ASSISTANT TIPS + TRICKS.
By Jake W., Lambent Assistant
At the end of January, Jill Glist (President of Lambent Services) led the second in a series of quarterly meetings designed to bring assistants together to discuss work-related topics. The topic was Tips and Tricks.
At one point, she showed how the office handheld label maker works. She compared it to the KitchenAid mixer that is a common wedding present, which her mother said makes her “feel like a pro” when she uses it. So does the label maker, because it makes files and shelves – anything that can be usefully identified in the home and office – look clear and authoritatively named. For example, if you organize bed linens but don’t label the shelves each goes on, they get put in the wrong place afterwards. And you avoid making more work for yourself and your assistant moving forward.
How is an assistant made? There's no special school, no dedicated major, no extensive training program, not even an online certificate course. At Lambent, we pride ourselves in our ability to cull talented assistants from the city's vast pool of highly-qualified individuals. We look for executive and personal assistants with excellent educational backgrounds, clerical and practical experience, who are diligent and organized, and with an adaptive, proactive approach to their work. Bringing our group together encourages further development. We convene on a topic and each share our unique field experiences in our own dedicated training sessions.
Over the course of our meetings we touched on some key topics from finding good housekeepers, organizing methods, travel planning resources, and computer backup methods. We discussed our favorite online grocers, how to remove stubborn stains, the best kind of hangers and approach to revamping closets, desirable places to donate and consign, and how to track tasks. It was amazing how much enthusiasm built as we shared ideas and personal successes. What are undoubtedly prosaic tasks became fun when we talked about them as a group. And plus it’s what we like to do.
Jill pointed out that you’re supposed to clean your washing machine once a year so it works well. I said how much I loved Amazon, and explained how to minimize shipping costs and the benefits of Amazon Now. We considered the merits of the organizational blockbuster “The Magic of Tidying Up.”
When you place a group of hyper-organized people in a room, the resulting excitement over the practical and logistical is unbelievable. Afterwards, I felt like I could take on anything. I felt like I walked in as one assistant, but went out with the capabilities of 15.