Event planning is one of the more creative and exciting aspects of being an administrative assistant, but it can also be one of the most unnerving. When your company is throwing a big bash and you’re suddenly put in charge of the details, it can be difficult to avoid a run-in with Murphy’s Law.

Fortunately, with a little organization and the following tips from experts, planning your next event will be not only stress-free, but also successful.

Keep It Together

“I would say that the number one most important thing is to keep every detail about the event in one place,” says Shawn O’Gallagher, a publicist at Random House in New York City. When O’Gallagher is in charge of planning book signings or readings, he sends the venue (i.e., bookstore) an event confirmation, including the date, time, address, book title, author, event contact and his contact information. He saves both a hard copy and a soft copy.

“If we need to reference it quickly, we have everything in one page, and not a batch of paper-clipped scrap papers in a lump” says O’Gallagher.

Create an Event Bible

If your event has many bits and pieces that won’t fit comfortably on one page, make a “bible,” or binder, that covers every aspect of the event, suggests Anne Ryan, president of Danika Communications, a Greenwich, Connecticut-based public relations firm specializing in luxury hotels and products worldwide.

“The bible should be divided into categories with a section for every aspect of the event — from caterers, to contracts, to seating charts, to guest lists, to emails of authorization and proposals from different vendors,” Ryan says. “And the first page of every bible should be an emergency contact sheet with the contact information of everyone who is involved in the event.”

Like O’Gallagher, Ryan emphasizes that you shouldn’t only rely on one form of documentation. “When there’s a crisis on the night of the event, you may not be able to go back to your computer and hunt through your files,” she says. Your best bet is to keep both a bible and an electronic record of all event details.

Try an Electronic Database

“I always suggest people use specifically designed event software when storing event information electronically,” says John Giuliano, a freelance marketing and fund-raising consultant based in Key West and New York City. Giuliano recommends using Raiser’s Edge for its “excellent event module” and Giftmaker Pro for its event-planning spreadsheet.

If you can’t get either of these programs, Giuliano suggests “doing it the old-fashioned way.” Create an Excel spreadsheet with all the details, including site selection, entertainment, decor, catering, audiovisual services, volunteer list, staff list, task-management list, etc.

Giuliano also suggests you check out online event-registration and planning sites, such as Count Me In and Cvent.

No matter how you keep track of all the details, take the time to be organized and make sure everything on your lists is accurate. Be sure to spell-check and update your event information frequently, particularly if you’re producing events on a regular basis. Lastly, even in the heat of a crisis, take that extra minute or two to check your records before you react.

During crunch time, it’s not unusual for Kelly Kelley, CPS, a senior administrative assistant for Vanir Construction Management, to be working on 10 to 15 computer documents, have 40 or more unread emails, hear two phone lines ringing and have two people standing in front of her desk.

Interruptions, such as phone calls, incoming email and people dropping in, can make it sometimes hard to get anything done, but you don’t have to let the unexpected disrupt your day, says Rhonda Finniss, president of Ottawa-based On the Right Track Training and Consulting. She teaches interruption management techniques as part of her class on time management.

Many workers claim technology, such as email and cell phones, has made things seem even more urgent, but “good old-fashioned prioritizing methods” can keep you from getting flustered, Finniss says. The following tips can help you manage your interruptions on a daily basis.

Prioritize

Don’t get sidetracked by the less-urgent tasks that pop up during your workday; schedule them for later. Plan your day, and follow that schedule to ensure you accomplish everything you wanted to.

Be Polite

According to Finniss, one of the best weapons to prevent interruptions from overwhelming you is to be frank and polite when asking someone to wait.

When you call someone and don’t have much time, say, “I know you’re really busy so I’m not going to take up a lot of your time,” Finniss suggests. “That allows you to be almost curt on the phone call without sacrificing the relationship.”

Silence Socializers

If a perennially distracting coworker drops by to chat, suggest meeting after work to finish the conversation or, better yet, ask if he has time to help you. “If you have an empty chair in your office, get rid of it,” Finniss says. “When somebody comes in, stand up. If you need to talk to them, walk with them back to their office.”

Turn Your Desk Around

Finniss recommends placing your desk at a 90-degree angle to your door or cubicle entrance so you can see people come in but aren’t constantly distracted by people walking by.

Multitask

When you can, bunch together smaller tasks that don’t require all your attention. Until six months ago, K Meekins, CPS, administrative assistant for the commercial division of Orkin in Atlanta, handled a phone system with up to 20 lines. She would put calls on speakerphone so she could file and do other tasks while still listening to the callers.

Do It Now

If your schedule allows, perform a task while the requesting party waits. Kelley reduces her chance of forgetting by keeping a person on the phone or at her desk until she’s completed the requested task. Continuing the conversation as you work serves two added purposes. “It lets them know that they are not being forgotten or left in the hold zone, but it also shows any people standing in front of you that you’re in the middle of something,” Kelley suggests.

Turn It Off

Disable pop-up boxes and bells that signal new email arrivals, Finniss suggests. Instead, plan to check your email at reasonable intervals, such as once an hour. “If it’s that urgent, they’re going to call you,” she says.

Race Away from the Rush

Meekins walks or jogs during lunch to clear her mind of any morning stress and return refreshed to tackle the afternoon. Schedule a break away from your office each day to ensure that you’re alert — and not overwhelmed — when you work.

Getting organized is on many a busy admin’s to-do list. But once you’ve set up systems to tame the clutter, staying organized can be a continual challenge.

“You are always going in 10 different directions,” says admin-turned-author Jamie Novak, who wrote 1,000 Best Quick and Easy Organizing Secrets. “You are interrupted often, plus you need to keep everything at your fingertips, and others are constantly giving you new projects that need to be worked into the list of existing projects.”

So how do you keep on top of your time and workspace while getting your job done? Heed these five tips:

• Pay Attention: With so many distractions and competing priorities, it’s easy to get derailed. And that can create chaos. Monica Ricci, a professional organizer and author of Organize Your Office in No Time, suggests taking a second to be aware of what you should be doing. “Refer to your schedule, calendar or task list frequently,” she says. “Your organizing assistants — like your task list — will help you stay on track and avoid being distracted.”
• Keep Track: Managing multiple deadlines can mean several projects wind up on your desk daily. This usually results in confusion and clutter. Janet Luhrs, author of The Simple Living Guide, offers this organizational tip: “Have a dedicated basket or small shelf for pending projects, and stack them in order of deadline. If the deadline isn’t today, create a second file — not on your desk — for items that are due later in the week.”
• Expand Space: Don’t have enough surface area for that second file? Get creative. “Use hanging hot pockets to free up your immediate real estate for active paperwork,” Luhrs suggests. “That way, you only have one item in front of you on your desk while you’re working on it.”
• Manage Minutes: Using the few spare seconds you do have to get things in order can really pay off. “If you can do a task in two minutes or less, you must do it right then,” Novak advises. “File that one folder instead of making a pile to be filed later. Spend five minutes at the end of the day wrapping up, putting away things you used during the day and pulling items you’ll need for the next day while creating a top 10 to-do list in order of priority.”
• Triage Papers: Managing your paper trails makes it easier to navigate your day. “Act on items needing immediate action,” says Betsy Fein, president of Clutterbusters. “Toss items after you’ve read them and [they] are not important to keep. If you haven’t used it or needed it in three months, it can be archived or tossed. When in doubt, throw it out.” Retain only those items you won’t be able to retrieve again through other means.

