PA and Secretary Community - Deskdemon.com

Back in May, after giving a year of my life to an Internet services provider startup I was laid off along with my VeeP boss and 100 other unfortunates.



And I mean I gave them my life, we are talking 24/7 on call as an admin since my group was 24/7, 15 hour days, lowest paid employee before the receptionist, and way high profile responsibilities than a lady with the title admin asst should have.



It was devastating to say the least. So after five years of this sort of lifestyle that partially comes from working in the Internet industry, and partially from living in the bay area, I decided to move. I figured if I was going to weather a recession I could make my severance and savings stretch farther in Seattle were the cost of living in less by one third.



However I have been here since June 15, and actively seeking a job since then. I have had two round of positive interviews with companies here, and despite massive praise during the interview in regards to my skills and experience, one never called me back, and the other only called to say I had been beaten out by someone who had 15 years of experience. Otherwise I have been contacted by only one recruitment/temp agency.



I am really concerned that I am doing something wrong. One of my big concerns is that I am approaching the market as I would a project manager job for a team at my old office. When working with Internet engineers I have found it is best to be over confident, and have the material to back yourself up in order to get them to not only notice me, but listen to me.  I am very concerned that this attitude which is displayed in my resume and coveletters might be hurting my chances. Perhaps there is some other issue and I am obviously too close to the problem too see it.  



So here is my point, do you guys have any input about my resume, any good Resources about resumes and coverletters? What about recruitment/temp agencies? The one that called me today indicated that I would need to come in and go through a formal interview process with them before they could  help me find a job, as well as go through testing, and a background check. Perviously I have shied away from "third parties" that required so much because it seems a bit extravagant to repeat the same information over and over and over. once to the peer interviewer, once on my resume, once on their application, again on the background check, only to repeat ALL the same information  to a prospective employee for what usually is a three month gig. However I was also a much busier person then, the hiring market has changed, and in two months I will be out of savings. Are they expecting to much? Is this sort of thing fruitful?  Any kind of advice or criticism would be more then helpful.



If you would like to take a look, an old version of my resume is available on my homepage at www.geocities.com/bailey_Cajun

I will be posting a newer version as soon as I get some software on this machine working.



Anyway thanks again, and thanks for reading through this.

by the way that url is www.geocities.com/bailey_cj.



Spellcheck got me.  

Hey, there, Admin2Geeks:

There is nothing wrong with you!  I think most people go through most of the contortions you're going through under the circumstances.  The first thing to do ::seriously:: is take a deep breath.  Remind yourself that, yes, this situation sucks major, but while you are still sucking air on this planet, you CAN do something about it.  You don't have a lot of time, but certainly there must be *something* / *just about anything* that you can do to keep some income rolling in while you search for ideal positions.  And, pray.  God is still in the miracle-working business, and He is looking for someone to bless today:  why not YOU!?!



** Don't hesitate to go through all the hoops with the agencies.  (I recommend going to at least 3.  Most of them are a lot of b.s., although some are actually helpful.  By going to 3 and not telling them about each other, you increase your odds of getting an interview.  They tell you you shouldn't do this in the event that two companies send you to the same prospective employer.  My stance on that is "hooey!"/they just want to be the one who makes the commission off me.  Hence, whoever says that, mark them with a little red flag in the back of your mind and focus on working hardest with the others.)

** The only modification I would make to your resume is to show accomplishments, not just responsibilities.  (e.g.  Before:  "Personal assistant to major geek."  After:  "Organized the business activities of a major geek and saved her one hour per day formerly spent looking for things."  - - something to that effect)  If you can shorten it to one page, that would be great.  Bring the supplemental stuff, but don't show all your stuff at once.  Pique their interest, and then you have materials available to build on that.

** It is a GREAT idea to bring your "show and tell" book along.  Skills portfolios are the latest rage from what I've heard.

** I don't know exactly what you mean by "over" confident, but always "assume the sale" while you're interviewing.  "Yes, Mr. Geek.  And, when I am working with you, what will be my first high priority task?"



