Beau1

thats a great one! It actually made sense. ******still thinking about it though*******

hi, the topic is a very interesting one, i just logged in and after going thru decided to contribute, mypeace, thupms up for you, you are great and quite lucky, same goes for teena. i was a P.A to my CEO for 5 yrs until last december when i resigned. i actually came in as secretary and after my probationary period of 6 mths, my appointment was confirmed and i was promoted to the position of P.A. i was so elated then because i actually worked hard during my probationary period, i just finished my NYSC got the job then, i had no previous experience but i could type and had phone manners. i really worked hard and improved myself over time, even my boss was happy and people never believed i had no prior knowldege of the job. everytin went well until my boss got so attached to me i was doing the work of virtually everybody in the office, i was so efficient according to him that he made me to oversee everytin in the office, he left the running of the office to me and goes to vacation whenever he wants. afta like two yrs, he started having eyes for me, i pray alot and didnot expect dat from him, he wanted me by all means and i rejected him by all means, i did all i could officially and had to beg when it became so serious, he satred acting like a child and frustrated me seroiusly, i loved my jod and borne all the insults patiently until ladt december, i could not bear it anyone so i ahd to leave and resigned, he never bothered to beg because he made it mandatory i sleep with him or forhet my jod no matter how effective he knew i was, dats is why i said you are lucky to have a good boss, the job is not easy, you msut have a very strong willif not you will be messed up all in the name of keeping your job, any intending secreatry or P.A must be very careful, some bosses are bad,pls, dont compromise, because he will never regard you or respect you, now his business is falling, the person dat replaced me have slept with him several times and after few mths, she has stared complaining and want to leave but then, he has already slept with her and the ball is in her court. whenever he sees me, he feels shamed and canntot look me in the face because of guilt and i alwys feel proud of myself that i never messed up myself because of any job,am even afraid now to apply for such positions because of this experience.

Hi Veevee,

First, welcome to this forum.

I really feel you on this.

i will sure make out time and reply you.

thanks for joining the forum.

You are Welcome Veevee, am so sorry for your plight but never mind, that's not the end of the world.

Meanwhile, I still believe you can get a better place. Am happy you're strong-willed and you've got the 'experience' so to say D4 no one can mess you up. Moreover, with your experience too, you can go for a higher administrative position if you're nomore comfortable with the P.A. We'll need more of your contribution.

Beau1,
ICSA is good if you can afford the fees. Will talk more abt it later.

Hello veevee,

u're welcome on board.  I must say your decision to resign is quite encouraging.  Bosses who are like-minded need to encounter ladies of your stuff (which should be the ideal) for their evil intentions to be frustrated. 

However, its not over until you give in.  Nobody's activity is worth changing your career path where you've grown and found fulfilment.  No! No boss is worth your years of training and growth. 

Rather I believe there's always a sheep left among many wolves (I mean a better human being who has respect for workplace ethics) who will appreciate your experience.

If only some of these bosses know that such abuse in the office destroy the work and organisation perhaps they might just have a rethink.

I wish you success as you get back to a better job speedily.  And lets share your joy when it comes. cheers! 

I have MS Outlook Office in my system now, I need tips on how to use it. Any help, plz?

Mypeace hv you tried yours?

@teena,

I hv tried to learn it.  Though i could enter info on it, but i guess its not working as expected,  i believe its suppose to remind me of the events according to the data i entered.

I mean show a kind of "pop up' on my system to remind me.  I don't know if am expecting too much.  As it is now, i hv to go there to  check on it, before I  could be reminded, thats exactly like normal diary, I just wanted something different, like the way handset could beep to remind u of events entered on it.

I will appreciate more info on this.

@ Veevee

Infact my colleagues have said it all.  I surely know that all bosses are not like that.  And for your info its only 20% of them that are randy.  Meaning that you could be lucky to have any of the remaining 80% as bosses.  Mind you, any other job apart from Sec job you may want to take, you will still have a boss.  Its not only perculiar to ours, just that ours is more pronounced.

Again, you could be lucky to work with a female boss, just like me, though they have their own challenges, but thank God mine is different.  Dont forget, I have worked with a male boss, faced the same problem, so i really understand your plight.

Dont give you, only pray that God will give you a boss that has a human face. I sure know your miracle is around the corner.

@Purplepal

I tried downloading the one that suits me, thats REMINDER but its telling me that its compartible with Outlook 2007, whereas mine is 2003.
However, i will study the site for any otherhelp i may get there. Thanks alot.


I have been reading thru this site www.time-management-guide.com, it so interesting.

I have to say dat reading these responses have really enlightened me a lot further. I'm based in London currently unemployed although actively searching for work at d moment. My field is actually Administrative area; i worked as an admin. assis. for over 4 yrs in a public organisation until i was made redundant. Whilst still working there, i worked as a PA as well for my manager i.e. arranging meetings for her, booking taxis, making travel arragements on her behalf, managing her diary.

