Tuesday, April 15, 2014

Office Administration Executive Program Includes Real World Experience

Contrary to what some people may believe, working as an assistant to a company executive does not entail fetching coffees and doing your boss’ laundry. These professionals fill a number of essential business functions that contribute to the success of a company. Among these professionals’ tasks are:

  • Producing information by transcribing, formatting, inputting, editing, retrieving, copying, and transmitting text, data, and graphics
  • Reading, researching, and routing the executive’s correspondence
  • Drafting letters and documents
  • Maintaining the executive’s appointment schedule by planning and scheduling meetings, conferences, teleconferences, and travel
  • Representing the executive by attending meetings in his or her absence
  • Welcoming guests and customers by greeting them, in person or on the telephone
  • Securing information by completing data base backups
  • Maintaining office supplies inventory 
To gain these skills, there are numerous office administration schools or programs available in Ontario. At Centennial College, students can attend the Office Administration – Executive offering, which takes two years to complete and offers students the know-how they need to be employable upon graduation as well as a respected Ontario College Diploma.

Completed through a series of lectures and practical courses, the program highlights essential topics and abilities of assistants such as extensive software skills, Internet research know-how, presentation preparation, taking minutes of meetings, composing business correspondence and arranging national and international conferences, document production, note-taking and related computer skills, client service, communication, time management and supervisory skills.

Faculty members who have experience in the business world and up-to-date knowledge of current trends and requirements teach students. Among the specific courses in the offering are: Transcription Techniques (students develop competence in proofreading, editing and transcribing common forms of business correspondence); Word Processing Applications (emphasizes operating and utilizing word processing software to produce enhanced business documents while building communications and critical thinking skills and progressively increasing keyboarding proficiency to produce a variety of business documents with speed and accuracy); Executive Office Procedures (prepares students to organize time and work, practice communications and public relations skills, and become familiar with technology and procedures for a career as an administrative assistant); and more.

An opportunity to apply what they have learned in their courses is allotted to students during the final semester of the program when they attend a two-day-per-week field placement. This not only offers real-world experience but also helps students to grow their professional network.

Administrative assistants, administrative support officers, senior secretaries and executive secretaries are some of the titles students can obtain after successfully completing the Office Administration program.

Should students wish to continue their education, Centennial College offers access articulated programs that allow graduates to apply academic credit towards further study. This program’s educational partners include Algoma University, Athabasca University and University of New Brunswick.

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