Published: April 23, 2008 02:47 pm            

Administrative professionals provide important service

The administrative professional’s job today requires skills in management functions and technology, including: project management; integrated computer software applications; organization and scheduling; Internet/Intranet communications and research; document preparation, storage, and retrieval, with emphasis on electronic recordkeeping; customer service and public relations.

With little formal training, administrative professionals are learning new software features and shortcuts by absorbing information from manuals, colleagues, online resources and user groups — across town and across cyberspace. What a job description!

All this and they still manage to handle phone calls and customers with grace and a smile. Administrative professionals and secretaries are the information center of the office. Over the last decade their job responsibilities have increased to include many of the duties traditionally done by mid-level managers, making them essential in the workplace. It takes an impressive and highly skilled person to fill these shoes — and today we should all say “Thank you.”

Wednesday is National Administrative Professionals Day, and the entire week of April 20-26 is set aside for the recognition of this important and fast-growing part of the workforce.

As time progresses, the line between management and administrative functions continue to blur as administrative professionals become more and more important to work teams.

According to recent surveys, many managers and supervisors are coming to realize that administrative professionals are indispensable contributors to the success of any business. They are also well-positioned to take on more advanced roles in the future. More and more employers are realizing that the keys to job satisfaction for their administrative staffs are recognition and appreciation.

“As the role of admins expand, so does their value to organizations,” said Dr. Susan Fenner, Education and professional development manager for the International Association of Administrative Professionals. “Corporations will be looking for and filling jobs with the ‘new admins’ who can apply many skills, such as coordinating projects, leading on-site and virtual work teams, becoming the communications hub for the office with mastery in the written, spoken, and e-arenas, and the primary users of technology.”

IAAP is the world’s leading association for administrative professionals, with 600 chapters and more than 40,000 members and affiliates worldwide. IAAP sponsors Administrative Professionals Week.

In my own experience in the workplace, I have found no role more vital than that of administrative support. Day in and day out, administrative staff respond to the needs of not only their supervisors, but a myriad of telephone calls and visitors. They are generally the first to arrive in the morning and the last to leave in the evening. One day is not sufficient to acknowledge the value they add to the enterprises they serve. So as inadequate as it may be, for all of us who could not function without you — Thanks!



Bill Jourdain is chairman of the Dalton-Whitfield Chamber of Commerce executive board.

        

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