My métier

Métier in French means profession. I'm not sure there is a direct translation of métier in spanish or english only to say that it's your profession, what you're good at or what you supposedly graduated from school to do in life.

Anyway, my métier is being an executive assistant. Executive being the operative word. To execute.

How I got there is a long and boring story (I'll save it for a future post when my inspiration is at level zero) but the fact is I'm here and I love what I do regardless the title ("secre-gata" my dad calls it).

A friend of ours recently said that my métier was all about sitting on my butt all day answering phones and making coffee and that it didn't seem very interesting or even difficult (ok, in her defense, I'd just before accused her métier (public kindergarden teacher in France) of being a lazy bunch of burócratas, on vacation 70% of the year and on strike the other 30%, working 4 days a week (wednesdays are off in France) from 8 to 2pm and still complaining of working long hours... so I guess I deserved her remark) and that got me thinking : is my job really as insignificant and so-easy-an-8-year-old-could-do it as it seems to others ?

I work for one of France's banks (which I won't name so no one can accuse me of plugging ;)). I am the executive assistant of the Global Head of the A department and the COO of this same department. I also assist the Head of Products and in a lesser degree other heads of section.... you could build a whole medusa with all those heads!

This means that on a daily basis I juggle 8 different agendas and 3 main Inbox email address (not counting my own). I am also the person who's probably going to pick up the phone when you call any of the people mentioned above (again, not counting my own) since all their lines are transferred to one of my phone lines. On a daily basis I read (more like scan) over 200 emails, file them or print them out for follow-up depending on the subject and make sure The Heads don't overlook any important deadline or request (which means that I have to stay up to date and informed of all relevant projects, issues, meetings, agreements, etc). I am also the contact person for any employee in this department when they have an issue that needs to be taken up with The Heads....

... and then I have my own responsibilities : I must make sure that my files are in order, my bills payed up, my deliveries delivered, my reporting reported and updated, and that I have replied to all correspondence that has been addressed to me.

... so yeah... I do a lot of sitting on my butt.

But then again, I also do a lot of shouting on the phone, running in the halls, negotiating by email, hoping in and out of elevators, popping in and out offices and am basically caught smack in the middle of the day to day BAU (Business as Usual in bank lingo).

... but that does mean that my work actually contributes something? I mean teaching children how to read must be high up on the "honorable professions" list, right?

Let's take this past week as an example :

Three of The Heads are heading off to Asia next week. For them that means making a simple request : "Fned, prep up the Agenda". For me that means a liiiiiiiiiittle bit more:

• Daily phone calls with the travel agency to check that all three are checked in, confirmed and seated next to each other on each of the 6 different flights they are going to be taking; confirm that no one is on waiting list on any of these flights, that no one has been upgraded or downgraded (if the other two haven't) and make sure that all of them are booked in hotels at a relatively close distance from their meetings (G*d bless Google Maps!)
• Checking that all three Heads have their proper traveling paperwork in order (passport, visa, pictures, etc) and in the case they don't, getting it in order (on the good side, I now know you need a visa if your traveling to India, you don't if you're going to Singapore and you'll need a special permit if you're going to Hong Kong but not the rest of China!)
• Calling all our correspondent offices in the cities they will be visiting (and thus dealing with a pesty lil' thing called 7h time difference) to make sure that meetings can be scheduled and confirmed, meeting rooms can be booked, presentations/contracts and paperwork have been sent beforehand and travel distances are considered in all planning.
• The roadtrip schedule is continuously updated and ready to print with all relevant information that might be needed (time and place of meetings, name and positions of people that will be met, addresses and phone numbers of hotels that have been booked, telephone and emails of all contacts abroad, maps and itineraries of meetings, time differences with Paris at each city, useful numbers in case of emergency, etc.
• Having it all in double -- for the madames.

Two of the mini Heads have decided now is a good time to organize informative workshops/training on an important subject concerning our sector. These workshops are to be attended by all the employees. For the Heads that means a simple request : "Fned, can you make sure that training is concluded before December 10th?". For me that means a liiiiiiittle bit more :

• Calling and negotiating a proper date with the person who will be giving the training (when does his agenda allow a 2 hour workshop in our department? Does this date work for us (is it a wednesday? is it a strike day? is it too early? is it too late?))
• Making sure we have a big enough meeting room for that much people (we don't) and that it's available (it isn't) and that it can be emptied of all tables and filled with only chairs so that groups of 50 can attend the workshop
• Sending out invitations to 200 employees in groups to attend one of the 4 different dates that this workshop will be provided and making sure that to every employee that confirms attendance, there is a back up that will cover for him.
• Sending out requests to have a computer and projector hooked up for each workshop, that presentations are printed and distributed to each attendee and that all attendees confirm their participation (and harass those that don't).

Our Human Resources department considers now is a proper time for all Heads to send in their yearly evaluations for their teams. To The Heads that means a simple request : "Fned, can you please set up the one-on-one meetings with each team member for their appraisal? ". For me, that means a liiiiiiiiiiiiitle bit more :

• Calling each team member and negotiating a 1.30 hour time slot in their Manager's already tight as a buckle agenda.
• Sending out confirmation of date and time for each meeting....
• .... only to send an email a couple of days later to move the meeting due to last minute priorities
• Preparing separate files for each team member which includes last year's appraisal and this year's blanc template to fill in
• Typing out all written comments graffitied on the blank template during the interview
• Making sure all evaluations are properly filled in, signed, dated, scanned and sent to HR cc manager and employee and filed, before deadline.

And then of course, there is still the day-to-day grind....

So now that I think about it, I may do a lot of sitting around on my butt..... but hey, I also do a lot of juggling, cartwheeling, standing on my hands and bending backwards so people can be on their way to Asia, or receive important training or get evaluated so I think my job is just as important and just as physically exhausting as teaching a bunch of 3 year olds how to count to 10 ....

Sorry to all you teachers out there and excuse my b*tching... but it's Friday, and I'm tired, and I've had a pretty tough week!

Peace out,
Fned.