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“But your bosses aren’t in, why are you even here?” – A day in the life of an admin assistant

Farah Muman
July 8, 2015

It may seem like an odd question, and one that may trigger an internal eye-roll from fellow admin assistants, but it’s a question that has popped up a few times and one that I haven’t yet managed to answer with more than a brusque ‘well, because there’s still stuff to do, silly!’

This dreaded question assumes that assistants merely sit, wide-eyed and waiting for our bosses to bark demands at us so we can react then and there, neatly finishing each task on the day it’s assigned. Of course, this is not the case (thankfully, neither of my bosses has ever barked at me, either).

As a relatively new admin, 9 months new to be precise, with no previous experience of being an assistant, I’m still engaged in learning mode but “comfortably” treading water now as opposed to frantically flapping about like a baby duckling in a dark, murky lake of tools, acronyms, links and tech/marketing jargon. I credit that to time, patient bosses and the huge, huge amount of support that is available to the admin community here at Cisco as well as a few experienced admins who’s brains I’ve been lucky enough to pick in times of need.

Everyone’s dealt with an admin assistant before and unless you have one of your own, you are also essentially your own admin assistant alongside your day job, so already know and do a portion of what assistants do for their bosses day to day.

And forgive me for employing this particular cliché, but honestly, no day is ever the same. Whilst there’s a core of consistent tasks that you’ll do on a regular basis i.e. diary management, flights and logistics, expenses, approvals, arranging and re arranging and re arranging (and re arranging) meetings, you’re usually always working on any number of ad-hoc projects or tasks for your bosses or members of their team. There’s usually always a handful of unforeseen tasks that pop up to catch you off guard and test your ability to think fast (bumped from a meeting room at the last minute, lunch delivered to the wrong building, technology fails etc) and it’s those moments that keep things fresh and interesting and are the bits of my job that keep me coming into Bedfont each morning with a smile on my face and this question in the back of my mind: How can I execute todays tasks in a way that will cultivate the key traits of a good admin assistant?

As I mentioned, I’m still learning, and from what I’ve seen you never stop! Things are always changing at Cisco and how we do our day jobs changes in synchronicity. If ever there is an hour or two free in a week, I try to keep on top of these changes to stay well informed (trainings on expenses, iProc, Jive, on boarding a new hire) or anything else that I think is useful. The default setting of an admin is, ‘how can I help this person?’ and a lot of that is to do with knowing what other people don’t have the time to find out themselves.

It’s been a great journey so far and if I could go back and speak to my ‘newbie’ self I’d give her the following advice:

Stay calm, you’re not curing cancer, here.
Things WILL change at the last minute. Expect it.
Whilst you may want to please everyone, you can’t. It’s okay to say no.
If you don’t have the answer immediately, say so, then go find out what it is.
Yes, speed is a currency in the admin world, but so is quality, and sometimes jumping the gun will double your workload.
Don’t sacrifice 1:1’s with your boss because the ‘face-time’ is important.
Each admin is different: learn from them all and ask questions about everything.
If you’re ever asked to organise a get well card for someone, make sure they’re removed from the alias before you send the email out!

I’m looking forward to hearing the advice that 15 month Farah has to offer me. Perhaps she’ll be able to tell you what an admin does while their bosses are away…

“But your bosses aren’t in, why are you even here?” – A day in the life of an admin assistant

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