With this article, I hope to enlighten and encourage current and future Administrative Professionals to follow their dreams, keep on plugging away, and realize they are not, "just a secretary" anymore! The sky is the limit!
26 years ago, when I took my first step into an administrative position from retail and fast food, I never imagined I would be where I am now. I was so fortunate that a restaurant franchise, took a chance with me, and thought that this young, inexperienced woman, had some quality worth investing in. Why did they hire me? I had no experience in an office, no resume, no references. Perhaps it was just my sparkling, upbeat personality? Maybe it didn't hurt that I was cheap. Or maybe, just maybe, they somehow saw in me, that little girl, who many years earlier, used to put her hair up, put on her mom's glasses, use the cutoff triangular corner of a 2x4 as a typewriter, to play "secretary". She called herself Kathy Tyler. She'd spend countless hours "talking to her boss" and "typing" (after drawing the keys on the hunk of wood). She'd take dictation with made-up shorthand. Make her boss coffee. Whatever it was, I wouldn't be where I am today, had it not been for them taking a chance on me, and I thank them tremendously!
I married a military man, and only 2 years into admin, we had to move to Germany. It was a complete culture shock at a very young age. I didn't work initially. I didn't until I couldn't stand it and had to find something. Jobs for military wives on the Army post were scarce. I didn't have enough experience to do anything administrative. Thus, had to settle for another retail position at a different military base. I found myself a different type of retail employee this time, after having had a taste of the clerical life. I think it made me better. I was more mature, I paid attention to detail, I moved from the "floor" to behind the scenes, into what the retail store called "the cashier's cage". It was a bit more like an administrative position. Cashing checks, balancing a drawer, bookkeeping-esque. It had more paperwork. I was a sort of admin again, and happy. I left the job on a high note when I got pregnant and moved back to the U.S.
Shortly after returning to the U.S., my marriage failed and I had a small child. A single mom. I had to become the breadwinner and head of my household. It had been years since my last admin job. Where would I go? What would I do? I took a couple small positions, non-admin, to pay the bills. Then, a family member encouraged me to take the test to become a government employee. I saw the value in that and did just that. I had never been a good test taker and scored marginally at best. However, it was good enough to land me in a position as a files and records clerk for the Air Reserve Personnel Center. The only drawback was that I was a contractor. Not a secure position. I did my best. Climbed file cabinets as high as a two-story building. Carried my Walkman on my waist, and hummed while filing. Administrative? Yes, but challenging? No. Three months or so into my contract, others began to be let go, and I panicked. I decided to pretty-up my resume and see what else I could find. What I found was a staffing agency. I had never heard of these before. But they were great! They knew what employers wanted and were looking for in an admin. They knew actual employers that were hiring. I was introduced to the try-before-you-buy, temp-to-hire concept. The staffing agency helped me to learn current skills for admin positions and tested me on my typing speed, etc. (Luckily, I had taken typing in high school and got an 'A').
The staffing agency placed me temp-to-hire, into a non-profit, as an administrative assistant, reporting to the Office Manager (she supported the non-profit equivalent of a CEO, the Executive Director). I was so excited. This was my first knee-deep, tried and true admin position. I wasn't paid much, but did I ever learn and grow in 4 years! The temp job became permanent in a couple weeks if I recall correctly. I think I can honestly say, this job is what made me absolutely love being an administrative professional. Oh, it had its challenges, but I learned and learned. I was promoted to the Office Manager position a few years in. I ran the office and assisted the Executive Director. I reported to a quirky, interesting man. As a person, he was very nurturing and sincerely cared about me and my child, outside office hours. During office hours, it was a different story. He was old-fashioned and a little weird, honestly. He wore a toupee (curly red one at that). I'm not sure how that's relevant, but it paints a picture for you. He yelled when you made mistakes, or when he needed you and you didn't jump into his office. He was very particular. He demanded a lot. One time I was working hard on the company newsletter when I heard him indistinctly yell something and then proceed to throw his entire desktop phone across the room! Mind you, this was before cell phones, so this was a corded brick with a handset. It had me scared the rest of the day. It was nothing I did, but it scared me straight. Had to order him a new phone obviously.
About 4 years into my position as Office Manager, for the non-profit, I had become aware of other associations, based on my profession, that I could join. They were organizations who supported certain groups of like-minded people. My choice was NAESAA (National Association of Executive Secretaries and Administrative Assistants). I joined. The very first thing I gained access to, was their Salary Survey. Wow, was that a slap in the face! The non-profit may have made a mistake by encouraging me to join a professional association. I was a young single mother and now money hungry after seeing the survey! So off I went, back to the staffing agency I had gone to before. Within a short period of time, I had an interview for another temp-to-hire position, at an Engineering firm.
I'd like to say the next decade was great, and that I was in my chosen profession and with my lifelong company, but no. Not the nature of the corporate beast, i.e. bankruptcies, mergers, acquisitions. The engineering firm loved me and put me on permanent status, only to close the office I was working for, 4 short months later. The next company I went to work for was also through a staffing agency and I was placed with a tech company temp-to-hire. Never became permanent, because they then had lay-off's, due to hard times, and let go all their contractors. It would have seemed, the next job, a permanent one from the get-go, was where I'd land for good. But… nope. I did stay there over 4 years and loved it!! But it was the "tech bust" in the mid-2000's and layoffs were abundant. I survived 7 of them at this one company. It seemed I was truly valued by the Senior Vice President (SVP) I supported as his Executive Assistant (EA), until he couldn't bear laying people off anymore and therefore laid himself off. I was lent over to the CFO to support him, as well as the SVP, months earlier. He and I did not have a close relationship established yet. A mere month or so later, I was let go. Was told my position, was a "luxury position", and they were letting go of all luxuries. I was heartbroken. Absolutely loved the company, its culture, the people. Just about everything about it. It was my first hard break up, so to speak. Luckily enough, the experience I gained working there and the skill set I'd acquired, fancied up my resume, and within just three weeks, I landed another great position. This time all on my own! No agency. I was elated.
