How do I ask for more responsibility at work?
I have a 5 year dual degree in music business management and music production and engineering from a very reputable school. I work for a major music corp as an administrative assistant; have been here 8 months now. Lately, I have been extremely bored and under-challenged. I’ve asked my bosses for more work, but they just give me more meaningless tasks like filing or organizational stuff. Nothing challenging, nothing rewarding. I push paper around. I feel extremely under appreciated and underutilized, considering the skill sets I brought into this job from my education, experiential learning and other professional experience in the industry. What other approaches could I use to ask for more responsibility? I WANT a challenge, I WANT to work hard, yet I feel that my best efforts to communicate this have fallen on deaf ears. I am extremely frustrated. Any strategies would be helpful!!!
What you are looking for is a different job where you can apply your talents more within the company. Taking an administrative assistant job was not necessarily a bad thing to get your foot in the door of this company. What you need to do now is to do a great job as an administrative assistant so you have a good reputation and and to build a relationship with as many managers within the company as you can. One technique for doing this is to set up informational interviews with various managers. Tell them you want to learn more about their area so you can identify areas you might be able to make an impact in the future. Most are too nice to say no. Impress them when you meet with them. Research their area in advance and ask good questions. Even better, bring ideas that you may have learned in school that might be relevant to their area of the business. Somewhere in the discussion work in that you have dual degrees and are hoping to develop higher level opportunities over time. Make sure the discussion is about them and not you though. Learn whatever you can about the person and use it as an excuse to stay in touch with them (don’t be an irritant though – do something like email them an article that you think they would be interested in). Write it all down after the meeting so you don’t get one manager’s interestes confused with another. Good luck
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November 9, 2009
5:03 pm
Be careful what you ask for….
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November 9, 2009
5:18 pm
What you are looking for is a different job where you can apply your talents more within the company. Taking an administrative assistant job was not necessarily a bad thing to get your foot in the door of this company. What you need to do now is to do a great job as an administrative assistant so you have a good reputation and and to build a relationship with as many managers within the company as you can. One technique for doing this is to set up informational interviews with various managers. Tell them you want to learn more about their area so you can identify areas you might be able to make an impact in the future. Most are too nice to say no. Impress them when you meet with them. Research their area in advance and ask good questions. Even better, bring ideas that you may have learned in school that might be relevant to their area of the business. Somewhere in the discussion work in that you have dual degrees and are hoping to develop higher level opportunities over time. Make sure the discussion is about them and not you though. Learn whatever you can about the person and use it as an excuse to stay in touch with them (don’t be an irritant though – do something like email them an article that you think they would be interested in). Write it all down after the meeting so you don’t get one manager’s interestes confused with another. Good luck
References :