Office professionals
Suzanne Lewis, 34, PA to the Managing Director of Blue Arrow Catering. She lives in Luton with her husband Daniel a Purchasing Manager for a manufacturing company - and their 2 children, Regan 12 and Joseph 2½ years old.
I’ve worked for the Impellam Group for over 10 years now. I started as an Administrator for one of the Impellam brands - ABC, where I looked after 30 branches, ABC merged with Blue Arrow and I changed my role and became a Bid Specialist. Then 5 years ago found myself taking on the role as PA, Support Services Manager to Blue Arrow Catering. My role is quite diverse, from managing a team, working with Sales Directors on tender documents, organising events to managing my MD on a daily basis.
My day starts at 6.30am, where im usually woken by my 2½ year old shouting out ‘mum where are you’, or my husband bringing me up a cup of tea. Shower, hair, makeup, outfit , get the little one ready and make sure Regan (12)has everything he needs for his day at school before he runs out the door with my husband, normally infuriated as Regan is causing him to be late for work again!! Drop off Joseph to either grandparent or nursery and off to work I go. I arrive at the office, log on and check both my emails and my MD’s, answering any that I can , and generally getting a feel of how his day is going to go. I have a 10 minute catch up with my team, to see what projects we have going on and distribute the work accordingly.
Lunch time, I very rarely go out of the office, I may just sit at my desk, catch up on personal tasks I need to do, such as internet shopping, booking birthday parties, etc. etc.
I left school with 7 GCSE and went on to college to become a legal secretary; I didn’t finish the course as I found the legal side quite a struggle. When I was at school my teachers all believed that I should become a nurse, a carer , something along those lines because of the caring person I was (am). Not particularly liking the thought of having to deal with sick people, I chose the PA route. Similar in some ways some might say!!
Within my role I have to be extremely proactive providing efficient and professional support on a daily basis ensuring diaries, meetings, accommodation has been booked, overseeing the tendering process, training needs and any other general administrative support we give to our branches. I never really switch off from work and I really probably am available 24-7. My husbands sometimes says, that I have 2 husbands and really he’s not wrong.
I leave the office around 5ish, get home, maybe go for a run, start dinner, bath Joe, talk to Regan to see how his day has gone and then finally sit down to talk to Dan. If Dan is out training I may log on and do a little bit more work and make sure im up to speed on what I’ve got going on the next day, sometimes with a glass of wine or too!
I really enjoy my role as a mother but equally enjoy my role as a PA. A good PA isn’t just someone who takes notes or books accommodation, she/he is someone who is able to listen when you need them to, offer advise and your opinion. Being in my position I hear a lot of what is said out in the business, so im always there to advise my boss on certain matters and give an honest opinion on certain situations.
I believe it is so important to know your business and your people, as generally your people come to you for advise before they will go to the top, you are the eyes and ears of the business. You also need to know how to manage your time and making sure that you don’t jam your day full of activities, you should always leave time for emergencies.
I believe that the relationship you have with your boss is a 2 way street, it is equally important for you to understand what you can expect from a good boss.
During the week nights I like to go to bed for 10pm, no later. My weekends are normally jam packed meeting up with friends for dinner, drinks etc. so its important that I try and relax in the week as much as possible. I like to work hard, play hard, and I can honestly say I do both of those things.