Recognition is Due for the Valuable Work of the Office PA
Copyright (c) 2011 Alison Withers
An initiative has been launched to hold a national annual day to celebrate the work of the office PA and was announced at the opening of the 2011 annual Office* Show currently being held in London.
The annual trade show is aimed at EAs, PAs and office support personnel and the launch of the national PA day has been welcomed by the professional body for the Recruitment industry, the Recruitment and Employment Confederation.
The confederation suggests that the role of the office support staff has been greatly undervalued.The Chair of REC Office Professionals and MD of Tate, Jo Edwards, said: "the launch of a dedicated day for PAs and the wider office support worker is a truly welcome move. The office worker's role has greatly evolved and is becoming increasingly specialised and rightly so."
She added that office and business support personnel are critical to the effective running of any organisation and that office automation and an increasingly flat organisational structure had led to office support staff such as EAs, secretaries, PAs and administrative support staff to play an increasingly crucial role in many companies, calling them the backbone for the effective running of any organisation.
The UK's most recent unemployment statistics for the three months to July 2011 showed an increase of 80,000 in the jobless total back to more than 2.5 million people. Many of them are public sector workers and the young as the figures showed. Almost a million young people are now out of work and recruitment in the private sector in 2011 is barely matching the lost jobs in the public sector so far.
Any initiative that can raise the profile and the value of office administrative support workers and emphasise how valuable they are at such a time has to be welcomed. The transition from public to private sector culture will be difficult for some people, however, and the support of a professional recruitment agency can make all the difference to their efforts to find a suitable post.
Agency staff are extremely experienced in the needs and requirements of the corporate environment and will be able to give advice and help to anyone who may need to sharpen their skills or CV to fit into the private sector.
The best recruitment agencies with an established reputation, particularly those specialising in finding people suitable for a PA or EA role, generally have an established client base, are trusted and understand their clients' corporate culture very well.
They are experienced at matching the right person to the vacancy and at helping them to prepare for an impending interview with a particular company.
About the Author
PAs and other office support staff are often undervalued but are the backbone of the work of most organisations. Specialist recruitment agencies are well placed to promote their candidates’ talents. By Ali Withers. http://www.rmsrecruitment.com
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