My current position and company

Whoops. I actually meant to update this a lot sooner than now, but life got in the way. My bad.

Ok. So my current position is technically as an Executive Assistant. My boss is the Executive VP of Operations, and basically second in command at a smallish manufacturing company. I just had my 4 year anniversary here back in May. This is my first experience working for a small to medium size company, after working for large corporations in my previous two positions. This is also my first experience working as an admin. I'd done some admin functions in my former positions, but I'd never been someone's assistant before, and I'd never done exclusively admin work before. But like I said in my last post, it was 2010 when I was laid off, the job market was in the toilet, I was desperate for a job, and this was the only offer on the table. So I took what I could get.

There are probably some perks to working for a smaller company. I'm sure it depends on the company. But frankly working at this company offers very little perks for someone in a position like mine. But I'll start with the good before getting into the bad.

My boss is pretty easy to work for. He's very even-keeled, not crazy like some bosses out there. He is not a micro manager at all, which I sincerely appreciate. He is also very understanding when it comes to having sick child or any other family issues that might take me out of the office. That is huge for me too, since my former supervisor was completely unsympathetic about that. He is also not really a stickler about going over my allotted vacation and sick days. For example, my parents wanted to do a big family vacation to Puerto Rico to celebrate my mom's 60th birthday. I didn't have enough vacation days to cover the trip. So he allowed me to work through lunch, come in and stay late to "make up" the time. Not all companies and/or bosses would do something like that, so that was really nice. When I was hired, I was hired at making almost my base salary at my last job, so that was good news for our bills. I was given a modest raise after my first year, and I have also been given small annual bonuses the first 3 years I worked for the company. All good stuff, no question.

Now for the not-so-great parts about working for this company and in this position. The president of the company is not so great to work for. He is very cheap when it comes to a lot of things, and he and my boss don't see a lot of value in administrative type positions. I've heard both of them refer to those positions as "overhead" more than once. Admin roles, customer service reps, corporate accounting/payroll/benefits, etc are seen as "non-contributing" meaning we don't bring in direct revenue like a sales rep for example. Because of this view, we are paid pretty low, and with the exception of my small raise I got after my first year here, I have not been given any sort of merit raise or cost of living increase. The attitude upper management has is that we should be "grateful" for what we get and that we don't have to make the trek into Atlanta in traffic to work (side note: having done the shitty commute into Atlanta previously, I am grateful that I don't have to do it now. But I don't think the company's location (which I obviously had no control over) should be in lieu of a pay raise).

While the president cheaps out when it comes to pay for the lower-level staff, money seems to be no object for the revenue-generating positions like sales. I have worked directly with sales reps my whole career, and I will say that this company is by far the most generous I've seen when it comes to sales reps compensation and perks. They are given an extremely generous base salary (double to any I have seen before in my former positions), plus a quarterly commission. They are also allowed to work from home, given a company lap top, home office equipment (including having their internet paid for), company iPhone, company car with fuel card, and are not only allowed but expected to take clients out golfing, to concerts, sporting events, etc. One rep took his client (who's based in GA) out to Denver for a Broncos playoff game, had front row seats on the 50 yard line, and they were put up in a 5 star hotel and had expensive meals and alcohol, all paid for by our company. Must be nice.

Remember how I said I got an annual bonus? I got one years 1-3 I worked here. They ranged in amount, but I had no direct control over how much I got or even the potential I could earn. They were all subjective, supposedly based on how well the company did financially that year. But really, it was based on how much the president thought each individual should get. There are also positions in the company who didn't receive bonuses and never had. There is no standard here for anything, and every decision seems to be based on someone's mood that particular day. No one got bonuses this year, allegedly due to the company's poor performance, but in reality, the president made a lot of really large, expensive purchases (including buying another company and a ton of really expensive equipment), so because of those decisions (which again I had no say in), I am being penalized. No matter how hard you work, how many hours you put in, how much crap you have to deal with, you are not rewarded based on merit. I have a big problem with that, and after coming to that realization, it's really affected my attitude and my desire to do much above the bare minimum. What is the point? You can do a lot of work or a little bit and get paid the same amount.

If you work in a non-revenue generating role and are a woman, such as myself, you can forget about moving up anywhere in the company. First of all, there is nowhere to go. Second of all, once you are hired into an admin type role, that is all you are seen as, and the upper management can't fathom you doing anything else. Women at this company are seen as nothing more than secretaries, taking care of the men, and the "men do the real, important" work. It's really shocking how old school it is. If they could work in the Mad Men era, they'd be happy as clams. About 2 years ago, I went to my boss and told him that the lack of an HR person at the company was a little concerning, especially because there was no one on our staff that had really any knowledge of employment laws. I saw it as a lawsuit waiting to happen (and the fact that this company has not been sued is astonishing in itself). I offered to take a 2 month human resources course offered through UGA that met on Saturdays, if the company would pay for it. That way we would have someone that would be experienced somewhat in HR on staff to help protect the company. It made sense that I would be this person, because I was already handling a lot of HR stuff as a part of my job. They refused to pay for the course (which was only like $1,500). That experience pretty much put the writing on the wall for me, that my current position was the only position I was going to have here, and that human resources is not important enough to them to invest in.

