Who is my boss and where can I find him?

So, as I said in my first post I'm an administrative assistant/personal assistant/executive assistant/office manager at a small hi-tech company and though I accept my position in the company I sometimes feel clueless.

Admittedly, I'm not as clueless as I was when I started the job over two years ago. I'm also not as desperate to quit/find another job as most of the guys and gals over on http://savetheassistants.com/. Most days I even look forward to some part of my job.

The cause of my confusion? The company and my boss/bosses.

So, when I started I was led to believe that my manager/boss is the VP Operations (VPO) which made sense as I had a lot to do as an office manager (including two year's worth of back filing). I was also tasked with helping the CEO and COT which also made sense as I was the only administrator at the company.

Now, over time I requested and even got a few extra responsibilities that are actually more in the realm of an executive administrator and I was pretty content. I still reported to the VPO and managed to juggle all me tasks.

A couple of months ago when meeting with the VPO and raising some issues (so minor, I can't even recall what they were) he tells me that he isn't my boss and my boss is actually the CEO.

OK, I can live with that, I mean, all the managers at my company are great people and their treatment of me is really great. The drawback to having the CEO as my boss? Prepare yourselves...

He's not in the office (or available via cellphone or e-mail) enough.

I know some of you are going 'What the fuck? That's a problem in your world?' - well it is.

Let's take a hypothetical: say a contact of the CEO (CEO-C) is looking for the CEO. That's plausible and I have no problem prioritising and either giving CEO-C the cell phone # of CEO or e-mailing CEO that CEO-C called looking for him or whatever I deem appropriate. Again, not really a problem. The problem is when the CEO-C needs CEO by a certain deadline, I know that he is looking for CEO-C for something that can benefit the company is some way and CEO fell off the face of the Earth.

It happens. A lot. I actually got yelled at by a couple CEO-Cs and I can tell you that at that point my day is ruined and I'm thinking of finding some other place of employment.

What's that to do with feeling clueless? I don't know what to do in this situation and that causes to feel clueless every month or so.

Also, whenever he is at the office he all the R&D people clamoring for his time and I feel really lucky if I can a few minutes of quiet with him and get him to sign all the documents that need to be signed etc. I don't feel like there is room for me to raise any issue I have since the R&D people need his feedback or decision so they go ahead with the product and since that's going to be the livelihood of he company...

A Start - Recruiting

Well,

I tried to upload this picture to my profile and couldn't but I guess that's OK since I'm not sharing my profile anyway. ;-)


The picture, obviously, isn't of me but of one of the Ms. Bouvier, you know, Marge Simpson's sisters.

I feel a deep kinship to them. :-)

So, I'm actually either an Administrative Assistant, Executive Administrative Assistant, Personal Assistant or Office Manager at any point in the day. I work at a small high tech company and I do it all. Well, all that they'll allow me to do. ;-)

If you are in any administrative position, what is the task you hate most (filing not included as I think it's universally hated, much like Homer)?

What is the task (or tasks) that you like most?

For me the most hated task (at the moment) is helping with recruiting. Why? well, let's see, there's stuff like this e-mail:

"To Whom It May Concern:

Enclosed please find my personal resume, which includes details for your review and consideration.
This resume, unique and polished in its appearance, is a reflection of my qualifications and experience. Aside from being able to meet the demands of the job, I always exhibit willingness to address new challenges.
My various work experience over the years have been particularly valuable for achieving outstanding interpersonal, organizational, strong analytical and problem-solving skills.
I provided technical systems support for the analysis, design, implementation and maintenance as well as management of several projects by participating in all levels of IT life cycle. In addition, I promoted effective use of IT/facilitating spread of modern technological innovations.
Moreover, my advanced knowledge and experience in maintenance and support of network equipment and peripheral software solutions has showed an increase in my department’s productivity and helped achieving organizational, end/remote-user business and security requirements.
My hope in writing this letter is to convince you that I am both a suitable candidate for an interview and can be a potential asset to your organization.
In advance I thank you for your consideration and I look forward to meeting with you in the near future."


Well, guess what? The genius forgot to attach the actual resume. I'm not going to respond to this e-mail because:

1. We don't have a position open in his area of expertise, or at least what I think is his area of expertise, after all I don't have a resume to go over so that I actually know is his area of expertise.
2. He's a jackass who doesn't even know how to attach a file to an e-mail, how am I supposed to trust he'll remember to come into work in the morning?
3. When we post a new job (either on line or through placement companies) there is usually a job code that is supposed to be entered automatically into the subject line. You guessed right - no such code on this lovely e-mail. Now let's suppose that the company I work at is large enough and mature enough to have a recruiting person/s. Do you really think that when there is more than one job posted (which is usually the case) they would appreciate the hassle of having to open attached documents to see which position each prospective candidate is applying for? Yep, no way no how. So, why would I appreciate the extra work when I have enough on my plate?

At the moment my favorite task is, let me see....

I think ordering goodies (mostly junk food) for the week ahead. That's going to change soon since they want to turn it into healthy snacks which are a drag to buy, even online.