I've been in your position only once, and it was memorable.  You don't have time to freak out; you only have time to pull yourself up by the bootstraps and go into MAJOR MAJOR action mode.  Don't fritz out.  Don't give up; don't give out; don't give in!!!  AND, MOST IMPORTANT OF ALL (YES, I AM YELLING, NO, I AM ****SCREAMING**** THIS AT YOU AND AT THE WORLD AT LARGE:  Before you go out looking for a position, write down EXACTLY what you are looking for:  salary, location, hours, type of person you'll be working for, environment, general nature of co-workers, do you want an office or a cube, any perks/benefits?, etc.  You don't have to mention this to anyone with whom you're interviewing, but by doing it you will be far more likely to get what you need.  Put the list in your own handwriting and read it at least 3 times a day, and most especially right before you go to bed at night and when you wake up in the morning.  (Let me know if you want more information on a part of your brain called the reticular activating system, which will help you if you choose to work with it.)



I do remember my favorite "pull myself up by the bootstraps" chant every morning, said in the mirror, before beginning the pound-the-pavement routine:  "I'm good enough. I'm smart enough.  And, doggone it, people LIKE me!!"  Remember, they like you, too, Admin.  Just go into the interview to find out what it is THEY need, and let them know how YOU can fill that need.  Keep us informed!  P.S.  I have taken all of my own advice in the past, and my result was 11 interviews set up in a 2-week period, 5 second interviews in the 3rd week, with 3 job offers/1 close call.  (I had only 2 knock 'em dead business suits at the time, and I labeled one "first interview," and the best one "final interview" suit.  You really don't need to spend much money for a job hunt, is what I'm saying.)  The end result was the job of my then dreams (as written down on paper) which I still hold today.  (Just remember:  MAJOR ACTION, not major thinking/worrying about doing something about it!!!!!!  Whip out your yellow pages, get on the phone.)   (Got to go before I get out my "GO GIRL pom poms!  lol)

Honey, I looked at the web page, but it made my eyes hurt.

I'm not sure electric blue on black is the easiest thing to read.

Love the little red monster, BTW!



For everything else, yeah, what she said.  Don't give up. Continue to be confident. Play the game with the agencies, but keep on hassling them. They may not call you, but unless you call every day, you won't be at the top of their minds.

 

I too took a look your resume. If you are giving out this link to prospective employers on your existing resume, or via online job companies,  therein lies the problem.  Including your resume on the same website with your journal which describes normal journal like things.... uhhh not good.  The picture of your tatoo does little to further your professional image either.  And Im not trying to slam you Im saying this in the nicest kind of motherly way.



Employers do not WANT to see your tatoo, they do not want to know how many piercings you have and they do not want to read about "the merlot incident of 2000".  While these things are certainly things you're proud of , or you wouldnt have posted them to the WWW, it may well be part of the problem in getting a job in a more conservative environment. And speaking of those piercings, if they are visable, remove them during interviews. Are they your right to free expression? Absolutely! Will they take you out of the running for almost any job that required the least bit of public interaction? umm, unless you're applying at the Gap, you betcha.  Is this illegal? certainly.  Determine whether you're looking for a job or a test case.



Additionally your job history appears short term, (I know, I KNOW it's a given in the dot.com world,) but consider moving to a skills portfolio instead of a traditional resume.



Further if your print resume mirrors this one, there are typos in it, check it over carefully for grammar, and typographical errors. Ask anyone, I am the QUEEN of typos when it comes to message boards, and a bear when it comes to my print documents, particularly that all important resume.



Your skill set appears to be formidable, lose words like "some experience" and change them to "Experienced in" or Experienced with.



Take a hard look at the over all "tone" of the resume for instance take this statement just as an example



Administrative support working with a sub group of five Executive level managers on all special projects, that do not require architectural/technical expertise, and facilitating the growth of the Associate Program.



Why would you point out in a resume what you can't do? While Im sure you were trying to be honest, there might be other ways to address the fact that you weren't the lead admin for this group when it came to architectural/technical expertise.  



Consider moving from your narrative style resume to a bulleted list with less explanation. Use words like Authored, managed, produced, created.  



