Great job by local chapter sources and the reporter.
Web site link:
http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/businessNews/view.bg?articleid=66153
Article text:
Professional development: Networking group boosts skills of administrative
workers
By Greg Turner / News Business Writer
Monday, April 19, 2004
Frank Parsons' job title is office manager. But ask him what he does at work
every day and he'll give you the unabridged version.
The Framingham resident processes payroll, accounts for accounts payable,
oversees human resources, provides tech support, negotiates with vendors,
answers phone calls. He even makes sure the trash goes out.
"I do everything that an economist doesn't do," said Parsons, who's the only
non-number cruncher -- officially, at least -- on staff at International
Planning & Research Corp., a small management consulting firm in Maynard.
The well-rounded office manager recently improved his resume by becoming a
certified professional secretary and certified administrative professional,
adding "CPS" and "CAP" to his credentials.
Certification is something Parsons urges others in his field to attain, for
reasons personal and professional: he is also the president of the local chapter
of the International Association of Administrative Professionals.
"It's really been a boon to my career," he said last Wednesday evening at the
regular meeting of the IAAP's South Middlesex chapter.
Members meet monthly at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Natick to network, dine,
listen and learn from others. Sometimes they bring friends from work who may be
encouraged to join the group.
Parsons became a member in 2001 following a layoff at his previous employer.
Though he admits his initial reason for joining IAAP was because he "thought it
would look good on the resume," his view of the group clearly has changed.
"Sometimes just belonging to a professional organization shows a certain
commitment to your career," he said in an interview before last week's meeting.
"I didn't realize how much a part of my life it would become."
As a member, Parsons created a Web site for the chapter. He served a stint as
corresponding secretary on the chapter's board, taking minutes of meetings and
keeping chapter records. Then the president at the time stepped aside after the
required two-year term, so Parsons threw his name out and was elected to the
post.
Parsons, previous president Brenda Hendron and a handful of other members are
credited with bringing the IAAP chapter, originally founded in Framingham in
1950, back from the brink. The group nearly disbanded in 1999 after dwindling to
just six members.
"The women who had run it for a long time... were retired and older and just
ready to give it up," said Hendron, a Bellingham resident and executive
assistant at Wayland-based Moldflow Corp. who assumed the IAAP chapter
presidency in 2000.
A local employer, The TJX Cos. Inc., helped the chapter's revival by agreeing to
sponsor several employees who had decided to join. The Framingham-based retailer
covered their $98 in annual membership dues, Hendron said.
Over the next few years, Hendron led a recruitment drive that significantly
increased the membership -- so much so that officials at IAAP headquarters in
Kansas City, Mo., honored her last year with a "distinguished chapter president"
award recognizing the chapter's growth.
The South Middlesex chapter now has 42 members. The group found a source of
pride in the fact that, until recently, it was the largest of the nine chapters
in Massachusetts, bigger even than Boston's group.
IAAP, a nonprofit professional organization, overall counts about 40,000 members
in more than 600 chapters worldwide. Its membership consists of administrative
assistants, executive assistants and secretaries who work for companies in a
wide range of industries.
"Admins" -- shorthand for those in the field -- are predominantly women but more
and more men have been entering the profession. The IAAP's membership is about
98 percent female, according to spokesman Rick Stroud.
"The public perception, based on old stereotypes, is that women enter the
secretarial field," he said. "But our association's position is that the job
should be gender-neutral. It's your skills and abilities that matter."
Parsons is one of only a few male members, including Tom Gorham, in the local
IAAP chapter, and it is notable that he serves as president, according to
Stroud.
The skills of admins are also ever-changing, as they must keep up with new
versions of office software as well as additional responsibilities that
employers require them to assume, whether at a current job or upon moving on to
a new workplace.
"The average administrative assistant is a catch-all term," Parsons said. To be
successful, "you need to keep up with companies' needs. You need to keep your
skills up-to-date, to get a better job, a better salary.
"You can't just go in there and say you can type and know Microsoft Office. You
need a basic knowledge of accounting, basic IT knowledge -- more than just
working the programs," he said. "Admins are important because they become sort
of your jack-of-all-trades."
Once a year the IAAP has an opportunity to highlight the skills and needs of its
membership: Administrative Professionals Day, which falls this Wednesday.
Employers are urged to celebrate the day in an atypical way, despite the
marketing push by florists and holiday-card sellers.
"It's less to do with flowers and going out to lunch and more to do with getting
sent to a free training class, or it might be a free comp day," said Hendron,
who assists Moldflow's CEO and CFO. "It's getting away from candy and flowers to
something more constructive."
The IAAP offers educational opportunities through guest speakers at local
chapter meetings and professional seminars at the divisional level. The Greater
New England division has 18 chapters.
At last week's meeting in Natick, chapter member Kris Froment invited her boss
at TJX, vice president of merchandising Joe Domenick, to talk about practical
negotiating skills.
"He does these classes for the (TJX) buyers," said Froment, who lives in
Whitinsville, "So he jumped at the chance."
Another IAAP member, Natick's Laurie Cavossa, finds similar support from her
boss at TJX, who lets her leave early, at 4 p.m., on chapter meeting day so she
can pick up her children from day care, drive them home and still arrive on
time.
Cavossa went to her first meeting as a guest. "It was a great way to network. It
was a wide variety of companies, so that was interesting to me," she said. "The
speakers were geared toward something you could bring back to the workplace.'
The meetings were also a way to "escape" from family duties for a night, Cavossa
added, a forum to talk about your job and your company with like-minded
individuals.
"Now I'm on a mission to sign up new people, to express interest among other
admins in the community, and also to get great people to talk (at meetings),"
said Cavossa, who is now the chapter's vice president.
Parsons said the key to the chapter's survival is for its members to not become
complacent.
The good thing, members say, is that a group of people with the ability to keep
an organization running smoothly is in charge.
Info on 'admins'
- More than 4.1 million administrative assistants and secretaries worked in the
United States in 2002.
- Around 184,000 "admin" and secretarial positions will be added in the United
States between 2002 and 2012, representing a growth rate of 4.5 percent.
- According to a 2002 survey, 30 percent of workers in the admin field have a
job title of administrative assistant, 16 percent are called executive assistant
and only 7 percent are secretaries.
- The median income of U.S. administrative assistants and executive secretaries
was $33,410 in 2002.
- Administrative Professionals Day, formerly known as Professional Secretaries
Day, is Wednesday, April 21.
Sources: International Association of Administrative Professionals; U.S.
Department of Labor
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