Normally, I don’t think “jokes” about people abusing assistants are funny, but I have to admit that this Ozzy commercial for a PDA where he plays with the meaning of personal assistant/personal digital assistant is kind of hilarious. I’m going to assume no assistants were actually harmed in the making of this ad.
Monthly Archive for May, 2009
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Career advisor Ellen Gordon Reeves is the author of Can I Wear My Nose Ring to the Interview?: A Crash Course to Finding, Landing, and Keeping Your First Real Job. The book is a helpful, funny, and not-at-all-condescending guide for people just out of college who are looking for their first grownup job. The questions in the book came from actual recent grads who consulted Reeves for help. If you want to ask her a question not covered in this interview, you can email her at caniwearmynosering@gmail.com. PLUS, we have four copies of her book to give away, so check back tomorrow for more info.
What do you think today’s college grads and people entering the workforce are the most afraid of? What do you think are their best assets?
I don’t know if they’re more afraid that they won’t get a job, or that because of the economy, that they’ll have to take a job they don’t want or stay in one they don’t like for longer than they’d like. I find that most young people are afraid of their lack of experience. But you’ve got to focus on what you do know and the skills and experience you do have, not what you don’t have. I want today’s grads to feel valuable, not vulnerable. We don’t expect you to have decades of professional experience; you can’t have that at your age, and we know that – that’s why we can hire you inexpensively. Don’t tell your mother I said this, but you’re cheap! Your assets? Recent grads are perceived as creative, tech savvy, flexible, adaptable, willing to work hard, energetic and full of stamina, and stereotypically bound by fewer family commitments than older employees with spouses and children. So if you can convince an employer that you’re smart and articulate, ready to take initiative but also to defer to authority, and that you can not only be a great assistant but do some of the thinking and work left in the void created by more senior people who have been laid off, you’re golden.
Are there certain universal questions/concerns that everyone has when they start their first job? Or do these things change with time and the economy?
When you start a new job any time, you’re understandably nervous because it’s new and you’ve got to adapt to and/or create a whole new routine. You want to please people and do a good job, but you feel infantilized because you don’t know anyone and don’t know how to do anything and are totally reliant on others at the beginning. You don’t know where the bathrooms are or how to use the Xerox machine. You don’t know how to order supplies or how to lock up if you’re the last one in the office. This can do a number on your self-confidence but don’t let it. Then there’s the high school cafeteria lunch dilemma. You don’t want to eat alone but you don’t know anyone and everyone is pairing up as if Noah’s Ark had just docked in front of the building. Wait and watch.
This year, younger people are worried that they are competing with older people in a tight job market. The threat of the guillotine hangs in the air. That’s why it’s so important to present yourself as professionally and with as much maturity as possible. In this economy, the pressure is on to be really good at what you do, to make yourself as indispensable as possible so you don’t get canned if there’s another round of layoffs.
If you could only give someone one piece of advice from your book, what would it be?
Rebecca Loos worked briefly as David Beckham’s assistant, allegedly had an affair with him, and has been milking the publicity ever since. She gave tons of interviews and got in touch with her inner Alli Sims when she released a single called “Your Boyfriend” that she claimed wasn’t about the Beckhams. Now, the surprise isn’t that she’s writing a tell-all book, it’s that it took her so long to do it. After all, she was David’s PA almost six years ago. Since then, she’s become a British reality show fixture, appearing on such esteemed programs as Celebrity Love Island and Extreme Celebrity Detox, and poses topless for lad magazines.
Loos, who is 31 now, is expecting a child. Allegedly, she decided to finally write the book because she wants the money to guarantee financial security for her kid:
“Rebecca has been talking about releasing this book for four years,” the Daily Star quoted a friend as saying.
“She has been teasing the world that she will tell all about her life with David behind Victoria’s back.
“And now that she knows she’s got a little one on the way, Rebecca wants to make sure she and the baby are set for life.
Yeah, good luck with that, Rebecca.
Remember when Hugh Grant got busted soliciting a prostitute and then had to do an “apology tour,” doing TV and newspaper interviews where he simultaneously apologized for his actions and promoted his new movie? Well, now Christian Bale is doing the same thing. He’s doing press for Terminator: Salvation while also apologizing for/justifying the notorious rant he went on against a crew member. The rant was caught on tape and listened to all over the country, even turning up in techno remixes and a Family Guy episode.
One aspect of Bale’s apology tour? Talking about how down-to-earth he is. And he’s doing that by discussing how he doesn’t have an assistant:
“I’ve managed to avoid what people imagine are the horrors of constant attention. I do exactly the same as I’ve always done. I don’t have an assistant. I don’t drive a flashy car. I do everything myself. I go to the supermarket myself, the hardware store,” he says. “It’s something I would greatly miss because I would start to feel like a prisoner. Just because I’m a friggin’ actor who can hit his marks and say his lines, big (expletive) whoop. Who cares?”
What Bale isn’t mentioning is that while he may not have an assistant now, he has certainly had them in the past. Perhaps he was burned by the way that ex-PA Harrison Cheung has made a mini-career out of talking smack about Bale in the press. Or perhaps being married to Sibi, a former celebrity assistant, has given him some perspective on what PAs have to go through? I’m very curious to know what caused the change of heart.
In remarkable news, a miraculous event was reported today in Los Angeles. A Hollywood talent agent – widely considered one of the lowest of all life forms – did something benevolent.