Supporting the President of a regional homebuilder, was great. I was also the Office Manager, Records Retention Manager, and supervised the receptionist. Again, gaining more and more skills, learning how to "handle" different types of management styles and personalities, etc. It was a very valuable job and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Sure enough, I picked the wrong industry to be in, or it was just poor timing. I was in the industry when the housing bust subsequently occurred. After just 2 ½ years, they too let many people go. Another layoff. How could I go through this again? By this time, it was "old hat". I pulled up my bootstraps, updated the old resume and hit the pavement, so to speak. Praise the Lord! In just 2 weeks this time, I landed a job on my own again, as an EA to an SVP of a multi-family homebuilder. I was also the Office Manager, and supervised the receptionist, as I did in my previous role. This job was short-lived. Being in the homebuilding industry, as I had been previously, times were still tough. I was only able to keep this job for one year. It seems this industry was still unable to sustain and remain profitable, even 2 years into the economic crisis. As I reflect, as hard as it was to lose two jobs in such a short period of time, it was all for the best. I would discover this 18 months later. It was, as I mentioned, an economic crisis in America, and I was in the middle of it. I had remarried and it wasn't a good start for my new family. But, after taking a couple of jobs, in lower level admin positions, that didn't quite fit what I was looking for, I finally landed, what at that time, was my new dream job! I landed an EA position to a CEO! It was only a 10-15-minute drive from home and it seemed that it was a great personality match, which later on in my career, I would come to find out was a very important thing!
My first job supporting a CEO was an absolute pleasure. I was again, the Office Manager as well. I absorbed as much as I could. I learned, grew and polished my skills. I felt as if I was an integral part of the team. A valued member. It was a fulfilling position for me. I was appreciated and liked. I hoped it would never end. Then Bam! The "mom-and-pop" shop, of about 20-50 people (in the office, and remote), sold to, let's call them the "big guys", in the industry. I was certain it would not affect me. I could and would roll with the changes. That was not so easy. 2 ½ years in this position, and as a result of the merger, I decided that the changes did not keep me in the position I had known and loved. It was difficult and I was torn. I was sure that I had given my heart and soul to the company in a short amount of time, and that it was not going to be a good fit going forward. Thus, for the first time in a long time, I decided to leave my once dream job, and go back out there to find the next challenge. I would find one that utilized my skills, also valued me and my experience, and fulfilled, what had been taken away from me through the merger/acquisition.
This time, it took 4 months. But, I did it! I landed another dream job! It was so reminiscent of the last one (before their merger). I immediately felt like I was home. I took on my niche role as EA to the CEO and Office Manager. I was more of a Project Manager in the beginning, as my first challenge was the merging of two offices into one; into a brand-new office space. I managed the project from start to finish. I quickly gained the trust of my CEO as not just an assistant, but as a partner. I was working for a road warrior. He traveled quite extensively. Much of the travel was to foreign countries. This helped me to broaden my skill set. I mastered complex international travel planning. It was multi-country travel, including obtaining visas, etc. I was up to the challenge and enjoyed the other "every-day" challenges this job offered me. I had begun to grow a quite extensive network of fellow employees that genuinely appreciated me, cheered me on, encouraged me… So much so, I decided, after 4 years with this company, I would leave to start my own company.
I was participating in my second year of an advisory board of the Denver Metro Admin awards, comprised of Admins from throughout Denver. It was led by a spunky entrepreneur, who, as well, highly motivated and inspired me! I had, for years, been intrigued at the thought of working for myself, and the world of Virtual Assisting and Admin Recruiting. Although I had my doubts as to the legitimacy of the VA field, I did my research and found this to be a legitimate, emerging profession! More and more entrepreneurs and startups especially were latching onto it to save money and give them back their most valuable commodity, their TIME. It is a way for me to have that work-life balance that had never been afforded to me in my traditional role as an Executive Assistant in corporate America. As far as the recruiting part of my new business, I had been approached many times over the years, asking if I'd ever considered recruiting. I saw that many EA's became recruiters, and I felt I had the personality, know-how, and instinct to easily become one. Thus, the recruitment leg of my business was born of a natural progression in my career. I knew I could recruit any admin professional, at any level, with an extra edge of competency. How many recruiters had been an admin like the ones they were recruiting? Maybe some, but how many for 26 years?
So here I am. I'm in business. My own company (actually a partnership, with a fantastic person I met along the way and teamed up with)! Tandem Resource Solutions. The name says it all. We work in tandem with executives, startups, hiring managers, etc., to fulfill their administrative needs. We are passionate about administration! If it's not listed as something we do, just ask! Between the two of us, our many years of experience, our vast networks, and other VA's/Recruiters, I am confident we can help!
I am convinced, that I have found my forever gig this time. I hope to grow this business into something big! I appreciate all that have knowingly or unknowingly attributed to my success and helped to educate me along the way. Being an Administrative Professional is a wonderful career! If you have a desire to help others, enjoy variety in your everyday work, continually wish to learn and grow, easily roll with change, then THIS is the career path for you!
Follow Us on Social Media