And move your resume to it's own page, away from the personal information, lose the trendy background, (don't get me wrong I love black backgrounds but not for business documents) you're giving an employer entirely too much access to personal information about you, which may have worked wonderfully in the avante guarde Bay area, but probably isnt going to wash in Seattle.



Best of luck to you, we're here for you to vent with and by the way Welcome to The Admin Authority!



Andrea

Hey, Admin, I have to agree with the above, IF it's true that you give all this info to potential employers.  I'm hoping that you haven't.  I didn't peruse any of it too carefully at 4 in the morning or whenever my first post was.  You remind me a lot of a good friend of mine, who has a website similar to yours.  You may want to set up a separate one to refer employers to, because you do display great skills.  Don't let them get lost with stuff that nobody but you and the fencepost needs to know about!  (Again, been there, done that, too!)  XXOO - GE

I would not even consider giving that link to respective employers.



Originally I set my resume up on my website as an HTML table learning project, and to give my family back home in VA a clue of what it is a do . I have updated it maybe once. Of course since then my resume has had many different lives. While it is basically them same, it defiantly looks different. It actually fits on one page (hurray, no small feat there!).



And I, like everyone else, send employers my resume by fax, by snail mail, and by e-mail as an attachment, or they pick up my resume from Monster and Brassring. When I interview I always bring hard copies of my current resume, incase the interview has forgotten it, or the formatting got mangled in the sending method.



Unfortunately  could not find a way in this forum to attach my .doc resume to my post, and I did not think any of you would want to read through a posting so long as my first post AND my resume. So I posted the URL to the out of date one on my very personal homepage, just so who ever wanted to get a look at it could.



As for bosses not wanting to see tattoos, some do. But then I recently worked for people that were all under 27, and all had a slew of tattoos. There is definitely a time and a place for everything.



Thanks for the encouragement and advice.  I am definitely ready to put more effort into to talking to the temp/placement agencies, now that I now it is useful. I just hope I do not have another super positive interview only to never get called back.   I am working on changing my resume posting my homepage now I will take all of your suggestions into account on both the html version and the real one. Thanks!

More questions:



About resumes, to some degree admins kind do  a whole buch of things that can be summed up as "administrative support" is it really imerative in every secotion of one's reusme to spell out the details, "made copies, puplished...,travel coordination.., " when it is all so simmilar from job to job?



I do hate that my resume has so many short temr jobs on it. I took contract jobs for about 3 years, all of the contracts were 3 months, except one 6 month., until I found the right peremnent position for me. Should I go to a skills based resume?  They always make you fill out an application when you get to the interview anyway that has your complete work history. Is there any other way to deempasise all my short term jobs? I have to say they allowed me to get a really wide base of experince a skills in a very short period of time.



 

You summed it up right there, for yourself, Admin:  the short-term jobs allowed you to gain a wide skill base in a compressed amount of time.  That's what I'd tell any interviewer.  When you got beat out by someone with 15 years of experience, I wouldn't sweat it.  That's probably what that particular company was looking for all along, and it truly was nothing personal.



For your encouragement, probably ALL of us have had lots of interviews that looked very promising, that we were sure we were going to nail down, only to find that we were the bridesmaid and not the bride.  All you really have to do is recommit, refocus, and torque up your efforts.  Yeah, looking for a new job can really suck, especially when it wasn't in your plan.  But, whatcha gonna do?  You've got the right stuff; it just needs to get in front of a whole lot more people no matter the method.



As far as what admins do, you don't need to detail the basics of the job (i.e. copying, filing, etc.), but do highlight those things you did which the job you are targeting seems to be looking for the most.  This may mean having 3 or more versions of your resume but, heck, you've gone this far, why not bring this baby home!  Best wishes/keep us posted. GE

I currently live in the Seattle area.  I found that after having numerous jobs around the country (husband was in the military) that it was very difficult to actually get an interview.  A lot of large companies in the area like to hire from the temporaries that they have working for them.  They also like to hire someone with experience with their company.  



After 3 months of looking for a permanent job, I decided where I wanted to work and what temporary agency served that company.  My plan was to get my foot in the door and then apply for internal jobs.  I had a permanent job 3 months after starting with this company (not the position I was temping for).  



Good luck in your job search!