Organization and the Big Picture

These tips will help you stay organized, but the real key to maintaining order is your own ability to focus and prioritize.

“The degree to which you have this ability is not reflected in how neat or messy your desk is, or even in how well you manage information and records,” says Jim Stroup, DBA, San Diego-based author of Managing Leadership. “The truth is, many people are obsessive about maintaining a clean desk or organizing all their files and records precisely, because they’re not really sure what they actually ought to be doing.”

Stroup maintains that you have to organize around something. To figure out what that is, he suggests asking yourself these questions:

• What do I need to do to add value?
• What is my company’s purpose, and how does my role fit in?
• What are my boss’s major headaches or distractions, and how can I help alleviate them?

“No one of these things should be used to determine and prioritize your goals, but a review of all of them will help you accomplish both tasks,” Stroup says. “Then, almost to your own surprise, you’ll find that you are organized like you’ve never been before. And your goals, together with your new methods of determining them, will act as landmarks that will keep you on track.”

If you’re finding it tough to stay ahead of the paper trail in your office, it might be time to begin phasing it out. Storing documents electronically can save you time and your firm money, says Leonard B. Kruk, a technology futurist and president of Naples, Florida-based Leonard Kruk Consulting.

Reducing your reliance on paper can increase your productivity. Here are some reasons why as well as tips on how to switch to a paperless office.

Easy to Track

Electronic filing is just as easy as working with manila and hanging folders — minus the paper cuts, says Yvonne Pitt, an executive administrative assistant for the network systems division of multinational General Dynamics Corp. in Colorado Springs.

Pitt’s office has been moving to a paperless system for three years. Pitt creates main folders on the company server and names them by subjects, and then creates sub-folders to store subcategories of information. Key users can instantly access the data from all around the world via a Web-based server. Access is controlled by passwords.

Cheaper to Store

Pitt went from 10 filing cabinets crammed full of paperwork to just one, which still has an empty drawer. Electronic filing also saves money, because companies don’t need to spend as much on ink cartridges for printers and fax machines, manila and hanging folders, tape, paperclips and staples, she says.

Faster to Find

“I find it so much more efficient to access the server directory and get what I need to in seconds, rather than having to get up and try to find the file,” says Suzanne Benderski CPS/CAP, senior administrative assistant at Transcion, a Syracuse, New York, startup that provides independent medical examinations review for disputed medical and liability insurance cases.

Transcion encourages electronic submissions, but even if a physician’s office faxes information, it gets scanned directly into a computer file.

Know Your Company’s Policies

Admins should familiarize themselves with company policies, client rules and external legal requirements that dictate what must be kept on paper versus electronically, Kruk says. For example, medical offices will have additional security procedures in place to assure compliance with the Health Insurance Portability Accountability Act (HIPAA), which specifies criminal and civil penalties for improper disclosure of records.

Beyond those limitations, admins know better than their bosses how often they use a type of document or how they use it, so they are in a position to educate their bosses about the benefits of filing electronically.

Consider the Document’s Purpose and Use

Admins should also consider how a document will be used by their boss. “It’s difficult to see more than one document at a time [on your computer screen], but with paper, I can spread it all over my desktop,” says Kruk. Paper is also easier and lighter for your boss to carry around than a laptop and doesn’t require a power source to view.

If there’s no legal or corporate policy to save a paper copy, ask yourself how often you need to use that document; if it’s not that often, then eliminate the paper copy, Kruk says. He also recommends purging paper copies of materials that are also stored electronically every three to six months, or every year.

If you have good office management and computer skills, you might consider looking for contract administrative work. As a general category, this includes word processing, data entry, calendar or appointment planning, basic billing and other administrative support tasks. If you have administrative experience, then all the better for showing prospective employers that you are knowledgeable and reliable.

Your first step to finding contract administrative work is to craft a list of services. Write something up yourself, then research online and in newspaper classified ads to get ideas about services to add to your list or other ways to word your offerings. The goal is to present a comprehensive list of services that leaves no questions in the reader’s mind.

Once you have this list, you can add your hourly fees. If you’re unsure what your rates should be, call several local temp agencies to learn what they charge their clients. You can also use the salaries advertised in the newspaper as a guide — simply divide the annual salary into an hourly rate.

You’ll also need a current resume. Even if you go through temp agencies or Web sites to find work, having both a resume and a list of services will help you look professional and easily fill out all the forms and paperwork.

Where to Look for Work

There are many sources for finding work. You may want to target one source at a time, or make up lists of companies from all sources and start with a few from each. Either way, you will be making lots of phone calls and visiting lots of local businesses to make your pitch.

• Past and Current Employers: Talk to any previous employers, and let them know you are contracting. Contact the human resources department, since the folks there are the ones who arrange for consultants or temp workers. If you are working now, consider starting your contract business on the side and working slowly toward independence. You may even be able to get contract work from your company.
• Local Businesses: Do some research at your local library, the Chamber of Commerce and through the local paper to target small businesses that might need occasional or ongoing part-time work. Small operations such as landscaping, construction, food or catering and painting are sometimes too small to pay for a full-time office helper and too busy to do the work themselves. These companies could use someone in the office for a few hours a week or a monthly billing session.
• Temp Agencies: Register with local temp agencies. Even if they won’t arrange to pay you by 1099, you will be getting work from companies that use temp workers, and you can ask them to keep you in mind for possible future work.
• Web-Based Services: There are many Web sites, where you can look for work — either office-based or remote contract work. Just beware of anything that costs money up front, and if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
• Newspapers: Don’t forget the traditional newspaper job search. Especially check the local newspaper, since local small businesses are more likely to advertise there for part-time help. Even if you see a part-time office-based position, don’t rule it out. You may be able to persuade the company to let you work some hours at home.

No matter where you get your work, remember that your performance will impact whether a company wants to hire you again and recommend you to other people. Word-of-mouth is an important resource for getting work, so make the best of any work and networking opportunities.

Even with computerized appointment programs and electronic billing, Maria DiGrigoli manages much more paperwork than she had to when she started working as a medical administrative assistant 27 years ago. So why does she stick with this profession?

“I love helping people and working with doctors,” says DiGrigoli, office manager at Cedar Bridge Medical Associates, a six-physician family practice in Bricktown, New Jersey.

The very mention of referrals, precertification, medical records privacy and malpractice insurance renewals may raise fears in MBAs, lawyers and accountants. Yet all of these issues are now everyday challenges for the medical admin, who stubbornly battles bureaucracy on behalf of both doctors and patients.

