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lioness70
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« on: March 31, 2001, 12:34:27 am » |
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This is a curiosity question more than anything.
I receive a lot of calls from admins who are calling for their bosses. I find this curious, because in my 7 on and off years of admin assisting, I never did this. I find it a waste of the admin's time if the boss can do it him/herself, but that's my opinion. I'm wondering if this is a more common practice in law firms, because we do have a lot of law firms calling here. I personally never worked for a law firm. Anyone out there who ever did this?
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deedeeb
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« Reply #1 on: March 31, 2001, 12:54:19 am » |
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I have done this in the very distant past before voicemail, e-mail, Palm pilots, etc. I worked briefly for an executive VP and it actually saved him time in most cases, because I would get the person on the line and he could continue with whatever "important decisions" he was making. I did find however that there was a certain amount of one-upmanship in that I would call someone for him, announce Mr. Soanso calling for Mr. Whosis, and get put on hold because Mr. Whosis was MUCH too busy and IMPORTANT to listen to me say "hold for Mr. Soandso". Oh, it could get bizarre. I didn't think anyone did this anymore, except maybe the President of the US or the Queen of England or someone like that. Everyone here makes their own calls now and has for years, even the President/CEO.
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officeduchess
Newbie
Posts: 41
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« Reply #2 on: March 30, 2001, 01:00:44 pm » |
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I frequently call to get information for my boss, but normally I don't announce that I'm calling for her. Maybe these admins think that it carries more weight if they announce who they are calling for. Some people just don't feel comfortable "cold calling", so that may be their way to start a conversation.
OfficeDuchess
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radaro
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« Reply #3 on: March 30, 2001, 01:20:27 pm » |
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I occasionally do this for my boss. "Good day this is Ms. RadarO calling from XYZ Corporation on behalf of Mr. Bossman. Are you available to speak with him right now?...Please hold and I will transfer you." It makes me feel like a secretary out of a black and white movie.
Mainly I "hunt down" the people who report to him despite the fact that I have programmed their mobile phone numbers into both his desk phone and his cell phone.
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chris68
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« Reply #4 on: March 30, 2001, 01:20:47 pm » |
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I do on occasion call for the boss. He'll be talking with someone in his office and ask me to call soandso out at suchandsuch on a review. It saves him time because he can continue doing what he's doing and I can chase down the other person for him. I don't do it that often anymore, most of the time he just asks for the phone number or the persons business card and calls himself.
Chris68
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jewels6567
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« Reply #5 on: March 30, 2001, 02:14:10 pm » |
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The only time I've ever done it has been when bossy is out of the office and doesn't have the number with him or doesn't want to put the long distance on his cell phone. Then he'll call me and I'll transfer him to the person he needs to talk to.
Julie
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adassistant
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« Reply #6 on: March 30, 2001, 02:35:30 pm » |
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We have an 800 number, and rather than bossie get in a car accident while looking up a number and also dialing it, he calls me to dial it for him (I've got all the numbers in Lotus Organizer anyway), and then I transfer him. I don't mind one bit, though. It's one of the ways that I get him to call into the office while he's at offsite meetings etc. It also saves on his cell phone bills too.
The only other time that I call "for" bossie, is for tracking down particular information for him, and I don't mind that either.
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phoenix55
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« Reply #7 on: March 30, 2001, 02:35:52 pm » |
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Did it years and years ago. I guess sometimes it did save time.
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icebreakerpenguin
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« Reply #8 on: March 30, 2001, 02:41:43 pm » |
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I've worked in a corporate law department in the past and now I work in a law firm. In both cases, I see the attorneys making their own calls most of the time. As a legal assistant, I call to find out information; only the attorney can give out legal advice. In my prior position as an executive assistant, I called on behalf of my boss all the time. I didn't always say that I was calling for any one of the 3 executives I supported (sometimes it gave me more "pull" if I needed it). I feel it's the admin's responsibility to lighten the load of the executive(s) they support as much as possible, which includes calling for them (the executives I worked for appreciated the initiative). Gaining business savvy is important so you can assist in getting information and even making a decision within the scope of authority you are given. I was also able to sometimes get business for the company that my boss may not have been aware of.
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kitchenwitch
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« Reply #9 on: March 30, 2001, 03:25:09 pm » |
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and I kinda feel like a "movie secretary" myself! I usually just say something like, "This is Kitchen Witch from XYZ, I have Ms. Evilbeast on the line for you, can you hold while I transfer you?".
Sometimes I have the strangest desire to say all of this with a mysterious accent, but I usually control myself...
Have a great weekend, everyone!
Kitchen Witch
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lioness70
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« Reply #10 on: March 30, 2001, 03:42:31 pm » |
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Wow, I didn't know this was so common!
Anyway, it's not the type of call to get information to help out the boss-it's simply "I'm calling for Mr. Bigshot, is Mr. Hotshot available?"
I agree that the former type call-to get information for your boss-saves a lot of time and money. I have done that plenty of times. I always wonder, when I get the latter type call, Is there something else this admin can be doing with her time? OK, the boss might be busy, but in one case, I took calls from the same admin for her boss a number of times. I'm thinking these might be the same kinds of bosses who need nannies, not admins. It's not that hard to pick up a phone. BTW, our receptionist is always baffled by these types of calls.
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spitfire78
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« Reply #11 on: March 30, 2001, 03:50:51 pm » |
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At my place, it all depends on the boss. Most of them just ask their admins to do this when they are really busy or if they are at a phone that does not have an outside line. But we have one (isn't there always one!!), who practically refuses to dial a number for himself. Get this - his admin even has to get INSIDE people on the phone for him while he is sitting in his office - how's that for an ego trip??!!!!
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countrigal
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« Reply #12 on: March 30, 2001, 03:52:34 pm » |
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I do this quite often for my boss. A lot of times I have the numbers of the folks he's trying to reach more readily available than he does. He's reading a document, realizes that so-and-so would be a better contact for more info and asks me to get them on the phone for him. This way, if it's voicemail and not a person we reach, I caan leave a message for them to return his call and he hasn't lost time working. He makes a lot of his own calls, but in situations where he's in a meeting, doing something else, etc... we find it works a bit easier if I place the call, get the person on the line and then put them on hold till he can pick up the phone. Since I sit right outside his door we can communicate quickly and easily when I've reached the person so they're not on hold long.
Also, the docs that work here do a lot of this... asking someone to call so-and-so for them. Most of the time it's just so if that person isn't there they don't have to leave a voicemail themselves.
I like doing this. Call me backwards or whatever, but I don't feel that I'm nanny'ing him but that I'm actually assisting him by doing this. In fact, I'm the one that started him doing this since he's just as comfortable making the call himself. But by the time I get him the number, right it down, give it to him, I could have already dialed it and connected him. (our company phone listing is on a program that you have to log into which is time consuming... I normally have that program already open on my desktop just for this reason, so that's why he doesn't look it up himself.)
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ohiosec
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« Reply #13 on: March 30, 2001, 03:55:59 pm » |
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I have worked in a legal department for several years. This used to be a common practice in the 1970's, but I haven't "announced my boss" in about 20 years.
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sungoddesslv
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« Reply #14 on: March 30, 2001, 05:32:01 pm » |
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Very many times I have had assistants to call on behalf of their executives. The calls were usually from the Governor, Senator or President, sometimes a president of a company such as Mirage Resorts. In most cases, the assistant would say, "Governor Smith is calling for Mayor Jones" and the assistant would not release the call until the Mayor actually took the call. Same for the other cases.
I have called on behalf of my boss on occasion but not so much since voice mail. It was more of a time saver for the executive.
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