helping you or your teammates, let them know. Try to understand that change will happen, no matter what.

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Professional Assistant Blog

MARCH 10, 2008

In my weekly recap last Friday I pointed out a Lifehack.org article arguing that the current climate for hyper-productivity isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. If I didn’t have a full day’s worth of tasks to complete I wasn’t being efficient enough. Until next time, T ake care - of your clutter!

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Professional Assistant Blog

AUGUST 18, 2008

I couldn’t believe it either. I personally couldn’t do this, but it’s quite interesting that people would actually think of this. I work in a back office environment, where 99% of our client interaction is via the phone, e-mail or outside of the office, so I can wear jeans and a t-shirt.

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Professional Assistant Blog

OCTOBER 17, 2008

You reminisce about that Seinfeld episode where Elaine gets stuck on the subway and starts talking to herself about how the train isn’t moving and starts to get claustrophobic. You start to notice a particular smell, yet you know it wasn’t you, but you wonder if everyone thinks that it was. This is you now!

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Professional Assistant Blog

NOVEMBER 20, 2007

This doesn’t mean that you have to go out for beers or go to a movie. I don’t mean take charge of the office – you might make some serious mistakes. Don’t whine and complain about every little task that is given to you. Don’t break your promises. Take some risks!

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Professional Assistant Blog

JULY 20, 2009

My weight gain happened as a result of being so busy in my new job that I started eating out because it was easier than having to make my own breakfast, lunch and sometimes dinner at home and I stopped going to the gym because I just couldn't seem to find the time. It really does help, doesn't it? Healthy Or Junk?

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Professional Assistant Blog

JANUARY 7, 2008

But don’t forget, some office fax machines require you to dial 9 before any numbers, so don’t forget that. I had the same trouble in the past, since I have to fax quite a few documents to clients on a regular basis. There’s a really easy solution to this. I found a great website called Time and Date.com.

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Professional Assistant Blog

SEPTEMBER 22, 2008

T here is a great site called OpenTable.com , which allows you to book reservations online with particular restaurants all over the world. By The Professional Assistant on Monday, September 22, 2008 Filed Under: Organize , Productivity A re you asked to make reservations for your manager(s) at particular restaurants?

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Professional Assistant Blog

MARCH 27, 2008

Until next time, T ake care - of your clutter! Save the new e-mail distribution list by giving it a name that this corresponds to whatever it is being used for. All e-mail distribution lists are bolded. Subscribe to The Professional Assistant feeds or get posts e-mailed directly to you today.

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Professional Assistant Blog

SEPTEMBER 30, 2008

Do you even receive voice mails that are left by people trying to sell you something, but you didn’t even hear the phone ring? By The Professional Assistant on Tuesday, September 30, 2008 Filed Under: Productivity D o you receive junk mail, junk faxes and the occasional irritating phone call from telemarketers?

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Professional Assistant Blog

OCTOBER 7, 2008

But of course, you don’t want to disturb others around you with the bell going off or some even have chickens clucking as the alarm. Having a timer at your desk can be a great tool. This way, you will only have to focus on your project for that particular amount of time and not have to worry about other projects falling behind.

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Professional Assistant Blog

DECEMBER 5, 2007

We hold meetings every so often (since everyone’s busy and can’t really figure out when these meetings work for everyone), but we do try to meet at least once every quarter. This is definitely good for sharing ideas and skills among teammates and other departments. Until next time, Take care - of your clutter!

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Professional Assistant Blog

JANUARY 15, 2008

You don’t have to do much to lend a helping hand, just go out there and join an association, volunteer or whatever would make you feel “balanced&#. I never thought that I’d want to be a Professional Assistant, but somehow it just jumped out at me. But that’s another story. Until next time, Take care - of your clutter!

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Professional Assistant Blog

MARCH 28, 2008

Heres a sample Thank You letter that you can use to get that dream job you have been waiting for: Your Name Your Address Your City, Province, Postal Code Your Phone Number Your Email Date Name Title Organization Address City, Province, Postal Code Dear Mr./Ms. Until next time, T ake care - of your clutter!

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Professional Assistant Blog

DECEMBER 17, 2007

I can understand that certain items need to be handled via e-mail, so you have a record of the matter, but if it’s something that doesn’t need to be recorded, such as asking the person where they would like to have lunch or how their weekend went. This actually happens quite a bit at my workplace as well.

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Professional Assistant Blog

FEBRUARY 11, 2008

One of my readers asked me for some tips on handling annoying co-workers that don’t throw out their tea bags, leave used paper towels around the sink area or just leave their dirty dishes in the dish rack. Do you start wondering if they treat their own house the same way? You’re not alone. right away.

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Professional Assistant Blog

FEBRUARY 19, 2008

I worked as an Investment Advisor’s Assistant, completed my CSC (Canadian Securities Course), but soon after, I realized that this wasn’t really for me. One thing that always bothered me in my last job was when I had my door closed, people would still knock and ask me questions that weren’t urgent.

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Laughing all the Way to Work

JANUARY 23, 2010

Whether they had or hadn`t I was never sure, but I know today that offices do fundraise for charities and workers are happy to participate. Whether they had or hadn`t I was never sure, but I know today that offices do fundraise for charities and workers are happy to participate. He raised over $1,000. 5, 2010 at 12 p.m.

