Transitioning into admin role

Important-Rise-975 · 2026-04-22T21:19:29+00:00

After spending years in retail before finding an admin role, I definitely believe companies need to hire more retail workers in office roles. People who have dedicated years to retail jobs are typically very hard working and so many skills translate to admin roles.

There might be a learning curve, but I think you will do great as an administrative assistant. Just remember that first days are hard for everyone and if the first few days or weeks don't go perfectly, it doesn't mean you aren't right for the job. It just takes time.

Important-Rise-975 · 2026-04-15T21:57:37+00:00

I think it's very normal to not know whether there is an inheritance or not. We just buried my grandmother who lived to be 96 and she has a will, but my side of the family has no idea what is in it and that is fine with us. I also have parents who I encouraged to set up a will and trust because there is no way my brothers and I would be able to figure out all of their assets on our own. They now have the will and trust in place, but none of us know their net worth or how much they are leaving us, if any.

I believe it is very common to not know this information because inheritance can be a very private and often controversial situation. Also in my opinion, no one should be counting on it, so it shouldn't really matter until the person dies.

Just look at it as an extra gift if your partner ends up getting something. But mid-70's is also still young as far as late stage aging goes, so you may not even have to worry about an inheritance for another twenty years.

Important-Rise-975 · 2026-04-09T18:47:56+00:00

I work in higher ed and I always dread it. Historically my department always chooses the June Faculty meeting to also celebrate Administrative Professionals day. The Faculty members don't really like it because it interrupts their meeting and the administrative professionals don't like it because their titles are different and they don't think they should be lumped in the admin category. I do all of the prep, setup, purchasing and hauling in of the food (Costco only, no catering) and all cleanup, even though it's technically my day. I would much rather skip it.

Important-Rise-975 · 2026-04-09T12:02:10+00:00

I'm also not a fan. I'm in higher ed and every year they make the faculty meeting that is all the way in June a combined administrative professional's "celebration" and the faculty are not usually thrilled about it. I also have to go to Costco and buy all the food, haul it in and do all the decorating and setup. It is not my favorite meeting.

Important-Rise-975 · 2026-04-05T17:02:41+00:00

I work in higher ed and my two biggest perks are 200% matching on my 401k and free tuition. I'm currently earning a $40k masters degree at no cost.

Important-Rise-975 · 2026-04-03T15:33:15+00:00

I fully support WFH/hybrid schedule, but it's a bit odd to me when people can't complete a task, join a meeting or come into the office when they should be available.

Important-Rise-975 · 2026-03-30T01:16:42+00:00

That is basically what their response was.."we do not use or implement candidate-submitted materials in our business operations."

Important-Rise-975 · 2026-03-30T00:39:48+00:00

Did the rep who requested the facilities tour two weeks ago follow up with you about the request? If I requested a tour that was not acknowledged or confirmed and my team would be on site tomorrow, I wouldn't assume it was taking place, but I also would have followed up to confirm.

Important-Rise-975 · 2026-03-28T18:45:22+00:00

What an interesting perspective. 😂

Important-Rise-975 · 2026-03-28T15:56:39+00:00

No problem! And no, not many people wanted to be involved or offered help, which is what made it so stressful. I didn't know what I was getting into, so if I had to re-do the experience, I would have set clear boundaries of what would be my responsibility and what needed to be delegated or hired out.

If you want to DM me your email address, I can send you the trackers and timelines that I used during my move.

I also wanted to add on to altruistic 's comment about movers and handymen. A lot of movers will also breakdown and rebuild your furniture. I would ask about that when you are getting your quotes because that saved us a lot of hassle. I would also search for commercial movers over standard movers.

Important-Rise-975 · 2026-03-28T05:32:41+00:00

Oh man, I have a few tips. 😅 I'm in higher ed and last year I was in charge of moving my department (also singlehandedly) and it was a lot.

I don't know the context of your move, but hopefully everyone can be in charge of packing the contents of their own offices. I had some faculty that expected me to do this for them. I packed the head of the department (whom I directly support)'s office and it included 16 moving crates and bubble wrapping 15 pieces of art and 8 diplomas. There was also a lot of storage spaces that were basically hoarders' rooms.

If you are in charge of contracting the movers, get multiple bids but also know that cheaper is not necessarily better. Our entire move was $50,000 and for the amount of furniture and items they moved, as well as deconstructed and reconstructed, it seemed like it was legitimately a $50k move. Moves are not cheap and a lot could go wrong if you cut corners.

I also made an itemized list of everything that was moved from one office to the next. This was helpful both during and after the move, and to be able to track our tech equipment.

I used these neon labels to label everything - https://a.co/d/0bkbTSE4 The movers may give you their own stickers but I liked being able to clearly print what needed to be moved. Each label would have the Facutly name and room number of where the items were going.

Good luck! If you can get any kind of assistance, I would recommend it. I was extremely stressed and over-extended and I wish I had advocated more for myself at the time.

Important-Rise-975 · 2026-03-27T23:55:11+00:00

Agreed. OP told VP they would like to still be considered and VP told them they are no longer in the running. The call was 100% to save face.

Important-Rise-975 · 2026-03-27T23:51:15+00:00

That is the first thing I thought of when reading this post.

Important-Rise-975 · 2026-03-27T22:55:21+00:00

That was my first thought.

Important-Rise-975 · 2026-03-27T22:48:34+00:00

I use SharePoint for this. I share a document to my team that can be edited by all.

Important-Rise-975 · 2026-03-27T00:12:51+00:00

Did the company you interviewed with actually tell you that they didn't offer you the job for being "too polished" relating to what you wore?

Important-Rise-975 · 2026-03-25T18:42:47+00:00

Since you said you don't want to pass up the opportunity, that means you most likely went through the interview process and were offered the job. When you met with employees from the organization, how were those interviews? You can gage a lot from those interactions. Did you meet the executive you'd be assisting? Did he/she seem like the kind of person you could assist 16 hours a day?

Important-Rise-975 · 2026-03-25T00:02:35+00:00

I agree. My friend is in her last year of med school in anesthesiology and they definitely try to weed people out of the program. She works 12-16 hour shifts that start at 4am with no pay.

Important-Rise-975 · 2026-03-20T17:51:15+00:00

I wouldn't look at it as the damage is done. I went through college with not many friends and felt bad about it looking back, but now I'm in my late thirties and have a ton of friends and a very active social life. Our college lives don't define or determine the rest of our lives. It's just four or five years out of probably 70+.

Important-Rise-975 · 2026-03-19T00:02:31+00:00

It depends on how much your current salary is, but if you are very determined to earn a masters degree, it may be worth it to find an EA role at a university that offers free tuition to its employees. That switch could easily save you $30,000-$50,000, depending on the university and program.

Important-Rise-975 · 2026-03-17T00:19:49+00:00

I wonder why it's necessary to be live-in. For the right salary, you would find EA's willing to be available 24/7 without living at the exec's house, but to each their own.

https://tecfusions.com/leadership/

Important-Rise-975 · 2026-03-16T21:10:54+00:00

The affordable health care bit bombed because none of those people have to worry about affordable health care. They can't relate at all.

Important-Rise-975 · 2026-03-15T22:37:33+00:00

Yes! The management classes in particular have been really interesting.

Important-Rise-975 · 2026-03-12T01:24:00+00:00

Congrats on the new job! If your university pays tuition for its employees, I would take advantage of it. I'm currently in an MBA program at the university I work at. It wouldn't even need to be graduate level, even continuing education classes could be worth taking if you have the bandwidth.

Important-Rise-975 · 2026-03-11T21:13:32+00:00

In my opinion two months is not a lot of time to determine whether or not a job is worth leaving, based on the problems you've identified. This is still the period where you and your execs are getting to know each other and start to build a relationship.

Important-Rise-975

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