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Administrative professionals urged to be standard bearers

Published:Friday | April 23, 2010 | 12:00 AM

Christopher Thomas, Gleaner Writer

WESTERN BUREAU:

Administrative professionals are being urged to maintain a standard of professionalism, work beyond their job descriptions, and to take opportunities to further their skills.

This was the call issued by Shernett Robinson, branch manager of The Gleaner's Western Bureau, to the administrative board of the Montego Bay Community College (MBCC) in a keynote presentation held at the school on Monday.

"As standard bearers, you will continue to provide first-class service. You will be professional even when your boss, your colleagues and those with whom you interface test your professionalism," said Robinson, who is also a member of the MBCC board of directors.

"You are not allowed to have a 'worst day' because as the gate-keepers, as the guardians, you always have to present to the world, the professionalism to which you subscribe."

The presentation marked the start of Administrative Professional Week 2010 in Jamaica, held under the theme 'Administrative Professionals: Surviving the Challenges'.

Going the extra mile

The Gleaner executive added that administrative professionals must be prepared to do more than what seems to be necessary, and more than what their job descriptions entail.

"Sometimes, the most qualified person is not the person who stays; it's the person with the best work attitude and work ethic, and that's very important," she stressed. "It boils down to a matter of personality, of professionalism, of flexibility, of someone who's willing to not just be the card-reader, who will just state what is there, and that is all he or she does. You are not just what your job description says. You have to be so much more than that."

MBCC Principal Dr Angela Samuels-Harris added that every member of her administrative staff is an educator, and that they are to be role models to young people.

"Many of our young people are not used to professionals. They have no professionals in their lives, and so you are their role models of professionalism that they will see," she advised. "So, every day, you are teaching by what you do."