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Professional Assistant Blog

SEPTEMBER 3, 2008

Then he mentioned that he didn’t want all of the details of each product listed. I recently ran into this problem as well. One of my managers wanted me to use our sales tracking software to create the sales report for a particular product. He only wanted the total amounts shown as a bundled figure.

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Professional Assistant Blog

JULY 16, 2008

Until next time, T ake care - of your clutter! She is the largest share holder of the company, obviously. But she is very high strung and doesnt know how to relax even when among friends or on vacation. She can be very trying at times, just a very difficult person. I consider myself and have been in the past, to be an over achiever.

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Professional Assistant Blog

APRIL 1, 2008

Until next time, T ake care - of your clutter! Subscribe to The Professional Assistant feeds or get posts e-mailed directly to you today. Post from: Assistant Tips 4comments for this post Jodith One thing I find helpful when having multiple people performing file updates is to keep track changes turned on.

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Professional Assistant Blog

AUGUST 14, 2008

Until next time, T ake care - of your clutter! By The Professional Assistant on Thursday, August 14, 2008 Filed Under: Productivity , System Security F orgetting your Windows password happens to everyone from time to time. Yes, even I forget it at times. Then you have to try to remember all of these passwords! When does it ever end?

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Professional Assistant Blog

FEBRUARY 12, 2008

Thanks Manish Posted on 23 October, 2009 1:20 AM The Professional Assistant Hi Manish, Unfortunately, I don't have any other answer to this except to resize each one individually. Posted on 4 July, 2010 9:05 PM The Professional Assistant Hi, Unfortunately, you can't change the size of the file, but you can with Paint or Photoshop.

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Professional Assistant Blog

FEBRUARY 20, 2008

Watson Associates gives the following e-mail tips for Email Salutations in her e-bulletin Business Writing Updates: “There are several options for starting an e-mail in North America as our business culture is not as formal as other areas. They were merely doing their job and didn’t need to be thanked. Jane Watson of J.

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Professional Assistant Blog

MARCH 6, 2008

Until next time, T ake care - of your clutter! This is a typical work day for her: She comes in late EVERYDAY (not just a few minutes, but 15-25 minutes with an excuse for WHY shes late - traffic - and she lives 10 minutes away). Next she starts complaining about people around her, her friends, her spouse’s friends, kids, etc.

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Laughing all the Way to Work

JANUARY 10, 2010

Posted by Patricia Robb at 2:34 PM Labels: 30 years of service , Administrative Assistant , administrative professional , professional service , quality service Reactions: 2comments: Jodith said. I could see him looking after himself, trying to organise his diary and all his emails etc, and he wasn't sure what to give me.

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Laughing all the Way to Work

NOVEMBER 9, 2008

Taking stock We don't know what we don't know ► June (1) Playing nice in the sandbox ► May (2) Whose meeting is it anyway? I gave at the office Calendar "ah ha" Introducing The Administrative Bloopers Blog What ever happened to the "us" in Service? 5, 2010 at 12 p.m. Dealing in real time.

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Laughing all the Way to Work

MAY 31, 2009

Taking stock We don't know what we don't know ► June (1) Playing nice in the sandbox ► May (2) Whose meeting is it anyway? I gave at the office Calendar "ah ha" Introducing The Administrative Bloopers Blog What ever happened to the "us" in Service? 5, 2010 at 12 p.m. Dealing in real time.

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Laughing all the Way to Work

NOVEMBER 10, 2008

Taking stock We don't know what we don't know ► June (1) Playing nice in the sandbox ► May (2) Whose meeting is it anyway? I gave at the office Calendar "ah ha" Introducing The Administrative Bloopers Blog What ever happened to the "us" in Service? Congratulations Tammy! 5, 2010 at 12 p.m.

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Laughing all the Way to Work

AUGUST 22, 2009

Sometimes I need to do a job, but I can’t move forward until I get an answer from someone else. While waiting for the answer, you can go on to other tasks and bring this item forward another day to get it off your desk, but don’t let it go off your radar. Put it in your Outlook Tasks with a reminder to follow up.

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Laughing all the Way to Work

FEBRUARY 13, 2010

By the same token, I appreciate it when someone lets me know by when they will have something for me and if they can’t have it done by that date, then I like it when they get back to me to say when I can expect it. So that is what I like, but it isn’t always what I get. I can only guess when I might get it.

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Professional Assistant Blog

MARCH 20, 2008

Until next time, T ake care - of your clutter! What better candidate to take on that role as a career, than the assistant who regularly plans events from small meetings to large conferences. Marketing: An assistant who has a marketing flare with a creative mind can branch out into editing or writing.

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Laughing all the Way to Work

AUGUST 13, 2010

I had no idea this could be done, but I was thrilled when I got her email, but it just proved to me once again that we are all holding on to things we take for granted that others know about. The tip she sent me was how to edit an email that you have received. Close out of the email and you will be asked to Save the changes.

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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. Taking stock We don't know what we don't know ► June (1) Playing nice in the sandbox ► May (2) Whose meeting is it anyway?

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