Looking for admin jobs...advice?

gibson123

Savvy_Sue wrote: »

:rotfl: FANTASTIC! someone who 'gets' administration! Now, shall I come and work for you, or will you come and sort out some of my colleagues who don't quite share your views of my importance?

Savvy Sue, if I had a job I would be delighted for you to work with me. Any of my team that uses or abuses some-one in business support is given a very stern lecture. and don't dare ask them to make tea!

It is my opinion that Administrators are mostly under-valued and people forget that administration is also a profession with many different layers. I am very good at my job because I don't under-estimate the admin (Business Support) team and support them in their work. OP your main problem is not your skills, it is your approach, you have to show you can cover the basics before going on to the higher level work, project management, report writing etc. These tasks only fall to the administration team when there is something lacking in the management team. As you are not applying for Business Manager posts you need to focus correctly. Think about oiling the machine - things such as making sure the IT is in place, the phones are answered, there is enough stationary, the mail gets collected and delivered, customers are dealt with well at first point of contact, meetings are minuted, to do lists, data lists and CRM systems are well designed and up dated regularly, out of date equipment is replaced, the office is clean and safe and systems for evacuation etc are looking good, meeting and training rooms have everything in them, there is cash in the petty cash and everything valuable is locked away safely with limited access. Everything has a place and everything is in it's place, you know where to find everything and can put your hand on it at short notice, when everyone else is still looking and wondering.

gibson123

blue_mango wrote: »

Could you tell a bit more, please...

I personally was told that admin work is easy but boring, therefore paid well... In my job I like all the admin tasks the most and do it with pleasure, but thanks to this thread I realised I'm not good enough for this role.......yet!!

But the fact that you do routine tasks with pleasure and a smile is probably THE most important trait in an administrator, and only people not suited to administration find it boring, if you are some-one who enjoys organising places and people you will be a good administrator.

blossomhill_2

My family have "admin brains" - I tended to say this at interviews. Might be worth you cultivating an admin brain so you can say it too

One thing you may find frustrating in admin work; other people (maybe predecessors, maybe in IT depts) will propably have set up the tables and databases and you won't get the chance to tweak them ... and may know how it could have been done better

Savvy_Sue

blossomhill wrote: »

One thing you may find frustrating in admin work; other people[STRIKE] (maybe predecessors, maybe in IT depts) will propably have set up the tables and databases and you won't get the chance to tweak them ... and may know how it could have been done better[/STRIKE]

just other people! They won't 'get it', they don't 'get' systems, they just bumble along in their own sweet way, they don't read emails which tell them how to do something they need to do, then they wonder why they can't do that thing, and they wait until you're busy doing something else which is quite important to ask you to show them how to do that thing, they don't tell you something is broken or missing or not right for six weeks and then seem surprised that you haven't sorted it out for them.

Or, my most recent work 'rant': we moved our regular Monday meeting to a Tuesday after the bank holiday, I sent everyone a revised calendar invitation to let them know. On that Tuesday someone said "Oh, we can't come to that meeting, we've got a team meeting with an external facilitator booked." I wondered if I'd missed something, but no, not a single one of them had it in their calendar, no room booked, the rest of us were just supposed to 'know' ...

m-bee

I suggest that you just try a few recruitment agencies.
I finished university in February and have worked in 3 different assignments since. I'm with Hays. The agency knows full well that you are just looking to fill the gap until you find what you really want to do. And during an interview my managers and I discussed that I will be looking for other work whilst working here and they said that's fine. The job that I'm doing is the type of job they don't really expect anyone to be happy staying in if they've just finished a degree. I can take half days whenever I want if I have interview and my notice period is only one day so it works out great.

Caroline_a

There's a bit of a knack with recruitment agencies in my experience. Don't expect to go and register and then sit back and wait for the phonecalls to come flooding in, you have to keep contact with them. Register for both temp and perm work, and keep calling them every few days (my theory is that they get tired of you so get you a job!), but temp work will help you gain valuable experience, and sometimes temp work leads to permanent.

Learn how to multi-task, that's really vital for most admin roles, and good luck!