Business Attire

Most business organizations have their own business attire rules for their employees. They provide their employees with dress code policies to give guidance on what type of clothing is allowed or prohibited. Professional outfits are different from informal dressing. When you enter in the business world, you must know how to dress appropriately for any given situation. What you wear for an interview is likely to differ from your day-to-day business attire. When you join a company, dressing norms are there to be followed. There are four main categories of  business attire: business formal, business professional, business casual and small business casual.

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For an administrative assistant it is advised to dress conservatively. This will create a positive image of the person and the organization. No matter what the field, there are certain norms that are standard for all administrative assistants. Dress one level up from the standard dress of the job.

Proper dressing always make a positive impression and sends a professional message. I would like to share my experience at Sheridan College. During my college presentations I always dress professionally. Mostly due to my dressing, I get good remarks and excellent marks by my professor. This appreciation has created a positive impact on my daily life. Now wherever I go I try to dress appropriately which attracts a lot of attention and appreciation from others. In office work dressing plays an important role. Your dress makes the first impression on your clients and colleagues. If you have a habit of appropriate dressing, you have better chances of promotion and popularity in your company.

Soft Skills

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Soft skills represent personal qualities of a person with regard to their professional behavior and commitment to the fundamental values of life. Honesty, integrity, and positive attitude are examples of few soft skills which are indispensable for an administrative assistant. Nowadays employers are giving more importance to soft skills, though hard skills are essential.

I have learned that courtesy, honesty, integrity and a sense of responsibility are the pivotal skills for an administrative assistant in a company. One of my friends who is working as an administrative assistant had managed to receive quick promotion in a short time. A bit curious, I asked her the secret for her rapid promotion. She told me that she works with honesty, integrity, and responsibility. Moreover, she has been a problem solver and she used to deal with aggressive clients with a calm and positive attitude and tried to solve their problems on the spot. Sometimes when the issue was beyond her limit or control, she consulted her manager.

My personal experience is that a positive approach contributes a lot in your personal development, while your positive image improves the image of your company. When I was working in a volunteer position at Plasp, my sense of responsibility taught me a number of ways to complete given tasks by a specific time. By using the technique of time management, I cleared a number of pending files. Thus, I improved my work to complete the tasks on time. Before that I was not as efficient in successfully utilizing my time, but now I am accomplishing my goals.

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Positive self-esteem makes an administrative assistant confident and graceful. It is the ground where you stand tall among your colleagues. When you make sound judgments and cool decisions the company and the clients have trust in you and in your actions.

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Desktop Publishing Skills

Desktop Publishing is a very useful art for an administrative assistant. It provides opportunities to create a variety of designs that enhance the effectiveness of a document. Moreover, it makes the appearance of a document attractive. Conveniently, charts and illustrations can be added to documents which deliver the message clearly. The students who have expertise in the art of Desktop Publishing will get preference over other applicants for the post of administrative assistant.

Desktop publishing skills are very useful and artistic. If you have ideas and the technique of creating new design, you can develop and produce a variety of pamphlets, invitations cards, and other creative banners. A few months ago my friend who works in a Montessori institution asked me if I could help her in making an attractive educational banner for her class. After discussing her ideas, I took up the task and designed a beautiful banner by applying my desktop publishing skills. She was so excited to see her ideas reproduced in a fascinating banner.

I like to create new things while using Desktop Publishing. It allows me to exercise my creative skills. A great deal of personal satisfaction is achieved in this way. It brings pleasure and joy while doing routine tasks.

Word Processing Skills

The modern structure of organizations requires efficient and effective administrative assistants with the expertise of word processing skills in order to create, prepare, edit, store, and print documents.

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The application of word processing provides the accuracy of the document with less effort and less time. It allows users to establish margins, set tabs, create tables, and tabulate footnotes and endnotes.

During my Advanced Word Processing class, I have become very excited while using Word 2013 which provides many advanced features. Here I would like to share one of my personal experiences with mail merging: one of the most valuable word processing tools. While I was sending invitations for the birthday party of my son to 50 guests, the mail merging tool allowed me to assemble names and addresses to form invitation letters very conveniently. This saved a lot of time and effort in comparison to typing or writing them individually.

Keyboarding Skills

The ability to input information using a keyboard is known as keyboarding. It has become an essential skill for an administrative assistant. In the old days, office secretaries were assigned to work on typewriters and only those who worked as a typist in the offices were required to develop typing skills. Due to the advancement of the technology and fast working environment, keyboarding skills are important for every manner of job. For an administrative assistant it is very important to type with consistency, speed and accuracy. Administrative assistants who are able to type documents accurately and enter data quickly perform their routine tasks efficiently and effectively.

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Word processing software requires excellent typing skills to process, revise and compose documents. This skill is also mandatory to access and update data for using database software. Keyboarding skills are a must for an administrative assistant.

I have a pleasant experience in learning keyboarding skills. I have spent a huge amount of time in learning this skill. In the beginning it was a bit difficult but gradually, I started to enjoy keyboarding. It is also an important skill for professional development. Now I have a good speed of typing and I can perform my assignments efficiently. The accuracy and speed in my typing has opened a new dimension of job opportunities.

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I would like to share my Sheridan College experience; as I did not have any background in professional typing, during my first semester I had to work longer hours to complete my assignments and projects. It was more difficult for me when I had to complete my in-class assignments and tests. I hardly managed to complete them and sometimes, because of the limited time duration, I was unable to attempt some parts of the tests. But I tried hard to improve my typing skills. I followed the famous proverb, “Practice makes perfect”. So is the case with me; now I can complete my assignments efficiently and can finish my in-class assignments and tests well before time.

Golden Traits of an Administrative Assistant

An Administrative Assistant plays a key role in almost every company.  He/she has to perform a variety of administrative tasks in the office, so it is necessary to be effective and efficient. To be a smart administrative assistant, it is essential to have Hard skills, including typing, word processing, desktop publishing and other office-related software skills. 

In Canada, employers are giving more importance to Soft skills that are necessary for the accomplishment of  job targets. Soft skills include personal qualities such as being honest, responsible, and having a positive attitude. In addition to that, an administrative assistant should dress professionally because he/she has to meet with their clients and negotiate business deals, coordinate between the workers and management, and maintain confidentiality of the affairs of the company.

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I would like to share my personal experience, as most of the above mentioned traits can be acquired by experience, training and education. I am a student of the Office Administration Executive program. I have a keen interest in enhancing my professional and personal capabilities, which are supported by my previous experience in the field of Information Technology. I have learned some very important skills and techniques in this course such as keyboarding, word processing, and creating spreadsheets and databases which are essential for an administrative assistant. 

I believe the Interpersonal skills of a person cannot be ignored for this position. During my learning process in group assignments, I have developed interpersonal skills to deal with a variety of people from different cultures and backgrounds. Further, it is a kind of social networking which creates closer contacts and understanding between group members. It also provides an opportunity to exchange ideas.

I am an ambitious person having a deep desire to work with the top management of the company. Typing, travelling and dealing with people from diverse culture is a pleasure for me. I am confident and a communicative person. Working in a large educational institution such as Sheridan College, Humber College, or George Brown College as an administrative assistant would be a dream come true for me.

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