Administrative Assistant
(Female, Age 20) from Harrogate, TN
This is a REAL-LIFE job profile written by a Female aged 20 who works as a Administrative Assistant in Harrogate, TN. We have removed all names and personal information in order to protect privacy. This professional kindly spent a bit of their time to complete one of our job profile surveys so that prospective job seekers like you could read their insights. Please excuse any punctuation or grammatical errors in this profile.
At a Glance
Current Job
Basic data on your current job
| Job Title | Administrative Assistant |
|---|---|
| Salary | $13,000 |
| Other Compensation | None Set |
| Hours/Week | 42 |
| Company Size | (not answered) |
| Location | Harrogate, TN |
| Years Experience | 1.5 years |
Career Ratings
Opinions on your CAREER overall (i.e. not just your current job)
| Years in Career | 0 |
|---|---|
| Education | (not answered) |
| Income Rating | 0 / 10 |
| Interest Rating | 0 / 10 |
| Work-Life Rating | 0 / 10 |
| Fulfilment Rating | 0 / 10 |
Current job Q&A
Describe the type of organization you work for.
Manufacturer of truck and trailer tarpaulins, $24 mil/year, owned by a $1 bil corporation. We operate out of the South with 4 locations, the headquarters (where I work) having approximately 100 employees.
Describe your job role and responsibilities.
Data entry, database maintenance, advertising, website maintenance, filing, invoice entry, purchase order number issuance, internet research.
Please list an additional benefits (beyond compensation) that you receive.
Medical, dental, life insurance
Do you feel you are under/over or well/fairly compensated at your current position?
Extremely under compensated
Does your job entail you working with others on a daily basis? Is this something you like/dislike about your job? Please explain.
I do have to work with others a points throughout the day. I enjoy it as long as it does not involve prolonged contact with them. For periods of a few hours I have no problem, but an entire day or days becomes exhausting.
Do you work collaboratively with supervisors/managers?
Yes
Do you work collaboratively with your co-workers?
Yes
Describe your work location (e.g., office, home, theatre, in the field) and what you like/dislike about working in it.
This box has no instructions.
Please rate each of the following aspects of your current job on a scale of 1-10 (10 being the highest/best):
Income: 1
Benefits: 6
Hours: 3
Co-Workers: 2
Supervisors: 5
Job Title: 8
Level of Responsibility: 7
The Actual Work: 4
A day in the life of…
Please describe a typical workday for you in your current job:
| 5am to 6am | |
| 6am to 7am | |
| 7am to 8am | I arrive in the work parking lot around 7:40am and listen to NPR until around 7:50, at which time I walk into the building, set down my purse, lunch and laptop and clock in by 7:53. |
| 8am to 9am | Once I am settled down with a cup of water (I recently gave up coffee and the habit of having liquid in the early morning has not yet left me), I open up my computer bag, pull out my laptop, plug it in and start it up. Then I log into my work desktop computer, which sits to my right. I then proceed to spend the next hour or so checking my email, my Netvibes home page, reading various news stories, etc. |
| 9am to 10am | Around 9am I begin working on whatever I hadn’t finished from the day before. If I have finished everything, I preform basic website maintenance, and then ask the head of inside sales and advertising if there is any work he needs done. Usually I have to wait 5-10 minutes for him to get off the phone, then we spend another 5-10 minutes discussing what he wants done. By 9:30 I usually have an advertising project to work on and sit down with Photoshop and Publisher. |
| 10am to 11am | Still working on an advertising project, browsing a few websites in between. I may receive 1-2 calls requesting a purchase order number from another branch that wants to purchase supplies or parts. I then would have to disconnect my laptop from the internet (the office manager won’t allow me to have two connections for some reason beyond me) and hookup the company desktop computer. This usually takes an exaggerated amount of time, but eventually I am able to log into the database and issue a 5-digit number to the caller. |
| 11am to 12pm | I start getting hungry every day at 11am, but I continue working. Around 11:30 I get on an instant messaging program to catch up with some distant friends while I continue working. |
