It’s hard not to feel green with envy when the boss walks out of the door on yet another all expenses paid business trip. Well now, thanks to Secretarialcareers.co.uk, it could be your turn to enjoy life at the top.

You and a friend could soon be whisked off to Paris for a taste of the high life. You’ll travel on the Eurostar to the French capital where you’ll check into the four-star Hotel Balzac for two nights of luxury.

To top it off, you’ll also be given €500 to spend on whatever you like from fabulous dinners to great theatre shows and extravagant shopping trips.

Visit Times Creme or enter online…
For your chance to win and Be The Boss for the weekend, visit the Executary News stand no. 942 at Times Crème at Olympia, in London between 13-15 May, or go to www.BeTheBoss2008.com to enter online today.

The closing date is 30 June 2008, and winners will be notified by 16 July 2008.

For terms and conditions visit www.BeTheBoss2008.com
Good luck!

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 Miss Violet

If you’re looking to shake up your career, becoming a legal secretary could offer the challenge and pay rise that you’re after.

Good legal secretaries are in demand. They can earn high salaries doing varied and interesting work dealing with a wide range of legal and business issues.

Essentially, legal secretaries provide administrative support to lawyers, legal executives and paralegals. They need to have knowledge of law, as well as excellent secretarial and communication skills, an attention to detail and good time management. Being discrete and professional is also a must.

The job involves typing and compiling legal documents, dealing with enquiries, organising correspondence, diary management and attending court.

There are two main ways to get your foot in the door. If you already have sound secretarial skills, temping can offer on the job training. As your legal knowledge increases, you’ll find there are more jobs you can go for and your earning power will grow. 

Alternatively, you can study a recognised course to get the legal knowledge and skills that you’ll need. The Institute of Legal Secretaries, Institute of Legal Executives and local colleges offer evening or distance learning courses. 

When it comes to finding work, solicitors’ offices or barristers’ chambers are the obvious choices but legal secretaries are also needed in law courts, local authorities, estate agents, and finance and insurance companies to name a few.

If you’re interested in a particular area of law, some firms specialise in criminal law, conveyancing or corporate law. Others deal with a wider range of areas including civil litigation, matrimonial and civil partnership law, probate and administration. Some larger firms take on float secretaries who work across a number of different departments, allowing you to gain a broader legal knowledge that can prove indispensable to your employer.

Career prospects are good. Legal secretaries can go on to become PAs or office managers, and in some cases paralegals or legal executives.

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  Miss Scarlett

If you find yourself reaching for sweet treats and lattés to get you through the working day, follow our suggestions on how to keep your energy levels up by snacking healthily. 

Fruit
If you’ve got a sweet tooth, eating fruit is a good way to wean yourself off the muffins. Eating different coloured fruits indicates that you’re getting a variety of vitamins and minerals. Handy fruits for the office include apples, pears, bananas and clementines. Blueberries, grapes and organic strawberries are perfect for those who like to nibble their way through the day. Don’t eat fruit straight after a meal to avoid the dreaded bloat.

Dried fruit
Gone are the days when dried fruit meant a few measly raisins. Goji berries are currently flavour of the month. Bursting with protein, they provide 21 trace minerals as well as beta-carotene, B vitamins and vitamin E. Other recommended dried fruits are apricots, mango, pineapple, apple and dates. In all cases, read the label to avoid buying any that have been preserved with sulfites.

Savoury snacks
Munching on nuts and seeds is far healthier than wolfing down a bag of crisps. Pumpkin and sunflower seeds are full of zinc, almonds are packed with protein and vitamin E, while a few brazil nuts will give you your daily dose of selenium.

Rice cakes and oatcakes are a great alternative to biscuits, and if you thinly spread some almond or cashew nut butter onto them you’ll add even more nutrients to the mix. Nut butters are available in health food shops and larger supermarkets.

Vegetable sticks are great if you can prepare them in advance. Try carrots, mange tout, peppers, cucumber or celery.

Drinks
Avoid fizzy drinks and concentrated fruit juice. Instead, try a fresh juice to give you a pick-up anytime of day. If you don’t have a juice bar near work, invest in some herbal teas.

Nettle is great for detoxing, fennel and peppermint are good for the digestion, rooibos is full of anti-oxidants while chamomile has a calming effect. Fruit teas can help curb the need for something sweet.

Chocolate
Let’s face it, we’re all human and sometimes only a sugar hit will do. But instead of reaching for a twix, have a couple of pieces of organic dark chocolate. It’ll give you an energy boost as well as a dose of anti-oxidants.

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Miss Violet 

When it comes to asking for a pay rise, even the most confident people can suffer a crisis in confidence. Here are some top tips to help you get the pay rise you deserve.

