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Joan Burge's Administrative Blog

The executive assistant, Part II Joan Burge’s improbable journey

Posted by: Joan Burge on 5/13/2009

We wanted to share with you this great article written by Bill Sweetland for AdminAdvisor.com. This is the second part of an 8 part series of articles from Mr. Sweetland. We hope that you enjoy.

By Bill Sweetland

Forty years ago, women in corporate life started out as secretaries—and that’s where they stayed. They typed, they answered the phone, they helped with the executive’s calendar, they screened his visitors. That was all.

That, unfortunately, remains the public’s view today of the job they do. “Glorified secretary” is the popular verdict, and executive opinion inside the corporation mostly mirrors what the man in the street thinks.

That was not the way Joan Burge thought about herself.

Read full article.

Read Part I of this article.

Source: AdminAdvisor.com

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1 Comment

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- Sep 23 2009, 11:16 AM Elizabeth Van Deventer
- What a great article! This is the exact situation that I am currently in. My boss sort of inherited me from another boss, (Who didn't really like me). So now I have the "other bosses" personal opinions of me glued to the underside of my new bosses eyelids. In my review, I got the highest marks that were available, but he still noted that I was uncooperative, but was unable to explain why he felt that way (the old bosses opinions). He didn't give me the raise that I was expecting and noted that the reason for me not getting the raise was #1, there was no money in the budget for it, and #2, he feels that I should attend school, (or classes). It was very hurtful when the expected raise didn't come, and then two more people were hired at a much higher rate than I make, (more than 75% more). I signed up for some local seminars for computer classes, and wanted to attend your annual seminar. The company paid for the computer classes, but refused to pay for the annual seminar. But because I really feel that your seminar will give me so much more knowledge and skills that I can utilize, I offered to pay for the trip and seminar on my own, and the company could reimburse me when they could afford it, so long as it was within one year, he agreed to it, and then admitted that the real reason he wasn't willing to pay for it was because in the past he had paid for classes for people and then had found out later that the people had not attended the classes. I have over 27 years of experience working in a variety of roles and I can tell you from that experience that working as an Executive Assistant is a really tough job. Too bad our executives can't see us as we see ourselves, as the front line of defense and the organizations voice of communication for the outside world.

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