Think of how your role has changed since you first became an admin. professional
Whether you began your admin. career in the past decade or the past century, you’ve no doubt encountered significant change in technology. It used to be that a typewriter was the primary piece of hardware on an admin. professional’s desk. For many, a piece of dictation/transcribing equipment was also placed nearby. These were simply compact pieces of hardware in which we popped mini cassettes, typically with a recording of correspondence dictated by your executive.
Frequently, when you tucked the cassette into the player and the headphones into your ears, you would also find the precursor of today’s voicemail messages on the cassette – a request to arrange a meeting, book some travel, or some other task. Either way, an admin. professional and executive would typically share a few such cassettes, which would make their way back and forth between your two offices. Once I’d completed all the work requested on a given tape, and ensured everything was in order, I’d erase the content and place it in my executive’s desk drawer.
The dictating machine itself was perhaps the length and width of some of today’s smartphones, but not as streamlined.
Whether this info is a walk down memory lane, or a bit of a history lesson, the takeaway is that change is nothing new to this profession.
What’s on your desk these days?
Today, it’s a different story. In fact, if you read the results of my second last Weekend Poll, you’ll know that 61% of respondents reported that they have two monitors on their desks, and that’s independent of laptops … which 85% of respondents said they use. In fact, most admin. professionals today work with a few different pieces of hardware – and the scope of software and apps readers use is impressive.
Embracing and preparing for change
… is the order of the day. Readers will note that I’ve been asking about the impacts of AI (artificial intelligence), the Internet of Things and digital disruption in this year’s Real Careers interviews. Well, I’ve also posed these questions and more to my latest Real Careers panel. Having interviews more than a hundred high performing admin. professionals from 21 countries so far, I’ve reached out to a group of them to form another international panel and explore the topic in a little more detail.
Your panel
This panel consists of admin. professionals from Australia, England, Norway (by way of Brazil), Sweden and the USA. In fact, it was e-conversations with Sofie Koark, above left, that prompted this series. Other panelists include MistiLynn Lokken, above right, as well as (below, left to right) Janice Parker, Helen Rees and Julia Schmidt.
Check back Wednesday
… for another interesting Real Careers series! Beginning this Wednesday, we’ll look at digital disruption, AI and more, and their impact on the future of this career.