• Decide how much to ask for - consider the state of the economy. If you’re playing it safe, go for a figure that’s in line with inflation levels, currently around 5%.
• Prove your worth - show how the work you’ve done in the last year has had a positive impact on the performance and efficiency of your team.
• Research what other jobs are out there - do they pay more or less than you’re currently paid? Show examples of jobs that are similar to yours but pay more.
• Consider your options - are you in a position to walk into a different job that pays more? If you are, make sure your boss knows this as it’ll give you more leverage.
• Justify why you deserve a bigger pay rise - especially if you are asking for a rise outside your normal annual review. If your job has grown, remind your boss that you’ve taken on additional responsibilities and this should be reflected in the pay deal you agree.
• Look at the company’s profits - if it’s been a bumper year, with senior managers receiving hefty bonuses, argue that you deserve a share of the profits too.
• Check out shareholder activity - are they getting healthy handouts? If they are, then you can also argue that you should.

And finally, if your boss plays for time, suggest they might want to settle quickly. If inflation continues to rise, as economists predict, you’ll be in a position to put a new figure on the table in the coming weeks.

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Miss Scarlett

Secretarial Blog has received lots of emails on becoming a celebrity PA. Here’s some more information about finding a job in this competitive field.

Experience - Before embarking on a career as a celebrity PA, try to get experience as a non-celebrity PA or executive assistant. This will allow you to hone your skills so you stand out from the crowd when you go for a highly sought after job. 

Training - Although there aren’t courses or degrees that specialise in being a celebrity PA, there are things you can do to get your foot in the door as a PA. And get to grips with up-to-the-minute technologies that make life easier for a busy boss, whether they’re a celebrity or not.

Personality - Be honest about whether you have a personality that can cope with the demands placed on a celebrity PA. You’ll need to be discreet, dedicated, hard-working, and not afraid of putting your life on hold to cater to the needs of your boss.

Industry - Decide what industry you want to work in - it’s important to be interested in what your celeb is doing. While film, television and music are the obvious choices, you’ll find that anyone in the public eye needs a dedicated PA including politicians, professional athletes, dancers, models and authors.

Networking - Most people get their lucky break through contacts. Do you know someone who knows a celebrity or who works in the industry you’ve chosen?

Get some work experience in that industry to increase your knowledge and gain access to people who can help. Although many of those jobs are also highly sought after, consider your options. Could you volunteer as a runner on a film set, or do an internship for a political party? The key to success is being in the right place at the right time.

Professional associations - When you land your dream job, consider joining a professional association such as The Association of Celebrity Assistants, ACA (UK). While not affiliated with Secretarial Blog, ACA is recognised as the main support network for celebrity PAs working in the worlds of film, TV, theatre, music, fashion and beauty, charity, business and politics.

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 Is your boss this bad?

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Miss Violet

Fancy working in Central London? Want to be at the centre of media, fashion, PR and advertising in the UK? Then you should consider secretarial jobs in the West End of London. The West End is host to a whole variety of ad agencies, PR and broadcasting and media companies not to mention some of the best restaurants, theatres and bars in London.

For those that don’t know where the West End is in London, the term normally refers to the geographical location around Leicester Square and Covent Garden and includes Soho, Fitzrovia, Tottenham Court Road and Oxford Street.

So whether you fancy spotting celebrities in EAT in Soho Square or just going for a spot of shopping on Oxford Street, then you should consider working in the West End for the wonderful working environment. Most employment agencies have offices based there where you can pop in for an interview or you can apply straight away on SecretarialCareers.co.uk which has over 600 jobs in the West End for secretaries, PAs and Office managers.

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Miss Violet

Secretarial Blog has received a lot of emails about the subject of City PA jobs so we are doing another blog post on Canary Wharf PA jobs.

Canary Wharf is part of the City and an exciting place to work. It is located on the Isle of Dogs and has the UK’s three largest buildings; One Canada Square, the HSBC Tower, and the Citigroup Centre.

It is also home to some of the biggest retail and investment banking companies in the world with offices for Barclays, HSBC, Bank of America, and Lehman Brothers to name a few.

At the end of 2006 over 90,000 people were recording as working at Canary Wharf and that looks set to grow in 2008 as Canary Wharf leads the way in job creation for the financial sector in London and the UK.

If you’re an ambitious PA, secretary or office manager you should consider a job in Canary Wharf as it is a stunning location, at the heart of the financial district, and the companies that work there offer some of the best benefits in the UK. Large bonuses, free gym membership, BUPA, stock options, ability to buy or sell holiday, and free day care are just some of the normal benefits available with Canary Wharf firms.

And remember Canary Wharf is easy to reach as it connected to the rest of London by the Jubilee Line and the DLR network. Check out SecretarialCareers.co.uk for the latest PA and secretarial jobs in Canary Wharf.

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