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The Definitive Personal Assistant and Secretarial Handbook: A Best Practice Guide for All Secretaries, PAs, Office Managers and Executive Assistants
The Definitive Personal Assistant and Secretarial Handbook is the ultimate guide for all administrative professionals, PAs, secretaries and executive assistants. Written by an award-winning personal assistant, it deals with various aspects of these administrative roles and the skills required by them, relationship management, communication, confidence, the secrets of body language, listening and questioning skills, coping with pressure and stress, dealing with difficult people, time management and personal organization.
- GenresReferenceNonfiction
256 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2009
17 people are currently reading
163 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
January 20, 2015
This was the creepiest book ever. Too much mind-reading, enabling, and manipulation. I've been a PA for more than 20 years, and... no. I'm not going to pretend to be interested in sports so I can find out more about what makes my sports-loving boss tick. I'm not going to purposely mirror body language to gain a coworker's trust. Too creepy for me.
August 25, 2014
I received this ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Honestly, I skimmed this one because I knew most of the information in it already. I think of most of it as common sense stuff, but I did learn new things as well. The bolded headings made it very easy to skim through what I already knew or was already comfortable with. They also made me pause and read more thoroughly those things I was unsure of. Overall, I think this book would be extremely beneficial for anyone wanting to get started as a personal assistant or administrative assistant (as 'secretary' is no longer used in the US). It would also be beneficial for anyone just starting their first job. While it's obviously specific for personal assistants and secretaries, most of the information is extremely applicable to anyone working in a professional setting.
It IS dry and 'clinical', but I expected nothing less from a book of this nature...
Honestly, I skimmed this one because I knew most of the information in it already. I think of most of it as common sense stuff, but I did learn new things as well. The bolded headings made it very easy to skim through what I already knew or was already comfortable with. They also made me pause and read more thoroughly those things I was unsure of. Overall, I think this book would be extremely beneficial for anyone wanting to get started as a personal assistant or administrative assistant (as 'secretary' is no longer used in the US). It would also be beneficial for anyone just starting their first job. While it's obviously specific for personal assistants and secretaries, most of the information is extremely applicable to anyone working in a professional setting.
It IS dry and 'clinical', but I expected nothing less from a book of this nature...
June 15, 2014
Coming from a 25 year career as an executive assistant, I can say with some degree of experience that this handbook by Sue France will be very useful to new assistants everywhere. With tips on time management, communication skills, ergonomics, and everything in between, The Definitive Personal Assistant & Secretarial Handbook is makes for a handy reference book. I recommend it.
September 26, 2010
A vital guide for everyone working in a senior admin role. Highly recommended!!!!!
December 3, 2019
Good book if you know very little about the administrative function and role of the Personal Assistant. However if you have been in role for sometime, you won't learn anything new from this book. It will give you a comprehensive overview and reinforce what you probably already know.
September 17, 2015
Unfortunately this book’s title suggests that it may be overlooked by many, assuming instead that it is just a guide to word processing, answering the telephone and putting up with a challenging boss. Ignore it at your own risk - it is a lot more than that! It can be truly a definitive guide for a personal assistant or secretary and many others!
When you glance at the chapter headings, you straight away get an idea about its potential and depth: using neuroscience to maximise your brain for excellence, relationship management, compassionate communication, confidence, self-belief and goal setting, ergonomics, perfect presentations and the list goes on. Oh, and a “chapter to share with your boss” for good measure too.
As you read it, you soon discover that it is an excellent introduction to many fascinating subjects that many secretaries and personal assistants should know about. It is quite possible that they already know a fair bit of this stuff too, partially through trial and error, experience and perhaps latter-day education and continuing professional development programmes. Yet it is a credible, powerful compendium.
There is a lot more to being a secretary than collecting dry cleaning and fetching coffee; in this reviewer’s experience the position is one of the key roles in an organisation, knowing everything that is going on. It is not unknown for the same person to be better informed than the executive they serve! As well as top-rate office and administrative skills being necessary, knowing how to be a diplomat, nursemaid, peacekeeper and detective can help.
This is by no means a dumbed-down book. Clearly it is abridged. You can only get a taster to many subjects, such as neuroscience (that can easily fill an entire bookshelf and our understanding of this subject is ever changing). The information served up is tailor-made towards the 160-or-so different job titles the author has estimated could benefit from this book (and that probably is an understatement, as the skilled, alert executive might be advised to sneak into their assistant’s office and borrow the book if they can’t bring themselves to order it for themselves.
