Thursday, March 28, 2013


Going the Extra Mile

Years ago, I worked for a large corporation.  As a young woman, it was my first break-through job as an Administrative Assistant.  During my employment at this company, I learned many valuable things.  We were just starting out with Microsoft Windows and Microsoft programs (we still had typewriters next to us for things that we couldn’t do on the computer—like forms—gosh, how things have evolved).   But of all the things I took away while working for them, the biggest thing was to always be willing to work on anything that came your way and most people I worked for expected attentiveness. 
As an Administrative Assistants at this company, we were encouraged, to never turn down work because you didn’t know how to do it.  Back then, there were wasn’t the capability to “Google” something to find the answers, you had to use other resources; however, the company was always willing to provide those resources, it just took longer.  The workplace was an ever-changing environment (and still is), so we were constantly encouraged to accept the fact that changes would occur. As the company introduced new technologies, the administrative staff was being trained to learn how to keep up with the tasks and adapt where necessary. I learned to add value by staying abreast of things and keeping a “can do/will do” attitude, and this created job security. I even received a promotion to Information Technology Assistant, and I helped troubleshoot and train staff. 

As Virtual Assistants, we have to learn to adapt to new technologies or even help someone who isn’t familiar with new technologies get familiar, by familiarizing ourselves.  Do you find yourself tempted to say, “That’s not my job” when presented with a task that falls a bit outside your realm? Of course, you have. We cannot be experts in everything, but going the extra mile to do something additional, outside your realm, will give you exposure to a task that you may not have worked with before. Plus, it will show that you are focused on the needs of the client. 

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