Desktop Monkey:   Office

Office assistant, Version 2.0 - baltimoresun.com
Contact Us (Related) | Place an ad (Related) | Subscriber Services (Related) | Site Map (Related) | Print Edition (Related) | Services (Related) Become a mySun member (Related) | Login (Related) HOME (Related) MARYLAND (Related) Anne Arundel (Related) Baltimore City (Related) Baltimore County (Related) Carroll (Related) Harford (Related) Howard (Related) Bay & Environment (Related) Education (Related) Obituaries (Related) Politics (Related) Traffic (Related) Weather (Related) NATION/WORLD (Related) Politics (Related) Iraq (Related) Health/Science (Related) AP News (Related) BUSINESS (Related) Technology (Related) Investing (Related) Real Estate (Related) Stocks (Related) Careers (Related) SPORTS (Related) Orioles/Baseball (Related) Ravens/Football (Related) College Basketball (Related) College Lacrosse (Related) High School (Related) Horse Racing (Related) Pro Basketball (Related) Golf (Related) More Sports ... (Related) ARTS/LIFE (Related) Today (Related) Live! (Related) A&E Today (Related) Modern Life (Related) Travel (Related) Movies/Video (Related) Restaurants/Food (Related) TV/Media (Related) Lottery (Related) More Arts/Life ... (Related) OPINION (Related) Talk (Related) Letters to Editor (Related) Editorials (Related) Op/Ed (Related) Ideas (Related) Columnists (Related) Blogs (Related)

Search:

Site Web
MARKETPLACE (Related) JOBS (Related) CARS (Related) REAL ESTATE (Related) SHOPPING (Related)

Business (Related) > careers (Related)

Online exclusive

Office assistant, Version 2.0

On the Job: Hanah Cho (Related)

The profession is changing for the better as roles, responsibilities evolve

Talk about it   (Related)

E-mail it  (Related)

Print it  (Related)

Contact us  (Related)

RSS feed  (Related)

In Depth

On the Job Q&A archive (Related)

Recent columns

Embellished resumes not unusual (Related)

May 7, 2007

Earnings gap for women lasts years (Related)

Apr 30, 2007

Workplaces join green movement (Related)

Apr 23, 2007

When new workers call it quits (Related)

Apr 9, 2007

From the archive (Related)

Submit your questions

What's more important to you as an employee, your salary, or your job's 'intangibles'? And what else is on your mind about life at work? Send your thoughts, questions and tips to working@baltsun.com (Related) . Please include your first name and your city.

Columnist

Hanah Cho (Related) Hanah Cho

Find a job

Search Baltimore Sun listings  (Related)

• Advanced search  (Related)

• Hourly jobs  (Related)

• Post a resume  (Related)

• Job seeker toolkit  (Related)

• Search help  (Related)

• Search other cities  (Related)

• Post a job  (Related)

Quick Search Jobs

More search options  (Related)  Keywords:

City:

State:

All Alabama Alaska Arizona Arkansas Calif. Colorado Conn. Delaware D.C. Florida Georgia Hawaii Idaho Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Maine Maryland Mass. Michigan Minnesota Miss. Missouri Montana Nebraska Nevada New Hamp. New Jersey New Mexico New York N. Carolina N. Dakota Ohio Oklahoma Oregon Penn. Rhode I. S. Carolina S. Dakota Tenn. Texas Utah Vermont Virginia Wash. West Va. Wisconsin Wyoming

Exclude National & Regional Jobs

Also see

Working  (Related)  Working

> News from The Sun  (Related)

> Help Wanted Q&A  (Related)

> Find a job  (Related)

> Post a job  (Related)

Originally published Apr 16, 2007

Hanah Cho (Related)

Smart business people know you don't mess with the administrative assistant.

Because you won't get far with getting your telephone call returned, let alone reaching the manager or executive.

Besides their gate-keeping role, though, administrative professionals provide the backbone of many organizations.

"The profession has evolved much for the better," says Rick Stroud, communications manager at the International Association of Administrative Professionals, a trade group in Kansas City, Mo. "The public perception of the role has lagged behind."

The jobs have evolved from the stereotypical secretary whose tasks mostly included taking phone calls and notes to a professional whose responsibilities include everything from purchasing office equipment and supplies to creating presentations and maintaining computer files, databases and directories.

In fact, 85 percent of 150 senior executives in a recent survey said their administrative assistant is important to their success. (The survey, conducted by OfficeTeam, has a margin of error of 4 percentage points.)

The work of administrative professionals has been celebrated since 1952. It began as national secretaries week and became administrative professionals week in 2000 to cover expanding responsibilities and broader job titles, according to the International Association of Administrative Professionals.

Annually, it's celebrated during the last full week of April -- which is next week this year.

Cynthia Hackshaw, president of IAAP's greater Baltimore chapter who works for a local insurance company, says she hopes to change the public perception of her profession.

Hackshaw, who has been in some sort of administrative post for 28 years, described her job as being the right-hand person to the executive.

"It's not just getting the coffee and setting up the conference room," Hackshaw says. "It really has changed."

Susan Mongan, an administrative secretary at Bechtel Corp.'s Frederick office, has been in the profession for the past 22 years.

Among her duties, Mongan deals with customers from around the world and coordinates meetings in different time zones as well as making sure her manager is on top of his schedule. Over the years, technology also has broadened her responsibilities because of the accessibility of her boss and others via cell phones, Blackberries and laptop computers, Mongan says.

"I like being a behind-the-scenes person," says Mongan, who is the president of IAAP's Del.-Md.-DC division, which oversees 875 members in 19 chapters. "I want to make my manager look good, and I enjoy being part of that team."

Workplace tidbit: A lot of things can distract us at work; we all know that. So, it's not surprising to hear that weather can affect worker productivity.

In a recent survey of 6,169 workers, 10 percent of them said they tend to be less productive on days with gloomy weather. (The survey was conducted by Careerbuilder.com, partly owned by Tribune Co., the parent of The Sun , and has a margin of error of 1 percentage point.)

Workers cited rain as the weather condition that most negatively affects their mood and productivity. It was followed by cold, hot, dark and snowy conditions.

In contrast, 4 percent said they feel more productive on gloomy days.

Another 15 percent of workers said they are more productive during sunny or warm weather, while 4 percent said they are less so on sunny days.

But 67 percent cited no impact on productivity.

Send your stories, tips and questions to working@baltsun.com (Related) . Please include your first name and your city.

Subscribe to Hanah Cho's podcast (Related)