Whether in a small practice or a large hospital, today’s medical admin is the glue that holds a medical office together.

Technological Triumphs

When Beverly Stringer started as a unit clerk in a women’s health center 20 years ago, the most advanced technology tool she used was the telephone. All patient testing was ordered on handwritten forms that were hand-carried to the hospital lab or radiology department.

“There were days when I thought I ought to have been paid mileage,” Stringer says.

Today, these forms are sent via modem, and doctors may view X-rays on their computer screens. A sophisticated automated telephone system sorts routine calls away from Stringer, who is now an administrative secretary for the community relations department at Southern Ohio Medical Center in Portsmouth, Ohio.

The Growing Complexity of Insurance

On the downside, with the rise of managed care, myriad available insurance plans have prompted the need for admins to keep up with an ever-changing maze of rules and procedures. Investigating the reasons behind an unpaid bill may be a task worthy of Sherlock Holmes’s expertise.

Another big challenge for medical admins right now is complying with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), which specifies strict new guidelines for maintaining the confidentiality of medical information.

“Everybody is afraid of doing something wrong,” DiGrigoli says.

A Variety of Roles

At a smaller medical office, an admin may be a jack-of-all-trades, handling everything from appointments to insurance issues. At hospitals, clinics and larger practices, though, the admin’s role may be significantly more specialized. The complexity of handling insurance issues has necessitated the use of separate departments for precertification, coding and billing.

Some medical admins work for specific units. For example, Carlotta Embry has few dealings with patients and seldom handles insurance issues. As the assistant to the director of perioperative (presurgical, surgical and postsurgical) services at Saint Joseph’s Hospital of Atlanta, her tasks include updating department policies and procedures; coordinating payroll, time and attendance; editing and publishing the department newsletter; ensuring compliance with hospital-wide infection control, safety and age-specific guidelines; and supporting a diverse range of other perioperative staff.

Prior to taking this position, Embry had never worked for a large medical institution. Her advice to admins seeking employment in healthcare is to present their core competencies, such as customer service, organizational skills, time management, software knowledge and communication, to prospective employers.

“Flexibility and willingness to learn is paramount in the OR setting,” Embry says.

A Budding Field in a Stifling Economy

An increasing workload is requiring medical institutions to add more staff, DiGrigoli says. Having some experience with software and insurance is desirable in a medical admin candidate, but DiGrigoli says she is willing to train someone with savvy telephone skills and an enthusiasm and aptitude for learning.

While it isn’t a far reach to say most people automatically think of secretaries as women, Joe Carpenter’s gender helped him score his first administrative job in 1971 as secretary at a factory where women weren’t allowed inside.

“I love being an admin, and I’ve been lucky for almost 35 years to work in a field I love,” he says today.

Indeed, they may be a statistical rarity, but men in the administrative field hold some of the profession’s most challenging, exciting jobs and say they can’t imagine doing anything else.

By the Numbers

Men make up only 1 percent of members in the International Association of Administrative Professionals (IAAP), the trade organization, and no more than 5 percent of the total US population of secretaries/administrative assistants, says Rick Stroud, IAAP’s communications manager.

“The main reason the profession is female-dominated is that secretaries have traditionally been female, at least for the last 70 years or so, beginning when women entered the office workforce in large numbers,” he says. “Before that, secretaries were almost always men.”

When Greg Causey, CPS, entered the field in 1993, he was the only male admin employed by the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games. Since then, he’s provided administrative support for CBS, ABC and MTV. He currently is an executive coordinator for Atlanta-based cable TV giant ComCast Corp., supporting two high-level executives and seven vice presidents, most of whom are male.

“I’ve worked for a number of female executives,” says Causey. “The only thing I had to stand back and take notice of is that it seemed to threaten a lot of males to have a guy organizing and running their lives.”

More Male Admins

Despite the scarcity of men in these positions, women should expect to see more of them competing for administrative jobs. The nature of the profession is changing as responsibilities increase, technology advances, teamwork becomes more important and admins take on more managerial duties, says Ronald Hyman CPS, president of IAAP’s Florida Division.

“Men find the technological side to the profession more likable than typewriters or mimeographs,” says Hyman.

One downside to being a man in a female-dominated profession, however, is reverse discrimination, says Gary Brackett, assistant business manager in the division of toxicology on the Indianapolis campus of Indiana University.

“One manager I was interviewing with said, ‘It’s always been the girls here. I don’t know if you’re going to enjoy working here,’” he says. “I said, ‘If that’s your attitude, I probably don’t want to work here anyway.’”

Most employers who would be prejudiced against hiring men will not even go through the motion of interviewing male candidates, Brackett says.

Job-Finding Tips Just for Men

These male admins offered the following advice to other men seeking work in this profession:

• If you love being an admin, as a man and particularly in this job market, be flexible when it comes to your next employer, says Carpenter, a CPS who was downsized from a major global corporation in 1997. Now he works for Wilmington, North Carolina-based W.K. Hobbs Inc., a small, family-owned fuel distributor.
• Consider working in an academic environment where people tend to be more accepting of people in different roles than in the corporate world, suggests Brackett.
• When researching a potential employer, contact as many insiders as possible to find out what it’s like to work for that company. Ask questions about whether the company is open to hiring male admins and, if you’re over 50, especially older male admins, says Hyman.
• “Overachieve,” advises Causey. “You have to constantly do things a little better and more efficiently.” By strengthening your resume with more accomplishments and class credits, you make the case for an employer to take a chance on you.

As the number of small businesses continues to grow, opportunities for admin/support staff are growing, too. Here are some reasons why you may want to make the move from MegaCorp Inc. to MiniCorp.

Higher Accountability

“At my previous job, I often felt like a cog in a very large wheel -– unknown, anonymous and unimportant to the company’s owners,” says Deborah Bach, a senior account executive with the Fearey Group, a public relations company in Seattle. She left a company with more than 20,000 employees to join this 12-person PR agency.

“I didn’t feel that my contribution was as valued or as critical to [my former] company as it is at my new job,” Bach says. “Here, we’re a very small team, which requires a lot of collaboration, and also means that the work I do plays a substantial role in the company overall.”

More Individual Effort — and Teamwork

With fewer people to handle the workload, employees in small companies often juggle many tasks and pitch in on larger projects.

“In a big company, there is a lot of structure to depend on,” explains Lauren Healy, who left a cosmetics firm with more than 20,000 employees to be the third hire at a technology startup back in 2000. “If your computer is broken, IT will fix it. If you have a benefits-related question, HR will address it. If your product needs to be introduced to the marketplace, marketing will brand it, and sales will sell it. All those processes in a small company — especially a startup — need to be built from the ground up.”

How did she manage the change? “In some cases, I developed the processes [myself],” says the Minneapolis-based Healy, now director of corporate marketing for Iconoculture Inc. “In addition, you surround yourself with really smart people who can help you get your processes built, your questions answered and the job done.”

