New job as Office Administrator/PA

[ImaSandyGirl]

Hi, I have just started a new job as an Office Administrator/PA after 3 years of being a stay at home mum, except for a few months on a fixed term contract. My career up to now has been in HR but sadly I have had no luck finding a job in HR that's a reasonable commute from where I live.

I really want to make the best of my new job. I have a lot of general admin experience, but no experience as an office admin/PA. The job involves organising events, managing diaries, compiling reports, organising travel, ordering stationery, setting up meetings, setting up IT equipment, looking after the printer and photocopier.

Does anyone have experience in this type of role and if so, could you give me some advice on how to be successful? I'm worried that I won't be good enough and I really want to do well. Thank you.

Plenty of advice and insights on here incl link to another thread.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/employment_issues/3372955-Calling-all-PAs-and-EAs-Ive-never-been-an-Executive-Assistant-starting-job-next-week-please-help-advise

And here...www.mumsnet.com/Talk/employment_issues/3174044-PA-boundaries-and-admin-support?pg=1&order=

Link didn’t work!

I would really think twice about it to be honest!

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/employment_issues/3174044-PA-boundaries-and-admin-support?pg=1&order= Kind of sums it up.

To be honest they must think you are up to the job or you would not have been offered it in the first place. They must have asked you questions relevant to the job description and you must have answered these using your experience.

Weekly meetings with your boss to go through the week ahead.

Remember that your job is to make his or her life easier and remove the stress.

That's basically my job.

I find a daily calendar check for each person you're supporting is good. Confirm any client meetings first thing in the morning. Block out travel time in your managers diaries if they are going to external appointments. and put in a recurring weekly catch up for you and them sending out an agenda in advance of everything you need to cover.

Make templates for everything so everything is clearly laid out.

I have a travel itinerary template that I send out with copies of boarding passes to let people know what times flights leave and arrive, including copies of their insurance, ESTA and hotel reservations. I also include a list of local numbers, so police, fire, hotel phone number, local cab number, client number, embassy number etc.

Twice weekly check on stationery and printer paper.

You just need to be super organised.
I also have a colour coding system for calendars.
One colour for client meetings that need a room set up.
Another colour for internal meeting that need nothing from me.
Another colour for travel.
Another colour for personal appointments.

I'm doing the opposite to you - used to work in admin/pa jobs and now trying to get into HR!

I think PAs have a really difficult job these days. You end up taking on everyone else's shit and doing a million jobs for different people. It's not something I could do for years on end.

I know some thrive on it, you've obviously got experience and are probably really organised etc, but it's not for everyone.

Good luck

Apologies op. My last post is ridiculously unhelpful.

To be successful in this job the main thing is to prioritise! So you may have tons of different tasks to do each day but obviously the most important ones must be done first.

The job can be difficult when you first start, but as soon as you build a relationship with those you're supporting it will get easier and you will start to do things second nature.

Be firm if you can't take extra work on for someone - I used to get so stressed with my workload but didn't have the confidence to ever say no to anyone - now I wish I had!!

Try and make friends with different teams. It's always helpful to be able to ask for help/advice from other people If you're unsure of something.

Used to be a big part of my job -

I find communication is key.
Weekly meeting for the week ahead
Make use of Microsoft outlook - to do lists, calendar, etc.
Make use of stationary - colour code everything
Start and end each day looking at what you've achieved and what you need to do going forward, reviewing everyone's diaries etc.

And you wouldn't have got it if they didn't think you up to it! Congratulations and good luck!

Communication is important.
As a visual learner I found that color coding helped me prioritise. Building relationships with other people in the office is important for morale too.
Congratulations and good luck!!

Thank you all for your brilliant advice, I really appreciate it. I must admit it's a lot more difficult than I expected. The salary, which is quite low, doesn't reflect the complexity of the role and the workload. I had a week's handover with my predecessor which was great but there was too much to cover in a week. Also she operated a paperless system so I have no paperwork to refer to. I have to finish arranging two big external events next week but I have very little to go on. I'm also expected to have a thorough company knowledge after just a week. The job is so full on that I have no time to do my research. I want to do well but im feeling quite stressed an anxious.

Yes, PA jobs are incredibly tough these days and most workloads are ridiculous. The perception is that it is all easy. The difficulty you will have is that all the people you work for will never have worked as a PA so will assume every task takes five minutes.

My top tips?

• Get clear on exactly who you are working for
• Do not say yes to every admin task pushed your way
• Save every single bit of contact info in Outlook contacts as you never know when you will need to refer back to it
• Get access to your boss' inbox and start monitoring it so you can start tasks early and not rely on your boss telling you at the last minute. If you can manage it, apply a forwarding rule from your boss' inbox so the messages come directly to your inbox. I've managed to do this with three directors. Was completely on top of stuff but my email traffic was insane!!!
• Start working on things as soon as you are aware of them, e.g. if you are aware that your boss is planning a trip, block out some time in the diary, ask him what the plan is, start looking at flights, discuss them with him at next catch up, check out local hotels, make contact with that office, ask the staff there to put a hold in their diaries, ask him what paperwork he wants to take, does he need a presentation, ask him what he needs and from who, start pulling it together....
• You need to devise a way to manage your inbox, calendar, to do list where you can work quickly and flexibly. Expect the calendar to be in continual a state of flux.
• Find out what (i.e. meetings and events) and who is important to your boss and be prepared to keep moving other meetings to accommodate these
• Add travel time to the calendar. How are they going to get there? Are they going to get the train? What time does it leave?
• Put full addresses in the calendar

I could go on and on and on.....

What are you struggling with specifically?

Thank you stressed this is really helpful advice. I think im struggling with setting up good systems at the moment. My predecessor didn't have any set up (well not that i can see). You see I have done elements of PA work in all my previous role, I've set up meetings and events, typed minutes, diary-managed, but I have never had a job specifically as a PA or Office Administrator (I am both of these in my current role as I support the whole team with admin and act as PA to Chief Exec). I'm also struggling with things like finding venues for things like off-site meetings, catering etc. There isn't a file anywhere with information about these things, so I'm starting from scratch. The other thing I'm struggling with is there is no petty cash system in the office. My predecessor used to buy things for the office like tea, coffee, washing up liquid, birthday cards, biscuits/cakes for meetings etc out of her own money and claim it back on expenses, which takes 8 weeks. I have said I am not in a position to do this financially, which they don't seem too happy about, but I feel this is unfair of them to expect this of me. Plus they haven't offered an alternative so goodness knows what i can do about this.

Where you ordering your stationery through? I get all of my tea, coffee etc via them which they deliver.

If not, set up an account with a local company, speak to the people you order sandwhichs from, they may be able to give you a contact.

Do you have an accountant on site or one you could speak to, ours was a blessing for finding out who we had paid previously, I found hotel accounts etc that way.

What systems are you thinking about?

Every PA will work differently. In terms of a file with venue information, I've never done a job where that was sitting on the desk and I've contracted a lot. You'll just need to find out what is required in terms of numbers, proposed plan for the day, catering, accommodation and where everyone is coming from and do some research, find four or five options then run that past your boss.

PAs do a lot. No one realises!!!

Can you ask for a petty cash tin with a float of £50? Failing that, a company credit card? Failing that, a 0% interest credit card and claim it back on expenses?