Observation

[Blurock]

I just don't know whether I could sell the term PA to her but that is what she would be doing in a sense anyway with the realm of the laser cutter and associated issues

Your thoughts?

How about apprentice manager? That should be encouraging enough. Or maybe manager's assistant?

[pmbguy]

manager's assistant?

I like that

[adrianh]

hmmm...food for thought...

The girl that I am hiring to help me with the design stuff actually studied architecture and now works as a sales assistant in a clothing store. Imagine having natural creative abilities, studying for three years to learn how to put those abilities to use and then end up passing dresses to ol' ladies in the change room. I do a lot of laser cutting for architecture students at UCT & CPUT and meet lots of bright young people who will probably not work in their chosen industy. I just find it sad that all that talent is lost eventually. Far too many people end up in the rut of doing something they hate just to make a living (what makes it more sad is that "make a living" is to buy $h1t that they don't need to impress people who don't actually care)

One of my ex employees had a masters in fine arts. Man, she could draw and sculpt. Her thing in life is scupting and all she ever wanted to do is sculpt. She is German and she was in South Africa for about 7 years. She could not find a job sculpting. She tried to go it alone but that didn't work out so she returned to Germany last December. The thing that was most striking about her was her passion, she wanted to scuplt and that was it, she would work for me in the day and sculpt in the evenings. She would come to work day after day in her crappy car and tatty clothes but she was on a quest.

Bottom line: hire for attitude & aptitude and train for skill. I am perfectly happy to hire a person who has never wrked in my industry but has the aptitude, curiosity and drive. Come to think of it, it is often better to hire somebody like that because they don't come with industry specific bad habits.

[pmbguy]

Bottom line: hire for attitude & aptitude and train for skill. I am perfectly happy to hire a person who has never wrked in my industry but has the aptitude, curiosity and drive. Come to think of it, it is often better to hire somebody like that because they don't come with industry specific bad habits.

I agree

[Dave S]

Bottom line: hire for attitude & aptitude and train for skill. I am perfectly happy to hire a person who has never wrked in my industry but has the aptitude, curiosity and drive. Come to think of it, it is often better to hire somebody like that because they don't come with industry specific bad habits.

I don't think I could've put that better.

In our industry (Golf Course Maintenance Mechanics), there are no colleges that offer specific training courses, yes one can qualify as a Motor Mechanic, etc. But nothing specific. The equipment used on Golf Courses is however, far more advanced than basic mechanics, so you are forced to hire for attitude and aptitude, give me an employee that knows they don't "know it all" and is prepared to learn, rather than a qualified person that thinks they know it all and doesn't believe they can learn more...

[tec0]

@pmbguy - I have been thinking along those lines for years. Having a PA would solve a large number of the problems that I experience.

The thing is that I am ADHD, hyper driven, hyper scatter brained and hyper creative. So I have lots of thoughts and ideas and things going on all the time. Most people juggle 10 balls simultaneouly but I tend to juggle 100 dropping 30 and adding 70 all the time. I've tried all the suggested solutions list lists, PDA's, software, diaries etc but I always gravitate back to what's familiar (the chaos of scraps of paper, post it notes everywhere etc.)

My problem is that I am unable to record and collate my thoughts in that the recording, listing, collation process takes on a life of its own and becomes a project itself rather than just a supporting function. So I would end up with the perfect spreadsheet (with no real data)....that falls by the wayside soon enough. If I were to hand the though off to another person to take apropriate action it would free my mind up to get on with what needs to be done.

As I sit here I am thinking about the things that I need to do, the phone calls to make, the issues to resolve etc. and I would say that 90% of those could be handled perfectly well by a PA (in 1/10th of the time i would take to do it). The problem with me is not that I don't trust people to do something correctly, I am happy that they will because I taught them myself, it is that I'm just so used to being the local cook and bottle washer that it just comes naturally.

Ok, now to action: I need two new employees and I have made an offer to a young lady to work for me as a graphic designer / laser operator / marketer / general ideas bouncer offer - Maybe I should make part of her responsibilities to be my PA. The thing is that she will be taking over a large part of the work that I am doing and that we will have to work very closely together. I have to teach her everything that she will need to know. We seem to be on the same wavelength so it might just work. I just don't know whether I could sell the term PA to her but that is what she would be doing in a sense anyway with the realm of the laser cutter and associated issues

Your thoughts?

Lo Adrian, My brain is also extremely active thus almost impossible to stay focused long enough to see something trough. So I started to use my phone to record ideas, revelations and so on. I then created folders on my computer that range from ramblings to the more important stuff.

After I got everything organised I take an hour each morning figuring out where my brain is at. Starting with the important “Work related stuff first” I then allocate the work that must be done giving a time frame for each of the jobs at hand.

The less important stuff goes after working hours and the more important stuff get Mid day attention “before lunch because after lunch the much needed blood that must go to your brain end up aiding your digestive track.

So think about this record and allocate “jobs” and let your PA handle the “middle stuff AKA stuff that is not supper important but must get done” Freeing your time up for the supper important stuff and allowing more time in the afternoons for your creativity sessions.

Think about it... It is a simple system and it works really well. Cool thing is you have a running progress record so forgetting stuff becomes impossible.

As a side note go for the person working in the store, they will grab hold of any chance they get to do what they trained to do. If you go for someone that just qualify they still have romantic ideas of going into business for themselves.

Also I know the recording thing sounds stupid but give it two months and you will see it really works well.

[Blurock]

After I got everything organised I take an hour each morning figuring out where my brain is at. Starting with the important “Work related stuff first” I then allocate the work that must be done giving a time frame for each of the jobs at hand.

Try putting everything in file 13. So you do not waste time on unimportant stuff. If it was important enough, someone will ask you about it. They can then fill you in on what they put on the note they sent you. Immediate feedback!

[tec0]

Try putting everything in file 13. So you do not waste time on unimportant stuff. If it was important enough, someone will ask you about it. They can then fill you in on what they put on the note they sent you. Immediate feedback!

There is really no pleasing you people is there?

[adrianh]

The problem with the file 13 idea is that I am the one who creates most of the projects in the firts place. The last thing I want to do is to discard them.

But if you are an insurance company that deals with claims then file 13 would be standard operating procedure. I can just see the operation manual.

1. Receive claim
2. Toss it.
3. Receive same claim.
4. Lose the file.
5. Recieve the same claim.
6. Claim you never received it.
7. Repeat steps 1 though 6 until cliant gives up, threatens to sue, go to Hellopeter or Noseweek.
8. Pay no more than 50% of the value claimed.

[tec0]

Insurance is BS... They take your money and when you need a new car they give you R15k to buy one... (Just because your model is old) But the almost R600k you spend with them (in the years that you are a customer" counts for nothing...

[Justloadit]

Insurance has nothing to do with loyalty!

Its like looking back at your pay check from a year ago, it's long gone.

[Blurock]

There is really no pleasing you people is there?

Calm down, you are far too tense. You did not notice that it was said tongue in cheek?

[adrianh]

The perfect position for the perfect PA would be on the lap!

[pmbguy]

No comment

[pmbguy]

Has your new lady started yet? The architecture student