| 12pm to 1pm | Still working. At this point people gradually begin leaving for lunch. Around 12:50 I note the time and come to a stopping point so I can take lunch at 1pm. |
| 1pm to 2pm | Lunch 1-1:30. I take it later than everyone else so I can have the breakroom mostly to myself and don’t get stuck watching something like old Cosby reruns. Usually I am alone in the breakroom and I watch CNN Headline news while I eat my two small burritos and no-sugar-added applesauce. This is the same lunch I have had for 4 years, but somehow it never gets old. At 1:30 I clock back in and commence checking my email, homepage and daily websites as I would in the morning. |
| 2pm to 3pm | Around 2:25-2:30 I continue working. The break bell rings at 2:30, but I never take a break. Instead I’ll browse a website or read a news article. Around this time I get up for another cup of water because I’m getting sleepy and that would be an opportune time for another cup of coffee. |
| 3pm to 4pm | At this time I set aside my advertising work and begin entering invoices into the database. I usually have approximately 10-30 invoices that can take around 30 minutes to an hour. My work computer is extremely slow so this is usually a grueling process that I dread. Once all the invoices are entered I calculate the total, attach it to the stack of invoices and lay them on the Purchasing Manager’s desk. |
| 4pm to 5pm | At 4:30 the bell rings for people in the shop to leave. I usually consider leaving at this point, but end up staying an extra half hour for the overtime pay. After 4:30 I usually browse a few websites, wrap up some maintenance and finish whatever advertising I had been working on that day before leaving at a few minutes after 5pm. |
| 5pm to 6pm | Not working. |
| 6pm to 7pm | Not working. |
| 7pm to 8pm | Not working. |
| 8pm to 9pm | Not working. |
| 9pm to 10pm | Not working. |
| 10pm to 11pm | Not working. |
| 11pm to 12am | Not working. |
Table of Contents
How you got your job
How did you get your current job?
Referral
What was the application process?
Paper application
Did you have to interview for your current job? If yes, what did the interview process entail?
No.
If you can remember, what questions were you asked during the interview?
N/A
Do you feel your employer properly prepared you for your job? Explain.
Somewhat. My training of how to use the database was drawn out because very few people had spare time to teach me.
Was there training for your current position? If yes, what did it entail?
I took courses in school that taught me how to use necessary programs and was trained how to use the database that holds our contacts.
Do you feel your educational background prepared you for your job? Explain.
Yes. The classes I took in high school and college have directly helped my job with programs like Office, the internet, web design, etc.
If applicable, do you feel your internship experience helped you prepare for your job?
N/A
If someone wanted to go about getting a job similar to yours, what would you recommend for him or her to do?
Spend a lot of time on computers learning various programs such as Office, Photoshop, Outlook, and learning how to conduct internet research.
What skills do you think a person should have if they want to pursue a position like yours?
Massive technical skills, must be able to type at least 70 words per minute, advertising design skills, web design skills.
Do you feel that you need a certain level of education or training to be successful in your job?
A few classes could help.
What advice would you give to someone who was about to start work in your position/ line of work?
Do what pleases the boss, even if it’s ugly.
Long-term career plans
Is your current employment part of your overall career plan? Why or why not?
No, my current employment is not part of my career plan because it is boring.
What are your current career goals?
Currently I aim to go into the field of medical genetics.
Is there anything else you would like to share about your career?
No.
Prior work history
Please list your most recent jobs prior to this current job:
| Title | Length | Salary | Description | |
| Prior Job 1 | Administrative Assistant | 3 years | 13000 | Purchasing, sales and advertising assistant |
| Prior Job 2 | Cashier | 6 months | 3500 | Grocery store checker. |
Educational background
Please list your educational background:
High School GPA:3.8
| GPA | School | Degree | |
| College (Undergraduate) or Technical/Vocational |
4 | Southeast Community College | Sciences |
| Graduate or Professional (Masters or Doctorate) |
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