Are you an Admin Assistant who has forgotten just how great it is to be an Admin Assistant?

Don’t worry we’re all guilty of this from time to time, regardless of what it is that we do. So many positives live in our everyday routines, but they can get somewhat buried in day-to-day stresses. It’s time to see your shine and look at how great that routine of yours is. So, if you’re a knockout Admin Assistant, chances are you’re going places.

See below our uber fabulous admin assistants’ survival guide.

The Dogs Body

Okay, okay, we might be exaggerating a little bit, this section isn’t quite what the header might suggest…

It can get quite exhausting being the office Admin Assistant, we can all recognise that! But here you are fresh and ready to climb that career ladder.

Right now, is one of the most opportunistic moments of your career! The level of exposure you receive as an admin assistant is something to cherish. You can interact with colleagues from all walks of life. Building relationships and gaining valuable insight into what their jobs may entail, and if that is something you can see yourself doing in the future.

The more people you know, the more opportunities that are likely to come your way, and so working in a general role has so many valuable points. Plus, the doors are open right now for a direction of your choosing!

You may spend your days running around like a headless chicken, not quite sure what’s going on. Remember, to take a breather and focus on all that is good.

Show willingness for everything, get involved with everything that you can, a hard work ethic and a great attitude will always take you a long way. You’ll soon find you’re their go-to person, if you approach your work and colleagues with an up-beat positive attitude.

Helping Dave in accounting to whole punch some invoices might just be the way you step over those career stones, you just don’t know what may come of helping people!

As an entry level job, you may not be fully equipped with what is required to work in an office environment, and most of us don’t skip to work with sunshine emanating from our you-know-where areas every day.

Starting off can always feel a little bit shaky. But trust us, once you have spent a few months circulating the office, and interacting with your colleagues, you will notice your confidence and communication skills will improve.

These skills you can learn from your peers and managers. Observe how they address one another, how they present themselves and how they exude confidence. Or, you know what they say, fake it till you make it!

It is possible to be an introverted person with great communication skills. Understanding who you are and your personality type, can alleviate any anxiety surrounding confidence in the workplace. So, if you know your style, you have your starting to point to begin building from. Read up on these tips to improve your confidence.

The frustrations you may feel in your admin assistant role are very normal. Remember, through all of it, it is a great foot in the door! Once you’re in, who knows what opportunities may arise.

Your Bad-Ass Skills 

Being an admin assistant is a great starting point for anyone who views themselves as bit of a ‘generalist’, or an ‘all-rounder’.

We’ve laid out all of the necessary skills that employers look for in an admin assistant, if you’ve already landed yourself a bad-ass admin assistant role, is this you??

Basic Computer Literacy

You don’t need to be Steve Jobs, but a good basic understanding of Microsoft Word, and Windows is a good start

Self-motivator

Unless you want a manager on your back all day pushing you along the train tracks slowly, and making the pulsating vein in the side of your head larger and larger. You’re going to want to find that inner motivator, this will easily set you apart and keep those nervous break downs at bay

Intuitive

Likewise, you also don’t want to be pestering your manager all day long with silly questions, ask yourself first if you can resolve the problem at hand before pushing said problem to your manager. See… that pulsating vein thing works both ways!

Great work ethic

This one speaks for itself! If you are a hard worker and have a good attitude towards work, then you will do well

Numeracy literate

It won’t take knowing pie to 10 decimal places to succeed in your role as an admin assistant, but it is good to have a basic understanding of numeracy

Friendly and Approachable

Be the person people enjoy coming to for help. A calm steady demeanour will always win out over being temperamental and quick to anger

Great Communication Skills

Good communication is crucial, no matter the job, you will always need to communicate with colleagues or customers. If you were wonderfully blessed with shyness or anxiety, here are some helpful resources that can help you improve your communication skills

Over come shyness in the work place

Tips to ease anxiety right now!