Increased Opportunities

The stress on teamwork can lead to job growth and promotions. “Working for small companies, I’ve been thrown into helping out with projects that aren’t part of my job description,” says Rose Eldred, a Seattle admin who’s worked for both small and large organizations throughout her career. “I was working at a packing company, answering phones. One day our sales guy rushed in, grabbed me and said ‘I need you to call all the QFC seafood managers and ask them what they need for next week. I just don’t have time.’”

Eldred was uneasy doing sales, because she’d had no formal training. But she figured the sales manager wouldn’t have asked her if he didn’t believe she could do it. “After about 20 minutes, I loved chatting these guys up,” she says. “I ended up taking over this part of the sales job.” With sales added to her resume, Eldred was eligible for a broader range of jobs. She currently handles customer service and administration for the 11-person company OnlineMetals.com.

Emphasis on Initiative

In small companies, individual initiative is crucial, because there are so many things to do and so few people to do them. “You have to take initiative every minute, hour and every day,” explains Elvin Yavuz, a client associate with The Revere Group, an IT consulting firm in Chicago. “You might have to lead yourself. No one is going to hold your hand. You have to structure your own day, and sometimes that is very difficult to adjust to.”

Yavuz managed the adjustment by thinking differently. “I put my consulting hat on and asked myself what would I change most about this organization to make it more successful,” he says. “What can I personally do for them that they currently aren’t doing?”

Focus on Diverse Skills

Healy says she has sharpened some of her skills in making the transition to a small-company environment. They included managing work expectations, knowing when to say no and thinking critically about her projects.

Though not for everyone, working in a small company has its advantages. The environment may be small, but the opportunities are large.

Want to expand your mind by interacting with intellectuals? Want to learn about the newest scientific research before it hits CNN or provide much-needed behind-the-scenes support to help young people achieve their goals through education? A job as an academic secretary might be ideal for you.

A Rewarding Job

Though salaries for academic admins tend to be a bit slim, the limited compensation is offset by a working environment admins can truly love, say two administrative pros who work in academia.

“I really enjoy the academic environment,” says Margaret Caddell, a coordinator for Tuskegee University’s College of Veterinary Medicine in Alabama, and an academic admin for 29 years. “There are numerous opportunities to learn and interact with many people from throughout the world. Also, it is very fulfilling to support students in reaching their educational endeavors.”

Another perk to academic jobs is the chance to learn new technology, which makes it easy to improve administrative skills, says Peggy Colflesh, a library assistant in the user services periodicals department at Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU) in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. But, she adds, people who fear new technology may also enjoy the fact that, ironically, many higher-learning institutions are among the last to adopt standard up-to-date software that admins might use.

The Downside

Again, salaries tend to be low, with pay at state-run institutions usually higher than that at private ones. Also, few opportunities exist for moving up the career ladder, and competition remains high for a limited number of positions.

“With cuts to higher-education funding, fewer administrative professionals are being hired and retained,” Caddell says. “However, those who achieve professional excellence have fewer problems with job stability.”

Job Variety

The best-known position for an admin in academia is as secretary to a department, such as English or sociology. However, academic admins also provide support for libraries, laboratories, admissions and the offices of deans, provosts and other university administrators. For example, Caddell assists in the administration of a grant from the US Department of Education, as well as supporting graduate students and the dean of the College of Veterinary Medicine, Nursing and Allied Health.

Benefits

State-run colleges and universities generally offer the benefit packages received by government employees. Time off and vacation time at both state and private institutions are also typically more flexible than in other industries. “Working in the library, we can take a vacation almost any time we want,” Colflesh says.

However, the best perk of all may be that colleges and universities typically cover partial or total tuition costs for employees and their children. At MTSU, Colflesh can take one class per semester at no charge, while her spouse and children receive a 50 percent discount.

Getting the Job

Still interested? Unfortunately, there are no professional organizations specifically for academic admins, nor any specific certification process to qualify them. However, some simple advice can go a long way to help you make it in academia, Caddell says.

Admins should exercise patience, tolerance for diverse cultural backgrounds and lifestyles of students and professors, and “stay up to date on academic trends and history of institutions where [you are or would like to be] employed, thereby rendering better customer service to clientele and also receiving personal growth and enrichment,” she says.

“Working from home is like going to a 9-to-5 job without the headache,” says Felicia Wright, a home-based customer-service representative (CSR) in Houston for virtual call center Alpine Access. “You don’t have a dress code, you can schedule yourself to work when it’s convenient for you, and you can take time off whenever you need to. After years of battling traffic jams, wearing pantyhose and having bosses looking over my shoulder, I had definitely had enough.”

Working from home may be your dream, but if you don’t have the right personality, mind-set or environment, it can become a nightmare. We asked home-based call-center CSRs for advice from the front lines. Here’s what they told us.

Motivate Yourself

Because home-based CSRs work alone, there’s no boss around to keep you on your toes. “Be sure you’re self-motivated,” cautions Kimberly Creque, who works at home in Littleton, Colorado, for Alpine Access. “It’s harder than you think to work from your home.”

Creque keeps up her motivation and accountability by focusing on her home-based position’s rewards: “(This work) allows me to do things with my children, and in return, I work the hours I’ve committed to.”

Set Physical Boundaries

Avoiding interruptions can be a challenge for home-based workers. “Some people think that because I run my office out of my house, I’m not really at work,” laments Wright. “I have the telephone ringers off and my office door closed. I even put a note on my front door not to ring the doorbell.”

Those boundaries extend to her school-aged kids. “They don’t bother me when they know I’m working,” Wright says. “But my 5-year-old told me, ‘Mommy, I love you being home when I come from school’. He understands I’m at work, but just his knowing I’m here if he needs me goes a long way.”

Manage Your Priorities

When there’s laundry or housework to do, it can be hard to focus on work. “The biggest challenge to working at home is committing to a schedule,” says Kim Conner, an Illinois-based agent for LiveOps. “It seems as though there are a million and one things you have to do besides working.”

To deal with competing priorities, Conner thinks of her job as she would one outside her home: “My employer would expect me to work during my scheduled times, and if I didn’t show up, there’d be consequences. I try to use the same philosophy with my home-based business. I also set monetary goals and reward myself if I exceed them.”

Create a Dedicated Workspace

To get yourself in the zone for work, create zones in your home and head. “Establish a separate workspace with as few diversions as possible,” says John Ryan, a West Hollywood, California-based concierge for VIPDesk, a call-center outsourcing company. Make sure you have everything you need — an ergonomic chair, pens, headset and files.

And stay organized. “Maintain a professional atmosphere and appearance,” Ryan advises. “Dress for work. Don’t have a television or radio on.”

Stay Connected to Others

Living and working in the same environment can make you feel disconnected and give you cabin fever. Ryan suggests staying connected to friends and family by instant messaging, telephone, email or actual human contact, if possible.

