The Connected, Valued and Future-Ready Admin with Trinity James and Alicia Fairclough

Uh, well, for me, the word that really comes to mind is expanding, and the reason I say that is because, like I, I started my own career in admin.

Okay.

And the profession that I entered then looks very different to the one that we are working in today.

Like admin professionals now, like they're managing projects, they're responsible for implementing tech through the entire organization.

Influencing culture is another one that has just absolutely really expanded in scope.

It's so much more than just protecting exec capacity right now.

So I think that the work has really expanded faster than the titles, and perhaps even the perceptions-

Yep

... of what the role is.

Absolutely.

I would agree absolutely with what Trinity said, expansion, and so my word following that would be misunderstood.

I think we're having a little bit of an identity crisis.

I think we're having our own identity crisis.

I think the market and the employers are not really understanding what to do with us at the moment because there's been so much change and there's been so much expansion, and I- Everything is happening so quickly, there's a lot of confusion and there's a lot of misunderstanding about where we fit, and I'm optimistic about it.

I think we'll find our place, and I think employers will figure out where we fit.

And I actually think executive support, I genuinely believe it's becoming more valuable than ever, and I have loads of reasons why I believe that.

But I think right now I do, that we have a little bit of an identity crisis at the moment.

[laughs]

Yeah, I agree.

That's a great...

Exactly

But I also agree that this probably happened when they morphed from secretaries into admin professionals.

People were panicking, you know, "What is the fax machine gonna mean for the office? What is word processing going to mean for the office?" When email came in, there were headlines saying that executives wouldn't need assistants because everyone could just instantly send a message.

You didn't need letterhead and typewriters and all of that.

All email did was increase the influx of information, and so it wasn't about managing the correspondence, it was about managing all of it.

Uh, well, for me, the word that really comes to mind is expanding, and the reason I say that is because, like I, I started my own career in admin.

Okay.

And the profession that I entered then looks very different to the one that we are working in today.

Like admin professionals now, like they're managing projects, they're responsible for implementing tech through the entire organization.

Influencing culture is another one that has just absolutely really expanded in scope.

It's so much more than just protecting exec capacity right now.

So I think that the work has really expanded faster than the titles, and perhaps even the perceptions-

Yep

... of what the role is.

Absolutely.

I would agree absolutely with what Trinity said, expansion, and so my word following that would be misunderstood.

I think we're having a little bit of an identity crisis.

I think we're having our own identity crisis.

I think the market and the employers are not really understanding what to do with us at the moment because there's been so much change and there's been so much expansion, and I- Everything is happening so quickly, there's a lot of confusion and there's a lot of misunderstanding about where we fit, and I'm optimistic about it.

I think we'll find our place, and I think employers will figure out where we fit.

And I actually think executive support, I genuinely believe it's becoming more valuable than ever, and I have loads of reasons why I believe that.

But I think right now I do, that we have a little bit of an identity crisis at the moment.

[laughs]

Yeah, I agree.

That's a great...

Exactly

But I also agree that this probably happened when they morphed from secretaries into admin professionals.

People were panicking, you know, "What is the fax machine gonna mean for the office? What is word processing going to mean for the office?" When email came in, there were headlines saying that executives wouldn't need assistants because everyone could just instantly send a message.

You didn't need letterhead and typewriters and all of that.

All email did was increase the influx of information, and so it wasn't about managing the correspondence, it was about managing all of it.