Richmond VA Times-Dispatch

4/21/04

Circ: 217,690

Administrative appreciation

Many office professionals, recognized today, must adapt skills to survive

BY CHIP JONES

TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER

Apr 21, 2004

Angie Cahoon started working for Estes Express Lines seven years ago as a switchboard operator, receptionist and typist. A transfer from a freight terminal to the Richmond trucking company's headquarters four years ago shifted her career track.

After starting at the headquarters switchboard, she was promoted to administrative assistant "and was given more and more responsibility," Cahoon said.

Today, as "project leader/specialty," Cahoon helps develop promotional gifts for Estes' customers.

She's one of an estimated 4.1 million office workers who are being recognized all week, but especially today on Administrative Professionals Day.

The commemoration was started in 1952 by the International Association of Administrative Professionals in Kansas City, Mo.

Originally called National Secretaries Week, it was renamed four years ago to cover all office professionals.

Many are known simply as "admins," said Sally Ferrell, an officer in the Old Dominion chapter of the association.

Office pros, Ferrell noted, "know what's happening, from top to bottom" of most organizations. She is business supervisor for Henrico County's Department of Public Works.

Ferrell said her association strives to help its 101 local members improve their personal and professional skills.

In an age of corporate and government job cuts, one of the underlying messages of this year's observance is that change is a survival skill.

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Many administrative professionals who master computer and technology skills are the ones who have survived" downsizings, said Rick Stroud, spokesman for the international association.

Yet outdated images of secretaries remain, he said. "The public perception has lagged behind the reality" of today's high-tech office jobs.

Typing and filing skills are still needed, Stroud said, but many employers look for motivated people willing to take on "advanced roles," such as project management.

A spot check of local companies and public agencies showed typical activities were planned for today - lunch, flowers, gifts.

Officials at Philip Morris USA, Dominion Virginia Power and DuPont said they leave it up to department heads, with no corporate wide events.

The sponsoring group, whose membership is mostly female, pushes professionalism over calorie intake.

"We're trying to reposition the observance to go beyond candy and gifts, and make it more of a professional development opportunity," Stroud said.

Instead of gifts, the group is asking employers to consider paying for professional seminars or underwriting continuing-education programs.

Not everyone is a fan of this working holiday.

"As long as I've been working, I try to tell them to pretend it doesn't exist," said one front-office professional at a Fortune 500 company in Richmond.

"It just seems kind of silly to single one group out," said the woman, who asked not to be named. Patricia Garland, vice president of corporate communications at Estes, said she calls this "team week."

Though she ordered a large basket of food for her staff of 16, Garland said one day isn't enough to show her appreciation.

She said she regularly takes them out to breakfast and lunch.

Of Cahoon's journey from secretary to project leader, Garland said, "She knows how I think and, in most cases, can handle a situation without me getting involved. She outgrew her old role."

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