“As in any work environment, it’s helpful and relaxing to share experiences with others,” Ryan says. “Although you may not be able to peek over your cubicle and talk to a coworker face-to-face, you can certainly swap war stories over the phone.”

Ryan also gets out of the house daily. “I like to walk right after my shift ends to stretch my legs (and) get some fresh air and a change of scenery.

Twenty years ago, Erin O’Hara Meyer was working as a secretary, typing as fast as she could to keep up with a demanding boss who also required her to make the morning coffee, schedule all of his appointments and run his clothes to the dry cleaners.

These days, O’Hara Meyer is the president of Administrative Excellence, a nationwide training and consulting firm specializing in personal and professional development of administrative professionals. At one time, all administrative/support professionals would have been called secretaries, and even the most experienced were typically kept out of leadership roles. But now the landscape has changed, and experienced administrative pros can become office managers, who handle whatever it is that’s necessary to keep the company going. Although the exact job description changes with each employer, duties can include training staff in the latest software programs, conducting interviews or terminating employees, balancing the budget and handling payroll duties.

“We’ve come a long way,” says O’Hara Meyer. “And we are still evolving, still changing, but as the corporate world changes, so [do] the roles and duties.”

“Office managers oftentimes are the go-to person for many issues, personal as well as professional,” she says. “It’s not uncommon for an OM to be a counselor, supervisor, mentor, parent and Ann Landers all rolled into one. OMs are one of the most critical and visible employees, because their job touches almost every aspect of the business. Therefore, they oftentimes determine the tone and culture of the organization by their efforts alone.”

In their 25 years in the business, Marni Hockenberg and Lissa Weimelt, owners of The Hiring Experts, have also seen the evolution.

“The office manager role has dramatically changed,” says Hockenberg. “Gone are the days of being the messenger and supervisor of tasks. Today’s office manager must think and act like a revenue generator. An effective office manager needs to be aligned firmly with the management team, yet be approachable to hear the ideas and suggestions of subordinates. Gathering information, creating solutions, presenting and implementing action plans are skills that an office manager must constantly demonstrate.”

Required Skills

Office managers play an integral role in many businesses. Weimelt says office managers must “think up” to be partners with the executives who lead today’s companies.

“The value of the office manager is their ideas that save costs, increase profits, help customers directly or motivate employees to increase company profits,” she says.

Jim Lynch, executive director of the Association of Professional Office Managers, says the following traits are key to becoming a successful office manager:

• Proficiency with Current Technical Programs: This includes MS Word, Excel, Access, Web management, etc. It’s also important to understand sophisticated phone systems, copy centers and equipment, faxing software, computer back-ups, cell phones and PDAs.
• Knowledge of Human Resources: This is particularly important in smaller or emerging offices, where office managers must stay on top of laws, regulations, safety and/or industry stipulations, and may be the first stop in the interview process for many employees.
• Project Management Skills: The ability to manage special projects, such as office design or office moves, is a necessity. The office manager might be the only person who knows all the aspects of such projects, enabling him to identify cost savings and minimize the disruption to other workers.

An Office Manager by Any Other Name

While duties have evolved and job descriptions have changed, titles vary greatly for these positions, depending on the type of organization, says Lynch.

“Small and midsize offices that are not large enough to have separate human resource, information technology and contracting departments will often have someone responsible for office management,” says Lynch. “Office management is a broad job classification and some smaller offices may break up the duties of an office manager among numerous administrative staff. The title ‘office manager’ is not uniform from company to company.”

Titles for this role include administration specialist, administrative services manager and vice president of operations.

As an administrative specialist on IBM’s Principal Response Team (PRT) in Charlotte, North Carolina, Clara Sapienza doesn’t work in front of the offices of any of the four principals she supports. She doesn’t even work in the same city. All of her correspondence with her bosses — only two of whom she has met in person — is made via telephone, email and instant messaging.

But Sapienza doesn’t miss the physical contact with her bosses; she’s having fun working in an all-admin environment, in which everyone supports one another.

Mobile Executives, Technological Innovations

IBM’s PRT is an example of a support team, a new workplace model admins may encounter during their job hunts, especially as executives travel more often and companies take advantage of technological advancements to cut costs and increase efficiency.

The Charlotte PRT includes 93 administrative specialists, four team leads and three support services managers. IBM’s second PRT in Indianapolis houses 17 specialists. Both offices support more than 1,100 principals, including mobile salespeople and consultants.

Prior to launching these response teams two years ago, IBM consolidated admins on one floor in two of its offices. “We [then figured], ‘if our professionals are becoming more mobile, [why not take] the hub off-site’?” says Missy Sinwell Smith, director of executive and administrative support and sales productivity centers for IBM, Americas.

Recent advances in real-time technology such as instant messaging and collaborative software were essential to making the concept work, Smith says. The two PRT centers can support each other if weather or other circumstances should interfere with communications.

Customer Service and Team-Building Skills

When assessing job applicants, PRT supervisor Lisa Maxwell says she looks not only for strong administrative and technological skills, but also for experience and personality traits that indicate an admin will work well both on-site with the team and remotely with the executives they support.

“First and foremost, we look for employees who have [worked] in an environment where customer service has been a goal,” says Maxwell. “[Our employees] need to be outgoing. I’ve had some specialists say they really miss the one-on-one working relationship [with their bosses] and, ultimately, I think I’ll lose some of them. You have to [thrive] in this [environment], or you’ll determine it’s not the right match.” Introverts or people who thrive on working alone probably wouldn’t do well in this atmosphere, she notes.

“It’s an atmosphere [in which] I know if I don’t know how to do something, I have all the resources to get the job done — and right the first time,” Sapienza imparts. “I know who to go to or I send out a mass email. It’s great, because so many people with different skill sets.”

Sapienza also suggests that you can get to know your boss over the phone and computer more than you might think. “I says, ‘I can’t get you coffee in the morning, but I can do anything else for you,’” she recounts.

What will 2008 hold for administrative professionals? With so many forces roiling the labor market — the trend toward just-in-time hiring, an economy squeezed by a credit crunch, technology that both destroys and creates jobs — it’s hard to say. But this perennial truth will hold: Great admins are hard to find, and they will be in great demand.

“During times of uncertainty, contingent business goes up,” meaning more temporary hiring of admins, says Dan Glazier, chief operating officer of Snelling Staffing Services in Dallas. “But 2007 has been fairly uncertain, and there’s been a lot of direct-hiring of permanent employees, so that’s countercyclical.”

Why is this happening? Companies are somewhat low on headcount overall, so that makes them more likely to hire full-time, says Glazier. Employers may also convert a temporary administrative position to full-time sooner rather than later, to avoid losing a top admin to the competition.

And administrative professionals can find themselves buffeted by short-lived but strong currents in local labor markets. “You can have microburst of demand for administrative work, then an overabundance of admins — things can change very quickly,” says Glazier. “Merger or acquisition could cause the elimination or creation of a position overnight.”

