Heather Beckel - Be a Kickass Assistant: How to Get from a Grunt Job to a Great Career

Copyright 2002 by Heather Beckel

All rights reserved.

Warner Books, Inc.,

Hachette Book Group

237 Park Avenue

New York, NY 10017

Visit our website at www.HachetteBookGroup.com.

First eBook Edition: May 2002

ISBN: 978-0-7595-2770-6

Heather is the perfect person to write this book. Her organization, reliability, and efficiency kept my White House office afloat.

George Stephanopoulos

Heather understands the importance of being an assistant, from the small yet crucial details to the sometimes enormous responsibilities associated with the job. This book will provide a huge advantage to anyone starting out.

Vanessa Flindt, former assistant to
Tipper Gore

This unique guidebook should become the bible of every assistant in the workplace today. Heathers straight-talk style of techniques and day-to-day practices provides the professional and personal skills it takes to become a kickass assistant. There can be no higher compliment.... [Her] common sense combined with personal and professional techniques give you all you need to win that title.

Joanne Cea-Eboli, former assistant to
Ralph Lauren

Heather Beckel has captured the urgency and professionalism of the White House and made the lessons learned there applicable for everyone from the corner office to the home office.... Filled with keen insight, practical advicce, and humorous anecdotes.

Stephen Goodin, former aide to
President Clinton

In memory of my father,

Edwin Reid Beckel

First and foremost, I want to thank George Stephanopoulos for giving me what is still the coolest job Ive ever had. He has never failed to stand by me and offer his help both as a boss and as a friend. George set a high standard for me when I was young and I continue to strive to reach his level of excellence.

Thank you to Wendy Smith for conceiving that such a book was needed and encouraging me to write it. Thank you to my agent, Margaret McBride, and her wonderful staff, particularly Sangeeta Mehta and Kris Wallace. Thank you to my editor, Molly Chehak, who is really good at her job and who made this book much better.

Thank you to my mother for her continued support and friendship, without which I never could have volunteered on the Clinton Campaign in 1991, or written this book in 2001. Thank you to Jason Guntert, who always tells me that everythings going to be okay, and I believe him. Thank you to my good friend, Roberto Rojas, for being such a great manager and allowing me to leave my restaurant in his capable hands to write this book. Thank you also to: Lisa Carlson, Virginia Cox, Dennis Harmon, Bartley Johnstone, Emily Lenzner, Calvin Mitchell, Nina Plank, Anne Reingold, Jill Savitt, and Martha Swiller for their friendship, love, and support, and for all the ideas and information they offered.

Finally, I want to thank my brother, Jeff Beckel, who was unbelievably generous with his time and love. He was this books first editor, and never failed to give me whatever I needed in encouragement, ideas, stories, and even computer tech support.

The Best Cup
of Coffee Theyll
Ever Taste

This book is for anyone who has found their way to the city of his or her choice and into the industry of their dreams. Once you get there, youll probably find that your first job will be as the assistant to an executive. Unfortunately, youll find that what you learned in college isnt much use and the company you work for doesnt offer a training program in how to be a kickass assistant. If you are smart and ambitious and want to excel at your new job as an assistant, then this book is for you.

Why Be an Assistant?

Being an assistant is a great first job. It helps to be in a good company and to have a good boss. But even without these advantages, if you work very hard, youll learn a lot and develop a strong foundation for your future career. The skills necessary to be a good assistant will serve you throughout your professional career: organization, diplomacy, problem solving, prioritizing, time management, and communication. Many of these skills are exactly what is needed for certain jobs; for example, entry-level public relations jobs are no more than coordination and administrative work. As an assistant, youll have the opportunity to:

Impress senior-level executives at your own and other companies

Learn what it takes to become an executive

Learn how the company works

As an assistant to an executive youll have access to other executives that you wouldnt have in another entry-level position because theyll be dealing with you to get to your boss. Theyll know who you are, and youll have a chance to impress them with your performance. Youll be an apprentice to your boss in that youll learn what it takes to be an executive. You can learn how he does his job, and judge what he does that you admire and what youd do differently. Youll have more of a chance to learn about the overall goals of the company than youd have in another junior-level position from which youd have a very narrow view of the company. Youll learn about the different departments within your company and about different companies within your industry, and through this youll gain a greater understanding of your own career goals. As long as your chosen industry is not in one of the professional fields (law, medicine, engineering), which require a specific college degree, a position as an assistant can be a stepping stone, and with a little fair play from your boss and a lot of hard work from you, your boss will help you move on to the next job of your choice. Another reason to learn to be a great assistant is that at your next job, youll most likely have to be your own assistantand youll want to be a good one. Youll answer your own phone and mail, and youll keep your own schedule. And when you do get to hire your own assistant, chances are youll have to train him to be a great assistant.

Why Read This Book?

The goal of this book is to teach you how to be a great assistant. Get a pen and make notes in this book because it is designed to be a tool. There are specific instructions on how to do everything necessary to succeed, from getting the most out of your first day to your final day of departure from the job. Ill walk you through communicating with your boss and organizing his time; Ill teach you how to take the job to the next level, which will make you indispensable; and Ill tell you how to get through all of the dull but necessary work. Ill teach you everything you needeverything except how to work very hard. Im writing this assuming that youre ambitious and that you either want to use this first job as a springboard to your next great opportunity or that you want to build a career as a corporate executive assistant. Either way, working very hard is a prerequisite for success. If youre not interested in getting in early and staying late, or if you took a job as an assistant because you thought you could talk to your friends on the phone and surf the net all dayforget it. Every great assistant works as hard or harderthan anyone else in the company. The working world is very competitive, and if youre in an enviable job, in a prestigious industry, in a major city, there will be plenty of young people just like you who want your job. When people talk about the drive and ambition needed to succeed, theyre talking about a willingness to give up everything else in their life for their job, making work their number-one priority. This means getting in early, staying late, working on weekends, and always being willing to give up your plans in the evening to stay at work when necessary. The good news is that if youre willing to work this hard, youll succeed because most employees at a company or organization are very mediocre. Most people dont work hard and arent smart about what theyre doing. Most people are too lazy to read this book and learn how to be great at their job.