Editorial
Front Page - Friday, October 15, 2010
The Bookworm
"Save the Assistants"
Terri Schlichenmeyer
“Save the Assistants:
A Guide to Surviving and Thriving in the Workplace”
by Lilit Marcus
$14.99 / $18.99 Canada
241 pages
It was never something you aspired to.
When you were a child, you never thought, “Gee, I want to be an office assistant someday!” You never played assistant-dolls or drew pictures of your future cubicle. Even in college, becoming an assistant was never on your radar.
But now you’re an assistant and there are good days and bad; more of the former, if you’re lucky. But if not, well, then read “Save the Assistants” by Lilit Marcus. There is hope for you from both sides of the desk.
After graduating college with an English degree, Author Lilit Marcus headed for New York where she planned on becoming a writer, her head filled with dreams. But the reality came quickly: she was a “grown-up” now, with bills to pay.
Marcus started applying for jobs and was excited to interview for a position with a magazine publisher. Knowing that it was an entry-level position but hoping some glamour might trickle down, she took the position. But the job she interviewed for and the job she got were two different entities.
Frustrated, frazzled, and fearing that everything was her fault, Marcus joined forces with co-workers, learned to cope, and eventually escaped that soul-destroying job, with an understanding – in retrospect – that it was a chance to pay her dues.
“What you’ll learn to do in this book is pay your dues in a smart way,” she avows.
When you start your new job, says Marcus, there are several things you should (and shouldn’t) do ASAP. Ask for job description clarification, so expectations are clear all around. Learn everybody’s name, including the janitorial staff. Understand everyone’s role in the company. Be an eager beaver, early-on. And never let anyone compare you to your predecessor.
But let’s say you’ve been at the job awhile and you’re ready to scream. Marcus says to take a deep breath and remind yourself that this is a for-now job, not for-ever. Work on making a CYA file. Learn the fine art of “minivent”, come up with fun ways to pass the time, avoid cliques and start your own ‘Take this Job and Shove it Account’ – even if you love your job today.
Without a doubt, “Save the Assistants” will save several shredded self-confidences. It may even save a few jobs. But this book is not just for office support staff: supervisors, bosses and HR folks should be asked to read it, too, because what’s inside these covers may be going on inside your company’s doors.
Author and SavetheAssist-ants.com cofounder, Marcus, offers a perspective that only a former assistant can give and this book pulls no punches. Marcus is entertaining – she even includes a gossipy list of good and bad celebrity bosses – but she’s dead-serious in her advice, including ways not to treat your office support staff and how to remember that today’s assistant may be tomorrow’s boss.
For office workers in any size company and for the supervisors they report to, this book could be a valuable tool. For you, “Save the Assistants” may save your sanity.
The Bookworm is Terri Schli-chenmeyer. Terri has been reading since she was three years old and she never goes anywhere without a book. She lives on a hill in Wisconsin with two dogs and 12,000 books.
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