What Hiring Managers Want

As important as technology will be in admins’ workdays in 2008, there’s a growing acknowledgement of the primacy of soft skills in these people-intensive jobs.

Two-thirds of human resources managers said they would hire a candidate with strong soft skills and weak technical ability, according to a survey sponsored in part by the International Association of Administrative Professionals (IAAP) and HR.com. But only 9 percent of these managers said they would hire someone who was strong on tech and weak with people.

In addition, hiring managers are increasingly looking for admins with industry-specific experience, says the IAAP study.

More and more employers are creating multi-skill positions that put a high value on flexibility, says Glazier. In 2008, an admin may find herself answering the phone and stuffing envelopes in the morning, writing the boss’s PowerPoint and putting together a five-country road show itinerary in the afternoon, and then calling the boss at home at 9 p.m. to remind him to dial in to a conference call.

Admin Pay Is More Stratified Than Ever

When it comes to pay, all admins are not created equal. And in 2008, experience, location and the boss’s position will make even more of a difference.

Entry-level administrative assistants earn about $34,000 on average as of December 2007, according to Salary.com, which powers Monster’s Salary Wizard. Executive assistants average $46,000, though when they report to a C-level executive in a big-city office, these key employees can pull down $70,000 to $100,000 or more, according to industry observers.

Higher-level administrative professionals don’t just earn more, they’ll get higher percentage raises in 2008, according to another survey. While the average administrative assistant’s salary will increase a slim 2.1 percent in 2008, an executive assistant is likely to get a 3.2 percent bump, and a senior executive assistant 3.7 percent.

Virtual Assistants Are on the Rise

Another key trend is the substantial increase in administrative business outsourced to virtual assistants. These entrepreneurs may serve a handful of clients — usually small businesses — or oversee a stable of freelance admins.

When you’re on your own, both software skills and up-to-the-minute office technology savvy are critical.

“The collaboration software is really where it’s at,” says Jennifer Goodwin, principal of InternetGirlFriday.com. “We stay on top of products and services such as Groove, Yugma, WebEx, Microsoft OfficeLive and HyperOffice. When I’m working with my client’s team of five, to be able to take my client’s files and store them in my own online area has been wonderful.”

Taking the trend to the next logical step, Goodwin has begun to selectively subcontract administrative work overseas. This strategy has worked, but strict quality control is a necessity. “You have this idea that you’re going to hire someone at $3 an hour and they’re going to do it just like a genie — that doesn’t happen,” says Goodwin. “You have to scout, interview, train and test, just as you would with a local hire.”

After 12 years of working in a corporate environment, desktop publishing assistant and account manager Cathy Kessler was getting bored and frustrated with the lack of flexibility in her job. So she decided to start her own home-based business as a virtual assistant (VA), and she hasn’t had any second thoughts.

With employers cutting overhead costs, it’s a good time to become a VA, according to Stacy Brice, president of AssistU, a Baltimore-based company that provides online training and coaching for VAs.

Get Started

Generally, starting a VA business doesn’t cost much, says Brice. You need a home computer, but software and other supplies can be bought as required for client assignments. If your startup expenses exceed what you’d like to put on your credit card, the US Small Business Administration offers many loan programs, as well as information about grants and financing opportunities.

Set Rates

According to Brice, starting rates for a VA should not be less than $30 per hour to make a profit and cover all the costs an employer would pay in the corporate world — including health insurance premiums, vacation time and office supplies. VAs should raise rates as their skills and value to clients improve, generally debuting a new rate for a new client. For an experienced generalist VA, rates top off around $65 per hour, but specialists in niche fields charge higher fees.

Kessler, who is based in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, has six clients in locations from New York to California on retainer for a minimum number of hours per month and several more regular clients that she charges hourly for occasional jobs.

Market Yourself

Because print ads are expensive and rarely hit your target audience, Brice favors networking as a better marketing strategy. Ways to meet potential clients include volunteering, teaching online and offline classes and attending networking events for trade associations and chambers of commerce.

Moreover, a Web site is essential to attract national clients, Kessler says. When developing your business site, she suggests scanning other VAs’ Web sites and deciding what you do and don’t like. Don’t just post your resume and services offered; create a site that truly gives your potential client a good sense of your skills, experience and work ethic.

“People want to see who you are and what you’re about,” Kessler says. “Post your photo and express your personality on your Web site.”

Enhanced call-routing methods, lower hardware costs and better Internet access have combined to create an environment conducive to remote call-center support. That’s why almost one-quarter of North American call-center agents currently work from home, according to a Yankee Group survey.

And this trend toward home-based customer service is expected to continue as demand for call centers increases and the cost of remote outposts drops. International research firm IDC predicts the number of home-based customer-service representatives (CSRs) will grow 24 percent annually through 2010.

These home workers perform many of the same tasks as their office-based counterparts: taking orders and selling for online retailers, providing technical support for software and hardware manufacturers and making reservations for travel services.

Sound intriguing? Home-based agents and service providers offer an inside look at this emerging career option.

Outsourcing Without Offshoring

Most home-based agents work as contractors for large call-center managers. These call centers get more business as companies seek to outsource customer service.

Allanna Kelsall, vice president of human resources for Alpine Access, a provider of home-based call-center services, says companies look to call centers for two key reasons: “The most important is the recognition of their own core competencies — not all companies are able to provide the same quality of service as an outsourced company that is focused 100 percent on the management of agents.” Call centers also are better able to rapidly expand their network of agents as needed.

All the Benefits of Home — But No Health Insurance

Many contract positions don’t include benefits like health insurance. But Kim Conner, an Illinois-based CSR, says her job offers other perks.

“I don’t have to worry about child care, a work commute or a work wardrobe…I can save more than $1,000 a month,” explains Conner, a contractor for virtual call center LiveOps. “Most importantly, I am at home raising and enjoying my children, not missing any of their firsts, and contributing to the household income. It’s a great work/life balance.”

Personable Self-Starters Wanted

Still, not everyone is cut out for such a gig. “Agents that have the correct skills for working from home include people that are self-motivated, can work without physical interaction with people, and have exceptional online and computer skills — all of which directly impact their enjoyment and performance on the job as a home-based call-center agent,” Kelsall says.

LiveOps CEO Bill Trenchard wants contractors who think and act like entrepreneurs. “The ability to think independently is important, because LiveOps contracts with home-based business owners, and running a successful business requires self-sufficiency and initiative. Reliability is also important, as adherence to the self-set schedule is a driver for receiving more calls — and that means making more money.

Some home agents’ potential earnings are partially based on sales and customer-service performance levels, so being comfortable and confident on the phone is critical. “Having a nice phone voice and a good personality probably wouldn’t hurt either,” says Kimberly Creque, a Colorado-based CSR with Alpine Access.