As we talked about last week, agency behemoths William Morris and Endeavor are merging, and that means a lot of people will be let go as the companies consolidate. This includes plenty of assistants. Variety is investigating and interviewed some of the laid-off employees about the major workplace tension:
There’s been a groundswell of anger internally at WMA about how the merger process has been handled, and that anger reached the boiling point for some Monday as they learned the layoffs were coming down. The mood in the halls ranged from angry to melancholy to determined to move on to greener pastures. One longtime exec cited “finding my assistant a job” as her top short-term priority.
A boss who cares about the well-being of her assistant? And who counts the assistant’s employment status as a priority? Dude, I think I just saw the Virgin of Guadalupe in my Dorito.
Have you ever seen that 30 Rock episode about The Bubble? Tina Fey’s character Liz is dating a guy played by ultra-dreamy Jon “Don Draper” Hamm of Mad Men fame, and she realizes that his life is charmed because he’s good-looking. He can order stuff that isn’t on the menu at restaurants, people give him free stuff all the time, and Calvin Klein stops him on the street to ask if he can model in his new campaign. Liz tries to explain to her boyfriend that he lives in a bubble, but he’d rather just keep living a charmed life than have to deal with the fact that he gets preferential treatment for being hot.
According to a recent study, “the bubble” does kind of exist. ScienceDaily reports that “attractiveness, along with confidence, may help job-seekers stand out to employers.” While intelligence also plays a big role in determining confidence and self-worth, it’s far from being the only factor.
The researchers found that physical attractiveness had a significant impact on how much people got paid, how educated they were, and how they evaluated themselves. Basically, people who were rated good-looking made more money, were better educated and were more confident.
For more info on the study, “facial symmetry” theory, and more, check out the full report. Or hit Sephora during your lunch break and spend the rest of the day hating yourself for not being a supermodel. Whatever’s easier.
If I weren’t already dorkily excited about seeing the Ryan Reynolds/Sandra Bullock romantic comedy The Proposal (he plays an assistant who has to marry his boss – Bullock – so she can legally stay in the country), then this video from Funny or Die would basically seal the deal. It has Betty White in it, and she thinks Ryan is her assistant. Really, what else do I need to say?
Jen Perkins is the founder of one of my favorite jewelry stores, the Naughty Secretary Club. Turns out the name isn’t a coincidence – Perkins was a secretary when she started working on jewelry in her free time. Eventually, the side job became a full time one, and she hasn’t looked back since. We talked about how assistants with creative dreams can make them happen and pay rent in the meantime.
How long were you an assistant, and what kind of work did you do?
I was an administrative assistant for close to 3 years at a telecom company in Austin. I didn’t do much of any work, hence why I was naughty. I had the occasional phone to answer or fax to send but for the most part I made jewelry at my desk, worked on my website and made copies of my husband’s band fliers when no one was looking.
What’s your worst assistant horror story?
While I was an assistant I had two bosses and most of the time not one at all. The first one was very stern and serious and the second, who I am still close friends with, was very laid back and fun. Once when the first boss was sneaking out of the office I jokingly said to her “where do you think you are going” and apparently she was going somewhere she shouldn’t and I had busted her because she tore me a new A-hole when she returned. Needless to say I toned the sarcasm down after that because apparently she could not take a joke.
Thanks to The West Wing, I know that all the cute acronyms for government types that end in -OTUS (for example, POTUS = President of the United States, SCOTUS = Supreme Court of the United States). However, there’s one new addition to the list: ROTUS. The R stands for Receptionist. I’ve been a receptionist for a super busy company before, but I doubt it’s anything on par with what it must be like to be the gatekeeper to the most powerful person in the free world.
Darienne M. Page, who is profiled today in the New York Times, is 27 years old and has met some of the biggest celebrities in the world (Tiger Woods, Owen Wilson, and, of course, Barack Obama). An alumna of the University of Illinois, Page served in the US army for several years and was sent to Iraq. She worked as a paralegal and took depositions at Abu Ghraib prison. In her current job, she earns $36,000 a year. As for her duties, well… ROTUSes, they’re just like us!
A task that requires particular diplomacy is overseeing the presidential boxes at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. A few days a week, she goes to pick up tickets and checks to be sure that the V.I.P. seats in all three theaters are in order and that the minibar is stocked with small bottles of Korbel champagne, white boxes of M&Ms with the presidential seal on them and a few cans of Bud Light.
First of all, I love Bud Light. And how do I get my hands on one of those boxes of M&Ms?
Secondly, Darienne Page sounds awesome, and I would love to hang out with her. Maybe the next time I’m in DC…
When it’s cold, it’s easy to look more formal at work. You’re already all covered up and wearing thick, non-transparent fabrics. But with summer coming (or if you live in someplace other than the Northeast, summer might be there already), you start trying to walk that line between cute summer attire and proper work dress. You can always throw a cardigan over your sundress or stick flip-flops in your bag while you sport loafers at the office, but … what about shorts? One article examines the trend-that’s-now-too-longstanding-to-be-a-trend:
In May 2006, when shorts first started making their way into city offices in the US, The New York Times’ Ruth la Ferla put it down to an easing of workplace dress standards.
“Dress codes these days are as elastic as a bungee cord, expanding to accommodate all manner of once unthinkable workplace infractions,” she wrote. “This year that increasingly flexible standard has stretched to encompass shorts, of all things.”
La Ferla too had waved them off as a passing “infraction”. A faux pas. One that we’d all laugh about later. She too was wrong.
As for your office, my general attitude about dress codes is “wait and see.” If someone higher up than you can get away with wearing shorts, then you’re good to go. Otherwise, you can try wearing a pair but keep a pair of pants in your bag just in case the office manager gives you a dirty look and you feel like you might be veering too far on the side of informal. Just, whatever you do, don’t wear a skort. No one can pull that off.
