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5 Key Things You Need to Do When Laid Off

Many of my friends are currently out of work and some are starting completely new careers. images-1As a personal assistant who freelances, I’m always “between jobs.” It doesn’t matter if you’re a personal assistant or a CEO, these quick tips are useful to anyone who is in unemployed.

1)    Revamp your resume—do so professionally. Make sure it is current with the styles others in your industry are doing. Ask the best headhunter in your industry for a referral on a resume professional. It’s worth the investment.

2)    Let people know you are looking for work. While you are fresh in the minds of those you had been working with currently, ask them if they know of anything you can follow up on. Make it easy for them to pitch you by telling them what you are looking for. Give them your resume once it’s redone or at the very least, a bullet pointed list of your strong points. If they have to think too hard about how they can help you, it won’t happen.

3)    Analyze your bills and cut out all frills. I don’t care how much money you have saved, cut your bills now (not later). Goodbye 200 premium cable channels, 2,000 minute cell phone plan, Starbucks venti lattes and impulse shopping. You don’t know how long you will be unemployed so start saving now.

4)    Become a quick learner of the unemployment department’s system. Find out what benefits you are entitled (or not) with unemployment and apply. This info is crucial to knowing immediately what you can be expecting financially so you can make a budget and begin making payment arrangements with utilities if necessary.

http://www.edd.ca.gov

5)    Make it a job to look for a job. Set aside scheduled time daily to follow up and do what you need to do to find work.  Meet with friends and others on their lunch hours to catch up and stay connected.  Offer them suggestions on how you can help them, for free if need be, with a project. You’ve got the time and they will think of you first when something comes up. Be a solution to their problems and they will appreciate you for it. And network with new friends. Click here to find out what Lindsay Olsen’s blog on how to find groups in your area.

http://money.usnews.com/money/blogs/outside-voices-careers/2013/04/25/finding-a-job-through-networking-groups

Men are notorious for having their self-esteem tied to what they do. Remember-you are not your job. A job is what you do for a living. You are no less important because you are unemployed. And remember, this is temporary.

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5 Things I Wish I Had Done Earlier When I Started as a Personal Assistant

  1. I wish I didn’t think I had to have all the answers.
    Matt Groening
    Matt Groening-Simpson’s creator

    It’s okay to say, “I don’t know but I’ll find out,” and do – fast.

  1. I wish I didn’t take people at face value because sometimes they have agendas that may not include you, or they may use you to make themselves look better. Listen to their words, but watch their actions. It’s good to know the people you are working for. Yes, your employer may be a liar but they will soon know they can’t BS you. You’ve got to work together.
  1. I wish I had taken over work sooner. Sitting back and waiting to be invited for an employer to delegate a task makes us both frustrated. Just jump in and tackle what needs to be done. Even if I overstepped the boundaries, my enthusiasm was usually understood and appreciated.
  1. I wish I had requested help earlier for a second assistant or runner. I cannot and did not need to do it all. It is not a sign of weakness to need help. Sometimes the workload has grown exponentially. Working overtime and weekends is not the answer.
  1. I wish I didn’t think I always had to pretend that my employer or their significant other told me something they didn’t. Reiterate the conversation you remember having and politely correct them. Soon the offender will understand you either have a very good memory or take very good notes. Often it’s a tactic they use with others but again, they will learn it doesn’t work with you and you cannot be the scapegoat.

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Tools for the Personal Assistant

Whenever I picture other personal assistants, I see someone on the go, focused, and handling multiple chores at one time and switching into those roles without missing a beat. I often thought it would be funny to have a shelf in my office with different hats on the shelf. As the next request came up, I would say, “Hold on,” take off one hat and put on the next, “okay, speak,” and on and on it would go as I systematically put on five or more hats within a three-minute conversation. When you’re the go-to person, you are handling such a variety of situations in one household, you could easily wear ten hats or more in one hour or one day: accountant, secretary, data processor, pharmacist, construction manager, shopper, employer, staff manager, sales manager, publicist, manager, psychiatrist, nanny, pet sitter, organizer, party planner…well, you get the picture.

On crazy busy days here’s the hat I wear the most.