And if you’re wrestling with whether you should work from home or outside the home, consider Conner’s advice: “Apply and work part-time from home so you can get a feel for it before quitting a full-time job.”

“When I say I work at the Library of Congress, people’s eyes light up,” says Richard Barnes, CPS secretary to the director of information technology services at the US Library of Congress. Working in Washington, DC, for one of the most prestigious libraries in the world, Barnes enjoyes a perk extended only to employees — permission to check out most of the millions of books stored in the library.

While you might think they’d be floundering in red tape, admins who work for the government rave about their interesting jobs. Plus, their salaries, benefits and job security equal or outpace those of corporate posts.

Salaries

Since government salaries are set by Congress, state legislatures and local governing bodies, raises are guaranteed by law. Legislated cost-of-living adjustments ensure that Barnes’s salary match the salaries of private-sector jobs in DC.

“In Southern California, government jobs offer higher pay and benefit packages (than private-sector jobs do),” says Amy Aldana, CPS/CAP, assistant for the Riverside County Clerk’s Board of Supervisors. “There’s also a wider variety of departments and jobs to transfre to and from, which can create an interesting employment history.”

While Nordine Gardiner initially took a pay cut when she moved from the private to the public sector, now — as judicial assistant to the US District Court Judge David K. Winder in Salt Lake City — she makes more money than she would have if she had stayed put. An additonal payoff is the gratification that comes with doing something good for one’s community, she says.

Valuable Vacations

One of the biggest reasons why admins enjoy government work is the generous vacation package. In your first year in a corporate job, you may only get a week off, but federal employees receive two-and-a-half weeks in their first year of employment, four weeks by their third year and five weeks — or 26 business days — in their 15th employment year, says Katherine Astleford, CPS/CAP, a program assistant for the US Army Corps of Engineers who has worked for the federal government for 29 years.

Even better, these vacation days are in addition to 10 federal holidays and sick leave, which is accumulated at a rate of 13 days per year and never expires.

The Downsides

Government employees are prohibited from becoming or supporting candidates for political office, Gardiner says. Employers also may provide fewer social activities, and — with set salaries — there’s no year-end bonus or profit-sharing opportunities.

You may also find that your boss changes ever few years as assignments are rotated, especially if you work for  the military, according to Astleford.

From research to writing, Tahisha Williams developed the entire performance review for 100 employees in the technology division of NorVergence, a Newark, New Jersey-based telecommunications company. While this may sound like a human resources manager’s task, Williams is the executive assistant to the chief technology officer, and she loves the level of responsibility her boss has given her.

“I thrive on being challenged, completing tasks, being the best at it — not in a boastful way, but for my own self-esteem,” Williams says.

If making the jump from administrative assistant to executive assistant appeals to you, start by taking the lead. Heed the following advice on what factors can make the difference between making a Cinderella ascent up the administrative ladder and getting left in the pumpkin patch.

Be Proactive

While strong computer skills may nail you an administrative assistant position, applicants for executive assistant jobs must show initiative, says Laura Smith, senior vice president of human resources and administration for Edelman Public Relations in Washington, DC.

“Don’t just gather proposals for getting a new copier for the office,” she says. “Instead, look at purchase versus lease, look for cost comparisons and [investigate] whether a new copier is necessary.”

What’s key is demonstrating that you can think strategically or proactively rather than merely react to others’ requests. “Too often, I see resumes where people list their job duties and very little on what they actually accomplished,” Smith says.

If your current role seems to lack opportunities for initiative, ask to be involved in — or, better yet, take the lead on — additional projects with your current employer, Smith says. Indicate the results of your ingenuity on your resume.

Show Reliability and Dedication

When assessing executive-level administrative applicants, Dan Campbell, CEO of Atlanta-based Hire Dynamics, looks for skills that would benefit CEOs, COOs and other C-level executives, such as evidence of honesty and reliability.

“C-level people want to hire people they can trust, so if you have a history of dealing with confidential information successfully, that’s certainly an advantage,” he says.

Be an Asset, Not Just an Assistant

Standards are more stringent for executive assistants than for administrative assistants, because execs can make a huge difference in a company’s day-to-day operations, Campbell says. He hired his current executive assistant just three months ago and already regards her as an invaluable asset to his company.

“My personality goes in 20 different directions at once, and she’s done a fantastic job getting me organized,” he says. “Nobody knows better where I need to be; she organizes events, takes leads and makes sure the culture of the company is maintained.”

If you treat your daily work as essential to your company, rather than merely as a job, you are on your way to becoming a successful executive admin.

Marie Schulz, an admin to an Air Force general, found herself at a crossroads several years ago when the base closed. She got a new job but hated it because the long commute and office hours drained her, leaving no time or energy to work out or see friends. “The employer expected the employees to live for the job,” says the Rumely, Michigan-based Schulz. “They even had computers put into our homes so that when we weren’t at work, we were still working from home. I wanted my life back.”

Schulz took her life back by rolling up 20-plus years of admin experience and parlaying that to her own business as a virtual assistant, or VA. Now her days are noticeably different.

What is a VA? Stacy Brice, chief visionary officer and founder of AssistU, sums it up this way: “A VA is a small-biz owner who provides administrative and personal support across the board to clients in long-term and collaborative relationships.”

Preparation is key to a VA’s success, and Brice advises against admins jumping into things because they have years of admin experience. “Remember, it’s a business, and you don’t want to start a business on the seat of your pants,” says Brice. “Most startup businesses don’t make it to the five-year mark. You don’t want to make mistakes.”

VAs’ primary client base are the small business owners, or entrepreneurs who need support because they can’t do everything on their own but don’t want the hassle of hiring a full-time employee, according to Brice. She estimates a VA’s rate at $30 per hour. However, that amount can skyrocket if a VA has experience in a niche area.

Being a VA requires numerous hard and soft skills, including:

• Writing: “The world is sloppy when it comes to grammar,” says Brice. And a lack of solid language skills can be a great detriment to a VA. “Even if a client is a poor writer or speller, she won’t accept that in a VA.”
• Organization: Being a VA involves juggling numerous clients. Being able to put your hands on the right files when a client calls is crucial.
• Technological Savvy: A VA must also be comfortable with technology, since the job requires working in a virtual world. “Your primary tools are technological, so if you’re not comfortable in that environment, you’ll have trouble,” says Brice.
• Fast on Your Feet: “You must be able to quickly take in information, synthesize it and logically spit it back out,” says Brice.
• Emotional Responsibility: A VA must be entrepreneurial and self-disciplined, since no one is watching over your shoulder, notes Brice. “One thing that comes with the VA territory is you’re playing at a different level,” says Brice. “You’re not sitting in an office being told how, what and when to do things, with set lunch times and the inability to say no to a project. You must be able to transition to the thinking that you’re a business owner, you get to say what you want to do, and you get to pick your clients and set your rates.”
• Good Communication: Setting business standards and sticking to them can be a rough transition for many VAs. “Sometimes you have to have hard conversations with your clients if things aren’t going the way you initially expected,” says Brice. “You may have to speak frankly that when you started out with the client, you expected X, but Y is happening, and that you two need to discuss how to make things better. Those aren’t easy conversations to have.” The upside to such frank discussions is VAs generally build long-term, collaborative relationships with their clients, she says.
• Vision: While many admins want to work from home, many are not willing to do the hard work to make it happen. “The fear of success keeps many people down,” says Brice. “They sabotage their actions, because they may think that if they’re as successful as they want to be, their lives might change — and that frightens them.”