Proactive

Think ahead! To be proactive is always better than to be reactive. Business’ love someone who can cut down on work time or improve process’, I mean, who wouldn’t love that? Create some great habits of asking yourself questions – Does one of your colleagues need a hand to get something out by the end of the week? Or can you see a clear way to quicken the invoice process?

Team Player

Be nice to the people you work with, even when they make you want to slam your face into your keyboard. Teamwork makes the dream work!

Problem solver

Solving problems isn’t usually something people can do straight away and is a skill that is slowly honed over time. If you can try to think of a possible solution before going to your manager, and presenting a problem and solution, rather than expecting your manager to resolve any issues, will really bode well for you

Organisational Skills

• Lists
• More Lists
• And then some more lists

Reminders, a tidy desk, more lists, more reminders. Whatever it takes to stay on top of the workload!

Flexible

Life is too short to blow your casket every time a little inconvenience comes your way. Be flexible and open to change

Resourceful

Possibly the most useful skills of them all. If you are resourceful, all these skills can be developed or acquired. We have the power of the internet at our fingertips, an answer is usually not too far away

Do you want to improve your skill set? Skillshare is an amazing resource full of interesting content for self-development.

Help me, I’m poor 

Now here is where it gets quite interesting… and surprising…

Bottom of the ladder means bottom of the pay hierarchy too in most cases. Which put bluntly definitely does suck. HOWEVER, let’s just gain some perspective… Does your £16,000 per year job pay for the following?

1. Fancy iPhone 10?
2. Flashy little car?
3. Your Sunday evening Binge on Netflix and Chinese food?
4. Do you sleep in a warm, cosy bed every night?

If you answered yes to all these questions, then guess what… You are amongst some of the top earners in the world. Globally, this is what the earning percentages look like;

1% – £26,000 annually

5% – £20,500 annually

50% – £8,150 annually

Based on this, you are amongst the top 10% of earners across the globe. How is that for perspective! You flashy devil you!

Money doesn’t always equate to happiness, it’s a very wobbly line that we all constantly tread.

We are the generation of MORE, expecting happiness to eventually land on our doorstep when we finally buy that new car, when we finally receive that pay rise, when we finally fly to the Caribbean. Always looking to that next step of MORE.

Be happier with less 

In a drowning world of excess and over consumption, it isn’t a bad time to re-evaluate what we really need, and appreciate what we do have. If you’re looking to live more minimalist and protect your hard-earned cash, YouTube is rife with amazing videos by people doing the exact same thing. Here’s one we picked out that we loved https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DFajqEx9tC4

There are so many great financial advisor’s out there, if you take care of your money, you can live like a millionaire on a small wage, whilst saving for a car or a house at the same time. You can have it all! Just be savvy!

Our own National gem Martin Lewis has a great catalogue of advise, prime for the taking.

Alternatively, and possibly a little more digestible, the Martin Lewis of ‘Straya. Scott Pape, or as his cult following know him ‘The Barefoot Investor’. He offers an easy step by step guide to becoming a money extraordinaire.

Work Besties

Ah that one person who makes your days so much more bearable, and make us feel like our arm has been chopped off when they dare to have a sick day. Inexcusable behaviour. 

Let’s not even talk about when they have the audacity to leave the company.

Bonds you make in the workplace can be some of the best you make in your lifetime.

These lovely little souls you sit next to for 40 hours a week become your agony aunt, your voice of reason, your partner in crime on a Saturday night, your vent-ee.

Being in an admin assistant role means in some cases, you do have less responsibility and accountability for what is happening within the company on a larger scale. So, this can allow more room for forming amazing life-long friendships with you co-workers.

That isn’t to say you can slack off, but you can enjoy this time in your career. It won’t take long for your manager to realise your level of awesome-ness and they start to pile on the responsibilities.

Having colleagues you are great friends with at work can really boost your morale. When you are happy at work you are 31% more productive and 3 x more creative (listen up employers!), and we don’t need to remind you how bad stress is for you full stop. Stress effects every part of your life physically and emotionally, anything that can reduce stress is a huge plus.

See here what our work bestie is doing for our career and mental health and why happiness boosts productivity!