And here are the tools I must always have on hand to do my job effectively:

Paper and pen
Cell phone (preferably an android type)
Calendar
Laptop computer
A good bottle of wine
A good night’s sleep
A good man
(okay, you can omit the last two…maybe)

There are just some of the organizational systems and forms I have developed which are my lifelines:

Employer information list system
Weekly/Monthly/Annual house maintenance system
Filing system (business and personal)
Medical insurance billing system
Staff scheduling/hiring/firing system
Petty cash system
Accounting / bill pay system
Order taking, fulfillment and shipping system
Call sheets and end-of-day update forms
On-going grocery lists
Hot Sheet of important telephone numbers
Holiday Gift/Card Lists
Monthly Birthday Lists
Legal forms

Clearly the job of personal assistant is one that encompasses many and you’d be smart to sneak some of your employers Xanax pills every once in a while! (Just kidding, I don’t know anyone who takes that???) This is the one constant with every employer I’ve ever had-not the Xanax but wearing many hats part. With your demonstrated competency the job usually morphs into as many areas that you can handle so remember, at some point to re-assess and request a runner or a 2nd assistant to help with the more routine tasks and allow yourself the tools, systems and forms to help you do it easier. Remember to be humble and know you can’t do it all and still do it well without the help and cooperation of co-workers and systems.

 

 

P.S. Don’t take credit for the help you get.  Support rocks!

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The Hot List

Did I lead you to believe there would be pictures from People Magazine of Halle Barry or Tom Cruise? No, this is so much more useful. It’s about one of the most important lists their assistants prepare for them in their homes and one of the most important aspects of doing your job right–being able to contact the people consistently in your employer’s life. You can prioritize them as those on the “hot list” vs those on the support list. This “hot list” consists of people in their industry who they are working with at that time, close family, close friends, employees and emergency vendors who are constants like the doctor, pharmacy, pool man, swim teacher, gardener, veterinarian, etc. This list is laminated and posted or in a drawer nearby the phones in the house and updated a three of four times a year.

I once had an employer explain to a new employee that it was very important for them to know the “players” in the entertainment industry so they are familiar with who they should “jump” for. It can be embarrassing for you and your employer if you don’t. For the motion picture executive, it would be important to know Steven Spielberg’s development executive’s name when they happen to call. Or the big venture capitalist who is financing your employer’s next big project. Do you see how it would be important to know the “players” in their life?

Along this line, you would want to keep a list of birthdays for the important people in your employers life: usually those who are close family, those your employer are working with on a project, and of course, close friends. Circulate a monthly birthday list in advance so you can have plenty of time to buy gifts and are clear on how personal the card should be and to know in advance the best method to deliver the gift. Once the month is completed, file this list to refer to for next year. Often, seeing what they chose to get them (flowers vs  $500 bottle of wine) helps you make suggestions the following year.  Keeping your lists in an organized fashion helps you so you won’t have to ask twice.  By year three on the job, you won’t have to ask at all. Progression: Year one you have to list the people with a blank next to the name; year two has suggestions based on the prior year; year three has the gift you sent next to the name “I sent — and a card from you.”

So much of the job as an assistant is reading between the lines and being able to assimilate the nuances around making you aware of who is and is not on your employer’s every changing radar. But having key contacts at hand (and on their cell phone) is one of the tools to be efficient/prepared for the both of you.

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The Season of Lists, Lists and More Lists

‘Tis the season my friends for all those constantly updated annual lists to come into play. Frankly, by now you should be at least halfway through the gift buying cycle for everyone on your employer’s gift list, holidays cards should be at the printer, and final lists approved. And if you’re not yet kicked into high gear just wait until Monday! Right after the Thanksgiving holiday is when everyone gets the wake up call that they better get busy.

Back around September all these lists were dusted off, given to the employer for approval and gift decisions. Additions and deletions were made and depending on your employer, you may have made the gift buying suggestions, be the buyer yourself and some of you may have a gift buyer or personal shopper make a presentation and the gifts will be handled by them. (You lucky ducks!)  I used to be personally responsible for 300 personal gifts and another 200 corporate gifts in addition to my regular monthly responsibilities. I hated the holidays. And now, to the utter dismay of my teenage daughter, I can honestly say I loathe the mall, and see shopping in Beverly Hills as a sentence worst than the plague. But I digress.