“An office manager is responsible for anything and everything that can affect the quality of life in the office,” says Jase Bergen, office manager for an entertainment company in New York City. “If it’s broken, you better fix it — no excuses. You just do it. And when six things break at once, you have to keep your cool and have the presence of mind to figure out what has to be fixed first.”

Few roles are as integral to an office as that of the office manager. Responsible for circulating information throughout an organization, as well as coordinating the efforts of vendors, management and support, office managers ensure everyone is working in tandem toward the company’s overall success. Could you be up for the task?

An office manager’s job description often includes pricing office supplies, managing payroll, controlling petty cash, supervising support staff and interviewing job applicants. An office manager must exercise sound judgment every day, and any lapse may mean termination.

Consider the People

Equipment isn’t the only thing that needs regular maintenance and support in an organization. A large part of an office manager’s job is motivating and coordinating others to ensure everyone is working together productively toward a common goal.

“The trick to being a good office manager is to earn people’s respect,” says Bergen. This means your staff and managers should know that they can count on you in a pinch to do the right thing for everybody, time after time. Sometimes this translates into standing up for what you know is right, even if a fellow employee — or your boss — disagrees with your decision.

“Your reputation is everything,” Bergen explains.

Immediate Gratification

While an office manager often works under great pressure because her responsibilities are so great in scope, her satisfaction level is high, too. In a 2004 survey conducted by the International Association of Administrative Professionals (IAAP), office managers reported that being able to see the results of their labor reflected in increased productivity and office efficiency immediately is what they liked best about their job.

The Ideal Office Manager

Jack Deal, a behavioral psychologist specializing in business issues, compiled the following list of must-have skills for the ideal office manager.

• Top-notch computer skills.
• Excellent phone demeanor.
• Verbal Skills: If an officer manager can’t speak well, what kind of impression will she project? In many companies, foreign-language fluency is also an asset.
• Good Written Skills: The ability to use proper grammar, syntax and logic when writing is crucial.
• Good Organizational Skills: Not being able to find or access important information efficiently can hurt a business.
• Leadership Qualities: Office managers should be able to supervise others and have a willingness to use but not misuse power.
• A Good Work Ethic: Showing up on time and staying until the work is complete is also important.
• Team-Playing Skills: The ability to share information where relevant and help make improvements.

Breaking In

If you’re an administrative assistant interested in becoming an office manager, check with your human resources department for any related in-house training programs available. According to the IAAP, many large firms offer training and professional development courses to help prepare you for office management.

The Self-Taught Manager

Admins can also develop managerial skills on their own, and many pick up these skills on the job, according to Annette Dubrouillet, president and owner of Continuum in Springfield, Virginia.

A consultant, speaker and personal coach who works regularly with administrative professionals, Dubrouillet advises admins to develop self-empowerment skills. “Admins have to be responsible for their own professional development, their own mental health within their jobs and their own skills, whether through networking, educational seminars or finding a coach,” she says.

Jack Sullivan couldn’t have been happier after landing his dream job. The position, salary and perks were exactly what he was looking for. But after the initial euphoria wore off, he discovered that going to work was becoming the same daily grind all over again. Although he couldn’t put his finger on exactly what was wrong, he knew one thing for sure: He was not comfortable in his new job.

What Went Wrong?

Jack did not fit with the company’s corporate culture, which is no surprise given that a company’s culture — the beliefs, attitudes and behaviors that commonly unite its employees — are often unstated and unwritten.

According to Brandon Spruth, former culture and talent manager for now-defunct Xolia.com, a Web site that matched users with service providers, the first step toward determining whether you will be a good match for a prospective employer is by figuring out what you want from a company’s culture. Do you want a family-friendly company? A social as well as professional outlet? An emphasis on work/life balance?

Know what you want before you go into the interview. Unless you know an employee already working for the company, your interviewer may be your only insider, so ask questions that can provide a window into what working there will really be like. Take note of both the intentional and unintentional information your interviewer gives out in words and actions.

Try popping these questions during your next interview to see what kind of information is revealed about the corporate culture you may be joining.

Does the company have a stated set of cultural values?

Progressive companies are aware of corporate culture’s influence and have thought about the values they want to promote in their organizations. If the company has no written cultural values, ask to see the mission statement, which should also provide some insight in this area.

What does it take for someone to be successful here?

What kind of personal characteristics is the interviewer looking for? Risk-taking? Entrepreneurial spirit? A team player? Take note of the personality traits that are encouraged and rewarded and think about what this says about company culture. Asking this question early in the interview also allows you to incorporate these sought-after characteristics into your answers.

What kinds of employee achievements are recognized by the company?

Again, the answer to this question will reflect what the company values and rewards — especially if any unusual awards are given outside the standard sales or customer service awards.

Can you describe the environment here?

Listen to the adjectives the interviewer uses. What aspects of working there does he or she choose to talk about — the camaraderie among employees, the career development opportunities or the free breakfast bar?

How often are company meetings held?

Are meetings held weekly? Monthly? Yearly? Who attends? What does this say about the priority management gives to keeping its employees informed?

What kind of sponsorships or philanthropic activities does the company participate in?

Does the company support programs like Take Our Daughters to Work Day and encourage employees to participate in a walk/run for a particular charity, or does it steer clear of these things? Are you comfortable with the activities the company publicly supports?

Also, pay attention to the kinds of questions you are asked. Are the interviewer’s questions eliciting responses that reveal your values and expectations? If the company has stated cultural values, do their questions reflect them? Is employee/employer fit a concern for the interviewer?

Finally, don’t leave the company without getting a good look around. A few glances around the office can provide volumes of important information on corporate culture, such as:

The Physical Layout: Are the VPs in cubes like other employees or in lush offices? Are special rooms delineated as “team” rooms for collaborative work or brainstorming? Does the layout promote or discourage interaction between departments?

What’s on the Walls? What does the breakroom or lobby look like? Things like a picture of the company softball team, the sign up sheet for a college basketball pool or an open invitation to a yoga class all indicate what daily life might be like.

Your Overall Impression of the Place: From the dress code to the door code, can you picture yourself working there? What does your gut say about becoming part of this company?

Although you can survive a bad fit in a company’s culture, why endure a mismatch when you could be thriving elsewhere? For many people, work is more than a paycheck; it is where they meet their friends or spouse, spend most of their waking hours and define their personal identity. So make sure it’s not just a company where you can work, but a company that works for you.