I've always thought about the idea of 'broadening my horizons' by applying for secretarial/PA position. However becos i don't have any experience in dat area, i'm kinda confused about what to do next. And they barely have courses like the ones u guys have here. The main universities/colleges don't do programmes like dat. There's only a few private companies dat do such programmes and they're quite expensive. I did a 3 months secretarial course a few yrs ago and the only thing i learnt there was how to improve my typing skills/speed. There was no shorthand lessons or communication lesson etc. Then i paid about £500 for it.

@Nicelady

Your welcome to the forum

Its quite unfortunate they don't have a program for Sec over there.

in Nigeria, Higher institutions hv program for Secretaries.  It is a professional course, that last for 4yrs in the university and Polytechnic.  The courses we went through are numerous that i can't mention here, meaning that Secretarial profession is not all about Typing and writing shorthand, is much more than that.

Hoping to read more from you and I pray you get a job very soon.

happy valentine to all my dear colleague :p :p :p

You too!!!!!!!!!

@mypeace, thanks dear for your Val greetings.

Hope you all enjoyed yourselves that day; all work and no play 

@nicelady1,
you are welcome to this forum, I am surprise to read that there're barely places to do Secretarial programme in London.  I thought Institute of  Chartered Secretaries is based there, hope am not mistaken  
Anyway, still make more enquires, even if you didnt get an institution where it is offered as a course, you can do it with professional bodies, the cost?  Well, it might not be easy but its a sacrifice.   As mypeace rightly said, there are more to the job now than mere typing and shorthand.  Wishing you goodluck!

Hi all,

all of us seem to have gone on recess again. what's gwam ?

No dear. Thank God u hv bailed the cat.


How far for your school? Have u started now?

All the best!

Hello Everyone,

How about your jobs?

Just do ur best in cultivation by making sure you put in your best in everything you do especially those searching for jobs, Then allow God to do the watering of the farm for you to reap a bountiful Harvest.

Plz I need your views on this issue: If you have a subordinate, let me say a Receptionist or Office Clerk, how do you relate to him or her officially?

@mypeace, you wont believe i'm yet to write the aptitude test (which is usually done on January): I wonder what the Nigerian educational system is turning into.

Besides, ve been busy searching for a better-paying job. Thank God my search has paid off. Men, its wonderful! Full details later. Somebody congratulate me now

My dear Teena,

If i get your enquiry right: personally i believe the world is a small place.  No condition is permanent.  When you relate with 'FELLOW HUMAN BEINGS'  in as much as you want to maintain officialdom, please use utmost care and respect because no condition is permanent.  Just like you have dreams to climb higher, those subordinates too will one day also ascend the growth ladder.

1.     i would rather say you should act the boss that you are but with wisdom and respect, knowing that "respect commands respect" (emphasis mine)

2.     Try to be a mentor.  Show them you care about their mental/career development and even welfare (I mean, win their love and respect).  You know its usually difficult for ladies to submit to ladies (women's pride), but you can gain it.

3.      That you call your subordinate aunty/uncle so & so or treat her/him with respect does not make him better than you or you lesser than him.  Rather it saves you a lot of stress.  Cos if you respect them, they will find it hard not to respect you.

4.     Finally, however, doing the job well, correctly and perfectly comes first.  While not comprimising standards, try the 'respect' trick, it pays.

Thank you very much Beau1 and purplepal.  Your Tips are very wonderful, I think am on the right track.  I still need more postings please.

Meanwhile, @Beau1 congratulations on your new found job, rem you promised us full details later   Also pray for those of us searching for the desired JOB.  Wishing you well in your academic pursuit.

Hello all,

Firstly, Beau1 OVER Congratutate you . Thats a wonderful news for the new year! My ear is itching for the DETAILS ooo . So you havent taken the test yet? thats unbelieveable, and some schools are about selling form for another session. Anyway, dont dash hope, you are already there, and you will get there!

@ Teena

Purple and Beau1, have made concrete contributions. Another thing is to make them believe that there job is as important as yours. dont commonise their job. Encourage them to further their education. Relate to them as YOU WANT UR DIRECT BOSS TO RELATE TO YOU.

dear colleagues,

thank you so much.   u know we live in a very complex world.  as at my last post, i was yet to resign.  as a front desk officer/secretary in my previous employment, i was the least paid graduate (salary equivalent to OND) but i didnt mind just to gain experience.

i was called for interview a forthnight again and the interview was based on what i wrote on my cv and my job experience so far.

after the interview i was asked how i got to know abou the org.  since i started working i have responded to so many job adverts i've lost count.  i just said maybe one advert i saw on the net.  they said no! we didnt advertise.  hey! how come, they had my cv.  Then they said perhaps you gave it to somebody who submitted on your behalf, can you quess that person! hey, i could not!  and they said - my friend go, you're not even the kind of person we want to interview and we all laughed.

