[Thanks to Kay Brown for sharing her list of favorite resources for administrative assistants.]
Top Ten Career Resources for Administrative Assistants
I discovered this resource from a career planning text book. This is the site for International Association of Administrative Professionals (IAAP) and where the Certified Professional Secretary (CPS) and Certified Administrative Professional (CAP) professional certifications are given after an exam is taken. They offer courses and educational events. It offers publications to help keep up to date on the job. You can join also to be part of a local chapter, gain more education, and be part of a community.
All the rest of the below resources I found from recent research.
2. http://www.administrative-assistant.net/
This site was a small collection of useful articles, sample resumes, information about what to expect, what you can earn, etc. Tamara, the author created the site to help administrative assistants have some information as she didn’t have any resources when she started. Her skills page and her job description page are particularly useful as it gave a concise list of what skills you need and some tips on how to acquire them. It is a favorite as it wasn’t overwhelming in words but gave me the detailed skills I need for this job.
3. http://www.asaporg.com/default.aspx
Professional Administrative Certificate of Excellence is offered here through their courses. They have many articles and helpful advice. Some of the articles are about office communication, office management, and time management, all needed for this career choice. This is a favorite because it has an organization I can join if I want to as well as information on the site I can study. Online webinars and courses are also available. Many of the contributors are from many different organizations that deal with office management, career coaching, and even an attorney. Another important feature is their mentoring program. Excellent resource!
4. http://www.foothill.edu/career/
This is a great resource and an actual physical center as well. It has such resources as speakers, assessments, counseling, and how to transfer to a university. There is an online reference library as well as one on campus. This led me to http://www.myplan.com/, which features help for middle school up to adults changing careers. It claims to “gives you the truth about colleges, careers and majors.” I explored the Business administration major and it gave me all kinds of information like careers that are related to this degree and their descriptions in an easy to understand format. These are my most favorite of the general career resources.
Along with this are the programs offered at http://www.foothill.edu/programs/programs.php and http://www.foothill.edu/programs/programs.php. De Anza College also has certificates.
5. http://us.deskdemon.com/pages/us/indexus
Based in the UK and global in nature, this site is more for a person who is already working as administrative assistant and includes templates, how tos , and an interactive “hub” of networking. The site features short information on various topics like “How to handle office gossip” and ” How to Screen Calls for Your Manager” along with “10 Tips For Effectively Tracking Tasks You Have Delegated.” Tools of the trade are here in one place including world travel and calculators. I think this is a great site and will be one I come back to explore more. You can sign up and have your own section.
6. http://www.personal-assistant-tips.com/
A great resource with things like “How to Manage your boss,” checklists, and update to technology are all useful. A section on virtual assistants is available too. Many really useful articles on the various different aspects of running a boss’s life. One of my favorites!
7. http://www.virtualassistantresource.com/free-virtual-assistant-resources/
Here is a collection of virtual assistant resources. Many of the duties are the same as an administrative assistant. It is owned by Heather McMillan and included a free e-article, “10 Tips to Start a Virtual Assistant Business” which is a must read. I like this site as it gives me food for thought if I want to do a business from home.
Chalk full of resources but mostly for Canadians. The knowledge links were good and their TIPS AND TRICKS.
9. http://www.virtualassistantforums.com/virtual-assistant-resources
This site was full of forums and free advice on how to be a virtual assistant. Things that you need to know like payment processing, invoicing, and security. I like this site as it helps me see more details about this career choice.
10. http://www.admin-ezine.com/
This site offers self-paced educational administrative assistant training and executive assistant training, professional development, and educational resources for a fee. It looks good but couldn’t really tell because I didn’t want to spend the money. It had good reviews. They have a free blog at http://www.admin-ezine.com/blog.htm which had some great information but it was the only thing that was free on this site.
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