It could equally be described as a definitive guide for everybody in business as it does have a wide-reaching appeal. It is what you let it be. It can either deliver just the facts or serve as a springboard to deeper, more involved research and study. It is not a question and answer-style book so you have do a bit of work yourself, yet the chapters are relatively short, focussed and direct so you could even take a chapter a day during a break (or use it as your commute companion) as it is worth putting in the time to know the book backwards. Some stuff you will possibly skip through, others may engage your focus a little longer, yet overall this is a keeper. In the right hands this will become a dog-eared book in due course, a ready reference source close at hand.
The intelligent boss would, of course, be ordering copies in bulk for all of their executive staff and passing a few copies around for any generally interested parties too.
Autamme.com
When you glance at the chapter headings, you straight away get an idea about its potential and depth: using neuroscience to maximise your brain for excellence, relationship management, compassionate communication, confidence, self-belief and goal setting, ergonomics, perfect presentations and the list goes on. Oh, and a “chapter to share with your boss” for good measure too.
As you read it, you soon discover that it is an excellent introduction to many fascinating subjects that many secretaries and personal assistants should know about. It is quite possible that they already know a fair bit of this stuff too, partially through trial and error, experience and perhaps latter-day education and continuing professional development programmes. Yet it is a credible, powerful compendium.
There is a lot more to being a secretary than collecting dry cleaning and fetching coffee; in this reviewer’s experience the position is one of the key roles in an organisation, knowing everything that is going on. It is not unknown for the same person to be better informed than the executive they serve! As well as top-rate office and administrative skills being necessary, knowing how to be a diplomat, nursemaid, peacekeeper and detective can help.
This is by no means a dumbed-down book. Clearly it is abridged. You can only get a taster to many subjects, such as neuroscience (that can easily fill an entire bookshelf and our understanding of this subject is ever changing). The information served up is tailor-made towards the 160-or-so different job titles the author has estimated could benefit from this book (and that probably is an understatement, as the skilled, alert executive might be advised to sneak into their assistant’s office and borrow the book if they can’t bring themselves to order it for themselves.
It could equally be described as a definitive guide for everybody in business as it does have a wide-reaching appeal. It is what you let it be. It can either deliver just the facts or serve as a springboard to deeper, more involved research and study. It is not a question and answer-style book so you have do a bit of work yourself, yet the chapters are relatively short, focussed and direct so you could even take a chapter a day during a break (or use it as your commute companion) as it is worth putting in the time to know the book backwards. Some stuff you will possibly skip through, others may engage your focus a little longer, yet overall this is a keeper. In the right hands this will become a dog-eared book in due course, a ready reference source close at hand.
The intelligent boss would, of course, be ordering copies in bulk for all of their executive staff and passing a few copies around for any generally interested parties too.
Autamme.com
July 2, 2014
The Definitive Personal Assistant & Secretarial Handbook
BY Sue France
Publisher: Kogan Page
The Definitive Personal Assistant & Secretarial Handbook is a handy resource tool, particularly for those who are new assistances, or have a wide variety of roles.
While every guide book will miss some things, this book is a great general tool dealing with all the general office issues, as well as relationships, time management, communication skills, ergonomics, and event planning.
It is a great resource for every office.
BY Sue France
Publisher: Kogan Page
The Definitive Personal Assistant & Secretarial Handbook is a handy resource tool, particularly for those who are new assistances, or have a wide variety of roles.
While every guide book will miss some things, this book is a great general tool dealing with all the general office issues, as well as relationships, time management, communication skills, ergonomics, and event planning.
It is a great resource for every office.
September 26, 2010
A vital guide for everyone working in a senior admin role. Highly recommended!!!!!
September 8, 2013
I've read several books like this, but this one was a little dull and dry. Informative but not in ways that fully stick with you.
August 4, 2014
I skimmed it. Written in British English.
August 3, 2016
This book helps me doing my job at the office...it gives me a brief explanation about being PA. Im no longer PA anymore but this book is still useful for me.
May 22, 2015
It was okay. I gained a few nuggets from it, but basically scanned it because it seemed basic. Great for someone who has never worked in office environment
February 2, 2016
the book is the best practiced guide for all secretaries
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews