Have you been letting your career unfold …

… or are you taking charge of it to the extent you can?

12th November, 2024

Many things in life are beyond our control, and that certainly applies to aspects of your role as an assistant. I know, having invested almost three decades of my life in the career. That said, I was able to navigate and build a successful career – in both the corporate world and the public sector -through ownership of my values and priorities, as well as my attitude, ambitions and thirst for learning.

No one should be surprised to read about an assistant being ambitious. Your ambitions may involve career changes, or they may reflect a desire to perform at a high level and thrive in the role you hold today. Make no mistake. In this world of change, either approach requires ambition and the readiness to continue to learn and adapt. In my case, I stepped away in my twenties from the highest level position an assistant could hold in our corporate office to become a software trainer for the same corporation, and then a mum. I spent a few years in a highly successful sales career until, once our two were both in school, I decided to return to the assistant career.

There was a not so small challenge. We’d relocated a few years earlier to a smaller city, thinking it would be a good place to raise our young family. This city was home to a limited number of major employers – and there was substantial competition for any of the infrequent job openings within any of those workplaces. As a recession had taken hold by the time both our young ones were in school, rebooting my assistant career involved starting all over again at the bottom of the ladder … and taking every single software certification course available to me. In addition to the joy of learning, I was actively ensuring my marketability and career currency.

I had competitive advantages – my knowledge, expertise, experience, adaptability and attitude. Less than a month into an “on call” role as an assistant in higher education, I realised I had an advantage in having recently earned certificates in both WordPerfect and an emerging competitor. Back in the 1990s, my new colleagues were accustomed to using WordPerfect. More than a few were actively agitated by the institution’s decision to make the move to software that dominates to this day, a little something we call Word.

Déjà vu? When I think of those who resisted the move to Word, it makes me think about current parallels in terms of readiness to explore today’s emergent tech resources. Regular readers will know I’ve encouraged both curiosity and caution when it comes to Gen AI and NextGen AI since I began writing about ChatGPT the month after it was broadly launched. Some of you reading this are in workplaces where risk management practices are such that usage of some AI resources is prohibited. Such policies or guidelines will be beyond your control, yet they needn’t negate you making the time to learn all you can while using non-workplace hardware and networks.

Prepare for the long term. The same applies to learning in general. Temporary situations, both within and beyond our control, are just that. Whether it’s daunting labour markets I know more than a few assistants are facing, personal priorities that take precedence for now, or postponing going after ambitions that may require more of your time than you’re willing or able to give at this point, you will emerge from such times.

Temporary situations needn’t dim our aspirations. They can serve as periods in which we prepare to fulfill our ambitions, and that’s exactly how I approached the years in which our two were young. By the time they were in their early high school years, I was working alongside a VP. A few years later, as they were wrapping up high school and then beginning university studies, I went from supporting a CEO to moving to another institution and building a decade-long governance career, with responsibility for board operations. Throughout these years, I invested in myself through a combination of higher education credit courses, conferences, and a lot of reading as well as networking.

How are you impacting the way your career story unfolds? Not everyone has mapped out where you want to be in three, five or 10 years. Whether or not you’ve articulated specific ambitions or goals for yourself, or if you’re in one of the labour markets where stability is not a given, I can help you with skills, insights, resilience and career currency.

Tap in to the flexibility of premium live and on demand subscription-based year-round learning. In addition to corporate and conference training and speaking presentations, which involve a fair bit of travel (which I love), I’ve been providing professional development webinars since 2020. Prompted by requests from clients interested in webinars while I’m away, I’ve spent time this spring and summer listening to clients and developing two new training options.

With a solid understanding of what assistants need, and a solid understanding of what executives, board members and other leaders need of those supporting them, I’ve just launched EAA and EAGA.

EA Accelerator (EAA) is a wise investment for any assistant, EA, PA or VA who wants to maintain skills currency and thrive, honing resilience and adaptability while performing at a high level.

EA Governance Accelerator (EAGA) is a long overdue resource for EAs who support boards and function as board liaisons, and for people, whatever your position title, who support senior leaders who report to boards.

Premium professional development to help you shape your future, whichever option you choose

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• additional resources on my Exceptional EA website

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