Here are the lists I keep which I do update throughout the year.

Suggested Additions List

           This is the list we start out with of who has come into my employers life the past year that may go onto any of the lists below. Maybe the past year they were in construction and have a contractor or subcontractor to add, have a new employee, someone in the family has a new baby, or if they are in the movie industry, they have a new movie family depending on which project(s) they are working on at that time.

 Christmas Gift List

This is a database that lists the names, relationships (vendor, family, friend), level of gift designated (small, med, large), card message, method of delivery (local or shipping, hand deliver or runner), what was given the years prior and who is handling the purchase.

Christmas Gift List for the Gift Buyer

The same as above but additions are updated (in red) with the date of the change, has addresses and phone numbers (for deliveries), and the method of delivery is important so they know if they are gift wrapping for shipping or hand delivery, shows the date I want the gifts received, and after the holidays lists the final costs of each gift including delivery (for tax purposes later).

 Christmas Card List (Personal)

This database contains the name, address, relationship and if they will also receive a gift or donation to a charity on the recipient’s behalf. Usually everyone on the Christmas gift list is on one of the holiday card lists. (Note on card lists: if your printer is busy to get to the fancy 4-color card you’re printing, try to get the envelopes printed in advance so you can start addressing. Usually they always have a press running black ink. Back in the day a calligrapher had to have them weeks in advance. Now we label or laser print them but the sooner the better. Stuffing is the easy part.)

 Christmas Card List (Business)

This database contains the name, address, relationship and each will usually receive a gift card inserted in their holiday card letting them know a donation has been made to a charity on their behalf.

Employee Bonus Lists (coordinate getting the checks w/the gifts and cards)

This lists the employee, relationship and amount they will receive as a bonus (at least amount equal to one weeks salary), and what they received years prior.

So you can see, the gift season is ongoing and really begins long before September. For example, the charity has to be picked, charity cards designed and printed, monetary amount designated to donate, photos taken for personal holiday cards, addresses accurate, calls made to find out who is in town and who isn’t, corporate and office gifts that are perishable coordinated for delivery a week before their holiday closure, and we aren’t even talking about the personal gift buying yet!

The most important gifts you will buy will be for your employer’s immediate family and the people your employer works for. I recommend paying attention to the gifts your employer gives for birthdays (the monthly birthday list will be discussed in a later blog) as well as honing a taste for what the individuals close to them like. If you don’t know them personally, they have an assistant who can clue you into if they collect anything, have a favorite artist, author, wine, etc. Successful gift buying is your ability to pay attention to what people like and not what you want to give. (Gift buying blog to come.)

One thing I can recommend now that I have a little distance between myself and being on the exhausting front lines of the season is to enjoy the ambiance. As much as I don’t like Beverly Hills, even I must admit, there is such beautiful scenery and spirit in Beverly Hills and in all the shopping outlets that is not there at any other time of the year–trust me it isn’t! The holiday music is playing, the air is crisp, the retail people seem nicer, and the decorations are bright, sparkling and inviting.  Like everything else in life, stop, take a breath and appreciate it.

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Confidentiality, Confidentiality, Confidentiality…and did I mention Confidentiality?

You know, the quickest thing to get you fired in this business is a breach of your employer’s confidentiality. The quickest thing to get appreciation is keeping your employer’s secrets. Common sense right?

Your job as an assistant to a celebrity draws a lot of attention to you. People are curious and have questions. And there are plenty of magazines willing to pay you for those secrets you keep. Have you ever heard the phrase, “you’ll never work in this town again?”  Well remember it. Not only will your fellow assistants want nothing to do with you if you are a blabbermouth, no employer will ever want you within 5 miles of them.

Remember, all that attention you’re getting is not about you. Be careful who you speak to and especially who you let into your employer’s home. The simple, easy, and truthful response to curious people is, “I cannot discuss my employer. I have confidentiality agreement.” The insatiable media and curious questions will always be there and remember, it is insatiable. So don’t go down that road and you won’t find yourself regretting it.