Now, on to my actual job. Since I had never been an Executive Assistant before, I wasn't exactly sure what I would be doing when I got hired. I had a vague idea, that I'd be handing travel arrangements, scheduling meetings, etc. But really what my role has become is grunt work admin stuff. Stuff that no one else wants to do, mind numbing data entry and formatting, working around our pitiful software system and pulling data out and making it look pretty. My role in the last year has evolved into babysitting the office managers in the various plants we have all over the country, with the main part being that they are entering correct pricing on their orders. I have also been delegated as the "department admin" for the sales directors. One sales director treats me like her own personal admin, making me do super menial tasks like making labels for folders. It is complete drudgery. I am not creating anything, I am not improving anything, I'm not really helping anyone or making much of a difference at this company or in the world. It has become beyond defeating. I don't feel accomplished at the end of the day, and really if I up and left the company tomorrow, I doubt anyone would really miss anything that I do. I am grateful to have a job, don't get me wrong. We need my salary to stay afloat. But most days my brain feels like it will come seeping out of my ears due to lack of use.

I have been trying for the last 3 years to find another more stimulating, rewarding job, but honestly when you work as an EA or Admin Assistant, you are really pigeon-holed in that role for most people. I've tried branching out into HR, recruiting, staffing, working for a college/university, working in a doctor/dentist/etc office among other things, but really I believe when HR people or HR software see that "executive assistant" job title on my resume, I'm instantly dismissed as unqualified for anything beyond an admin. Granted, the job market in this area is not great. Even when the jobs were plentiful, this is a blue collar area, so the majority of jobs out here are blue collar jobs. I can't tell you how many HVAC technician jobs or tractor trailer long haul driver positions I have come across in this area. Sure, there are other admin type positions out here, but I'd be making a lateral move, and trading one crappy job for another. Plus I have been trying to get away from any other admin type roles to prevent myself from being further pigeon holed.

I will wrap this up now, since I've rambled on enough for one post. My next post will focus on my exit strategy from this company, and my long term career goals/ambitions. Stay tuned!

Let's start at the beginning, shall we?

Hi, my name is Sandy, I am in my mid-30's, and having a complete mid-life career crisis.

But let's back up a little bit. I am also happily married (8 years this year) to my wonderful husband Scott. I am a mom to a beautiful almost-5 year old little girl named Lenzi. We have 2 pets, a yellow lab named Duke and a black and white "tuxedo" cat we recently adopted who's name keeps changing, thanks to Lenzi. I think the most recent name Lenzi decided on was Lila, so we'll go with that.

I have a Bachelor's degree in English Literature, so that pretty much requires me to like to read (which unfortunately I have not done much of lately). I also enjoy listening to live music, hanging out with my sisters Becky and Ginger and my best friend in the world, Tara. I do not get to spend as much time with those awesome people as I'd like to, mostly due to crazy schedules and the fact that Becky lives out of state, and Tara and I live on complete opposite sides of Atlanta. Boo.

Speaking of where I live, I live in a town called Social Circle, GA. Yes, that is the real-life name of it. And it's pretty much exactly like it sounds. Tiny. Backwood. Far, far away from Atlanta (both physically and socially). My husband Scott grew up in a nearby town, and wanted to stay on the east side of Atlanta. I was a young and impressionable 27 year old when we bought our house, so I was easily talked into it, even though it's a good 60 miles from my parents' house in Atlanta. Hindsight being 20/20, I really wish we hadn't bought our house, especially where we did. We have to drive to the next town (or three) over to do most everything: work, grocery shop, have dinner in a restaurant, etc. It is also just so blasted far from Atlanta which is annoying. We also naively bought our house at the end of 2006, right at the height of the real estate bubble, so the chances are really good that if we do decide to sell (and some sucker, er, I mean buyer decides to buy it), we will probably never get what we paid for it. So that's another downer. But you know, live and learn, right?

Ok. So there's my background in a nutshell. Getting back to why I am having a mid-life career crisis at 34 years old.

I graduated from college at 25 (I know, just call me Tommy Boy). I took the "scenic" way through college, which included an academic suspension after my first semester. My lengthy college career also included transferring schools 3 times and changing my major at least 6 times. I was bouncing aimlessly around, until I hit 23 and all my friends from high school were graduating and getting real jobs. It was only then that I buckled down and stayed with English as a major (not really having a clue what I would do with it after graduation), and hammered out my last two years. I was finally done and vowed I would never step foot in another university EVER again. Ha.

Literally the next day after I graduated, I moved in with Scott. I got my first post-college job 2 weeks later. My position was a post-sales client account manager, meaning I was the customer's point of contact related to any issues with their account. I actually liked the job pretty well, but it was strictly entry-level and I knew I couldn't stay there long term. I also had a hellish commute in Atlanta traffic, and I also knew I couldn't do that forever either. Scott and I married after I'd been with the company for almost a year. With the wedding out of the way, I found a similar job much closer to home. I worked there for almost 4 years until I was laid off. They closed our facility down and moved it out of state. This was in 2010 when the economy and job market were in the toilet, so I was really freaking out. I was applying to 60+ jobs a day, jobs that ranged from admin assistants to newspaper reporters. Basically I applied to anything I thought I could do, experience or not. I was that desperate. Lenzi was about 10 months old at the time, and we COULD NOT make it on just Scott's salary. I'd had one interview with one company, but had heard nothing back by my last day, so I was really panicking.

Finally I was offered a job at my current company as an Executive Assistant to the VP of Operations. It's a manufacturing company, and I swear it was a total act of God that I got the position, considering I had zero experience as an EA or in manufacturing. Divine intervention for sure. I landed the job with one week of severance pay remaining, so literally no money was lost. Talk about perfect timing.

So there you have it. The background on me and the path that got me where I am now. Stay tuned for the next post about my job and company!