Celebrating Admin. Professionals’ Accomplishments

This week, we’re shining additional light on career accomplishments in which Real Careers alumni take pride. Here’s our second installment, with a range of accomplishments to applaud and celebrate. 

Jane Brazzill, Manchester, England: First, we relaunched our client PA events 18 months ago with a chocolate making evening.  A combination of chocolate, wine and handsome chocolatiers still has people talking about it now.  The two PA events that followed, organised by my colleagues, have also received fantastic feedback and we hope to continue to build on that reputation.

Next, my recent award – I won the Network Ambassador award at the inaugural MPAN (Manchester PA Network) awards. The award was in recognition of my support of the network over the last four and a half years – “Having been described as a ‘social media guru’, Jane regularly tweets about the Manchester PA Network and is both a dedicated PA and ambassador for the PA Network.”

Juliana Carneiro, The Netherlands: There are a couple: I was able to re-enter the market three years after migrating from Brazil to The Netherlands, and I entered it at the same level I had achieved when I left my country. As well, I just got an offer from a different company (I said YES!), which will mean a huge step up for me, and I am proud that I am leaving my current job with all the “golden stars” one can have.

Bianca Constance, New York, USA:  I am very proud of the fact that I received my Certified Administrative Professional in May of 2013.  The exam is comprehensive and deceptively difficult, especially if you do not “test” well.  Unfortunately, not every employer understands that being an administrative professional is a career, not a stepping stone to something else, and so they have little appreciation for the CAP credential.

Stephanie Fryer, Basingstoke, England: At my last company I used to run the We Care and Give Back program that enabled employees to volunteer in the communities in which we live and work. This was a highlight for me, and I was nominated at the London PA awards for the Philanthropic Activist award.

Leeanne Graham, London, England;  In 2013 I won the Executive PA Magazine PA of the Year award. It was a great achievement for me as I didn’t expect to win at all, but it showed me how much I had achieved during my career. It also gave me an opportunity to talk to people about the things I have been through which helped make me the person I am today. Following on from that, I have had the opportunity to speak across the UK to hundreds of PAs on various topics such as defining success, workplace bullying and setting your goals. A truly amazing experience.

In August 2015 I was very lucky to be able to speak on the BBC News network about my experiences as a PA, in the face of a news story about a celebrity who was searching for a new PA. This was my first time on TV, and it was a great accomplishment for me to help build my profile and that of the PA industry.

Cathy Harris, Florida Park, South Africa: The two that top the list are being awarded the coveted SANational Office Professional of the Year Award in 2006 and having completed the first edition of my Mobi-Jane series – Self Development and Innovation – last December. The other three editions should be completed by January 2016.

Susan Henderson, Surrey, England:  In 2007 I was seconded to New York to recruit and train support staff for our new office, a little daunting initially as HR in the States is very different to the UK. However, after spending four weeks advertising, reviewing CVs and interviewing candidates, I was pleased to secure excellent candidates for the firm. I was also able to train them on our practice management system.

In addition, I successfully implemented transfer of the firm’s HR systems to Octopus HR in 2014, creating an online self-service system, which staff can access from anywhere in the world. I am currently reviewing additional modules for appraisals/recruitment which will further streamline our HR processes.

Lilian Kamanzi Mugisha, Kampala, Uganda:  Being invited to share my experience as an Executive Secretary at different EA summits and networking groups, and training other Secretaries within East Africa and West Africa. I have also been key in raising funds for a cause for my organisation, in which we collected close to 273,000,000 Ugandan shillings ($108,000 CAD, or 53,838 GBP).

Stacy Leitner, Sacramento, California:  Over the last couple of years, while simultaneously working as an executive assistant, I have become an entrepreneur and launched two businesses – A Great Day’s Work and Admin to Admin.

Secondly, I dedicated 16 years to teaching college business, computer applications, and career development courses for three colleges, helping to increase the skills of today’s future and current administrative professional workforce. I’ve really enjoyed these opportunities, which help me to stretch myself and help others.

Catrin Morgan, Wales: I’d have to say the Cardiff PA Network which I launched in May 2015. I have held two events so far and Member numbers are growing all the time. The inspiration for me doing this really came from my experience of being a member of the Bristol PA Network, which has just celebrated its first birthday.

Jacqui Quigley, Dublin, Ireland: In May 2014, I won PA-Assist PA of the Year All Ireland, which was followed closely by a nomination as a SecsintheCity finalist for Social Media PA of the Year. This year, I have been nominated and shortlisted for the WearetheCity Rising Star Awards. The Rising Star Award is an amazing award, as it will focus on the UK’s and Ireland’s female talent pipeline below management level and will celebrate 50 female individual contributors who represent the leaders and role models of tomorrow. Being the only Irish PA shortlisted, I think this is such a great honour and I’m flying the flag for Irish PAs; wish me luck.

In my prior role, I was nominated for an Above and Beyond award for Business Development and since joining LinkedIn I have received a Bravo award for Team work. That arose from assisting my colleagues with the Gmail migration.

John D. Shaw, Seattle, USA: When the first musical artist for whom I worked won New Artist of the Year at the CMA awards, our team had spent a tireless year to build his profile and to see all of that hard work pay off was a huge compliment to all involved. The second one was when I was offered my current role. I was living in Atlanta at the time when I received a call from a recruiter who wanted to talk to me about this opportunity. I remember thinking, “This will never happen.”  Never say never.