the irony of it all was that i didnt even know the name of the com.  when i asked the receptionist she looked at me stangely (like how can you come for interview without knowing where you were called?)anyway, she gave me the acronym of the com.  so i could not probe further.

a week later, my sister a nurse saw that acronym on their letterhead in her hospital and copied it home to show me.   i asked her to get their phone number the next day.

next day while in the office, my phone rang and i was asked to come to that office and i did after closing hours thinking maybe another round of interview only to be handed my appointment letter.  meeeeennnn! it was like a dream .  more interesting was the fact that i was offered what i asked .

immediately, i put in my resignation .  funny enough, my boss resisted that am going nowhere (as if he didnt know he was not paying me well).  He offred to give me anything - "just name it", i said i was going back to school for my masters in benin, he said do it in lag and i will pay your fees.  i said i have accommodation problem in lag, he said i will give your a free house (a big building in my compound all to yourself).

as juicy as they were, my mind was already made up.

my questions is, while wait till you're about to lose a very good employee before negotiating and offering packages that if the employee had in the first place will not think of resigning?  its a complex world indeed!

i decided to share this story because its still possible to get a job in naija (even when its in-house arrangement) without knowing anybody. 

i assure you all dat you'll fulfill your dreams.  never lose hope.  dream biiiiiiiggg! you will see it come to pass and you will wonder like me - is it a dream?

I am very happy for you my dear. Many employers will never no what they have until the loose it.
C O N G R A T U L A T I O N S!!!!!!!!

Beau1, am happy to read your story and it appears very interesing, once more, CONGRATULATIONS!

Thank you, thank you, thank you

Hi everyone.

How busy are you at work? Do you usually have some time to spare for 'leisure'? Or rather do you have times when there are no jobs on your table? What do you do then? Expecting your posts soon.

I hook up to NAIRALAND

That was a very interesting question you asked Beau1, I hv actually thought of it before now.

Well, for me I use my liesure to browse or play internet games.  At some other times, I read the dailies.

Hello everyone

i am a secretary in a law firm, been there for some time now & its a very tasking job.

Your posts are very educating and has been very useful to me, but i need an answer to this question

what should one do if ur boss' wife is over bearing, as in, walks to his office without even
answering ur greeting & sometimes bumps into his office during meetings, only to say "why didnt u tell me he's in a meeting", i'm getting upset by the day & one day i may just blow up, but my boss is the nicest boss i've ever had.

@ Crazy P, welcome to ds forum.

You should understand women generally hv this "competitive ego", shes like want to proof a point that shes the wiffy, and with the tune of your question, is like u want to proof am the secretary

For instance, I work with a female boss, that everybody in the office was like, why did u join the coy, u wont last here, shes this and shes that.  Guess what?  they are singing a new tune now, as in what did you do to this woman. I got my boss attention, by playing the "mugu".

So you got to play the  'mugu'  Be cheerful, I can understand some are 'unpleasable'.  Greet her loudly with a warm smile. she will really respond.  If he has a meeting, say something like this"  Good morning ma, (i feel good morning madam is too official without respect , in her case shaa), she will respond or ignore u as usual, while walking towards his office, you intrrupt her movement, Excuse me  Ma, he's having a meeting with some people, please have your seat, why i tell him that u are around.  She will definately sit to wait for him. Do inform your boss that shes around, and let her see u doing that, or else, she will think that u are ignoring her.  (if my boss is in a meeting, i inform her of anything by, writing on a piece of paper, gently walk into the 'meeting room' and slip the paper into her hand without altering a word)

When you come out, apologise for wasting her time, e.g sorry for wasting your time ma, but he will soon be with you.  She will smile and say thank you.

However, it all depends your kind of boss, if he's not complaining of her intrusion into his meeting, you may leave them ooo, na husband and wife palaver, so that they wont make up with u

Cheers, my other colleagues will sure say something

@ MyPeace,

tanx a great deal for that piece of advice, i guess u hv a lot upstairs.  i'll do exactly what u've said, my boss always gets angry wheneve she does that, but u know women, i think u guessed right, she's just trying to proof she's the wifey but i've bn there for almost 4 yrs now & i dont think there's need trying to prove that.

I feel she's not just comfortable with the babes that work with her husband, all d same, tanx & i'll b waiting for others to contribute. Ciao!!!

@mypeace are u online now, so we can chat more, my e-mail is ltl_angelx@yahoo.com[size=8pt][/size]

@crazyp, mypeace sure answered right. Just calm her fears that you are secretary not 'office wife'. Don't give her the impression that you have 'more access' to 'her husband' than she. As much as possible, give her the respect she deserves even when she doesn't earn it.

Hello loves, please wish me success as i sit the the MBA aptitute test on sat - 31st march.