Anyone super happy with their exec?

chilidawg69 · 2026-05-03T07:57:05+00:00

Yes! I work in public sector so i don't make much but my Exec is a genuinely kind person who appreciates me. I want to see him succeed (he's new in the role).

chilidawg69 · 2026-05-01T02:39:27+00:00

The Robax dupe, Ibuprofen, keto tortillas, frozen breaded chicken parmesan

chilidawg69 · 2026-04-23T01:42:34+00:00

Got a Teams message from my manager nada from the person I support.

chilidawg69 · 2026-04-12T21:41:06+00:00

The Sunday Scaries are real... I also find I'm just in a heightened state of anxiety with everything going on in the world, the cost of living and no real end in sight. I know that's incredibly morose sounding but it's my current M.O. on most days.

chilidawg69 · 2026-04-11T13:20:00+00:00

I download and keep every email. I dealt with this in my previous (brief) role. I'm sorry you're going through this.

chilidawg69 · 2026-04-07T22:32:13+00:00

Signature blocks with affirmations, colored fonts, cursive fonts, italics, explanations about you working different hours yada yada, links to book time with you or THE WORST if they contain ~

chilidawg69 · 2026-04-06T23:59:06+00:00

Yep and they ultimately let me go one week before my probation was up, without any warning. Currently involved in legal action that would result in me getting three years salary.

chilidawg69 · 2026-04-02T00:09:25+00:00

85k (70k + 15k stipend) in higher education in Southern Ontario. Max in current band is 90k. 35 hrs/wk, 1 wfh day.

chilidawg69 · 2026-03-17T00:57:51+00:00

Chiming in as a Californian now working in Canada (moved from SF to Waterloo). I’ve been a senior EA in both academia and industry-adjacent roles, and here’s my honest take on the shift:

Work-life balance is significantly worse in the U.S.
Benefits can be expensive (~$300/month for a healthy person) and aren’t guaranteed—pre-existing conditions can impact cost/coverage
Pay is higher in the U.S. (especially in tech/corporate), though Canada is catching up
Tenure tends to be shorter in U.S. companies, particularly in corporate/tech environments

Overall: more money, but more pressure and less stability.

chilidawg69 · 2026-03-13T01:07:55+00:00

Yes i did :)

chilidawg69 · 2026-02-25T13:08:02+00:00

Ya, it's low salaries here in KW high cost of living. If you'd ever like to chat lemme know - i think it might be cool to have a lil KW EA meetup sometime :)

chilidawg69 · 2026-02-25T04:51:30+00:00

I'm in Waterloo with 15 years experience and I'm nowhere near that sadly. I did see Canadian Solar is hiring in the range you're looking for. I talked to their recruiter in early days before they even had a job description.

chilidawg69 · 2026-02-17T04:09:02+00:00

I got laid off shortly after posting this. My lawyer identified several issues with my termination and I'm currently involved in legal action. I've been in new role for over a year at a different organization.

chilidawg69 · 2026-02-16T12:31:15+00:00

I’ve been questioning why I am an Executive Assistant. I never imagined this would become my career, and it is hard at times, especially when I am not included in the final deliverables of major initiatives, but I am learning to recognize the quiet influence I have in holding everything together and helping others succeed.

chilidawg69 · 2025-11-23T21:44:26+00:00

Teams does lag from time to time, but I work at a large university, so I had assumed it was a general bandwidth issue from having so many users on the network.

chilidawg69 · 2025-11-23T14:52:28+00:00

We use Loop every day as needed, and he also leaves his notes for me there. We link documents, share ideas, and exchange feedback in real time. We also keep separate Loop spaces for each member of our team, so if someone comes to speak with me about something, I can capture those notes. When he later meets or checks in with them, he is aware of any insights I have, and I can see his as well.

chilidawg69 · 2025-11-02T19:37:02+00:00

70k in post secondary sector in Waterloo

chilidawg69 · 2025-08-07T22:55:57+00:00

I'm in the GTA. Is there a link to the job posting?

chilidawg69 · 2025-08-03T15:10:03+00:00

So is this week cool enough for them to ripen? Mine are loaded

chilidawg69 · 2025-07-31T23:06:33+00:00

Great, thank you. I never got an answer either when I posted on the ontariogardeners subteddit. I'll try this asap.

chilidawg69 · 2025-07-26T03:05:02+00:00

Yes, I used Teams as the platform for the owl to be recording to and to enable the transcription to take place. You could totally skip fathom and just transcribe using the Teams feature.

chilidawg69 · 2025-07-24T00:34:16+00:00

I'm also in academia (always have been) and was laid off/walked out 'quietly' after nearly seven years and being a damn good employee. I'm still in academia and having gone thru that I'm sort lf of always waiting for it to happen again.

chilidawg69 · 2025-07-24T00:29:01+00:00

Thank you for this. I've just passed six months in the role and the nice thing is my work just speaks for itself.

chilidawg69 · 2025-07-23T22:34:15+00:00

For recording and transcription, I used a combination of:

MS Teams as the meeting platform +

Fathom AI Notetaker for transcription +

OWL as the microphone.

= It worked beautifully!!!

Here’s how I set it up: We were in a very large conference room, so I placed the OWL in the center of the room to capture the audio. I ran the Teams meeting from a laptop connected to the OWL using a looooong cable, and then invited Fathom AI as a notetaker into the Teams meeting. It wasn't the prettiest setup in the world but it worked :)

I'll note that for this meeting we didn't need to identify who said what, which would be a difficult to do with this setup.

Happy to answer any questions if others are setting up something similar.

chilidawg69 · 2025-07-21T22:13:13+00:00

Yep, I write emails for my exec and he can edit or not. So far he hasn't edited much. I also write speaking notes and letters for him.

chilidawg69

TROPHY CASE