Really nice job of providing information to local paper by IAAP Morris County Chapter members:

Direct link:
http://www.dailyrecord.com/business/business5-admin.htm
 

Morris County NJ Daily Record
04/22/04

Morris is fertile job territory for administrative assistants

Abundance of company headquarters creates need for jobs with multiple roles

By Beth Upham, Special to the Daily Record

Administrative assistants bring an incredible range of skills to corporations today.

"We are not your father's secretary," said Elizabeth Loporchio, an administrative assistant for government and legal affairs at T-Mobile USA in Parsippany. "I do everything that most traditional secretaries do and more."

Loporchio reports to three primary bosses as well as supporting the rest of the team.

Her responsibilities include booking travel, planning conferences, researching information on the Internet and keeping up with business trends that are relevant to her team's work.

Loporchio also is president of the Morris County chapter of the International Association of Administrative Professionals. The organization has 600 chapters and more than 40,000 members and affiliates worldwide.

Another IAAP member, Elaine Green, has worked as an administrative assistant for more than 20 years, primarily in the pharmaceutical industry.

Currently at Novartis, Green supports a group of people with doctorates and medical degrees who interact with key opinion leaders.

"My current position is not a typical secretarial position," she said. "However, it is a really interesting role."

Green plans meetings and conferences for the group in addition to coordinating telephone conference calls.

"Putting out fires is a key part of being an administrative assistant," she added.

Lynne Alexander worked for eight years in various administrative positions at Honeywell International before retiring recently.

"At first, I was a secretary in the public relations department," she said. "Then I was a senior secretary for corporate law, next an executive assistant for a vice president of a business unit and then an executive assistant to a vice president of corporate strategy."

While some people use administrative positions to jump into other careers, many choose to stay in the administrative field and move to different positions.

Alexander, for example, liked increasing her responsibilities with each of her new administrative assistant positions at Honeywell.

She values the different skills and business concepts that she acquired in her role.

"The most important thing for a good administrative assistant is to have the ability to work with people," she said. "You must be flexible. Often, administrative assistants are the first people customers meet. We represent the company."

Alexander also believes that technology skills are essential for administrative professionals today.

Not only is she membership chairwoman of the Morris County chapter, she is also the Web master.

"The Web site (www.iaapnjmorris.org) was created last year," Alexander said. "We are really proud of it."

The Morris County chapter of IAAP is the largest in New Jersey with more than 70 members.

"Morris County is a wonderful area for administrative assistants," Alexander said. "There are so many company headquarters here, and there is always a lot of opportunities."

She urges administrative assistants and those contemplating joining the field to consider membership in the IAAP. Benefits include networking, job assistance, news, publications, conferences and more.

Recently, designations requiring extensive testing and applicable toward college credit have been installed with two certificate programs: Certified Professional Secretary and Certified Administrative Professional.

Currently, only 1,800 administrative assistants have the CAP designation.

"The IAAP is a global corporation," Green said. "I love its magazine. I also enjoy meeting other administrative professionals from around the world."

Loporchio said, "I fell into this administrative assistant role 20 years ago," when she was a receptionist. "I love the dynamic aspect of this kind of position, one that requires you to think on your feet."

SIDEBAR
Week of recognition
This is Administrative Professionals Week. It has been observed annually since 1952.

For information, call the International Association of Administrative Professionals at (816) 891-6600 or go online to www.iaap-hq.org.
Related Items:
International Association of Administrative Professionals

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