What exactly do you do, details
assistant for the monitoring and information center (MIC) at the european commmission (EC) and personal secretary for 5 people in the same unit
Where do you work (type of company, number of employees)?
european commission 24 000 civil servants,
What part(s) of your job do you really enjoy?
working with people with very different backgrounds
working with financial issues
doing duty shifts in the MIC
What part(s) of your job do you really dislike?
having meetings with people that are part of my hierarchy but which I do not respect, because they offer no support - they are just there to impose rules without thinking just doing.
What software/special language do you use?
unfortunately we use Windows, an old version, I think xp
in english
Who, within or outside the company, gives you tasks to do etc.?
direct requests come from my boss the head of unit, the deputy head of unit, the financial coordinator in our unit, any of the MIC on duty colleagues during the day, basically anybody in the unit
To whom you report?
My boss and any of the people who inspects our financial expenses.
With whom do you interact most often?
the unit has 25 people. we used to be a unit of 40 people and even if devised for political reasons we consider ourselves a unit.
i interact with everybody in the unit if they are at work during the day as my office is close to the MIC and to the postal in-trey so everybody comes and at least says Hi or asks smth
my desks, the desk officers I am directly responsible for, I also interact daily if they are there.
if experts they are on missions they usually call me from that country for details or clarifications as I am the main/ only assistant.
How many phone calls you receive/make a week?
its part of my job description so a lot, not sure how many per week, depends if there is one or more ongoing emergencies or if its in the aftermath of an emergency when I have to call and chase everybody for original docs to be sent to me asap for the financial documentation etc... I usually receive calls from experts and their bosses during and after working hours and in weekends sometimes I call our travel agency, our insurance agency, employers of the experts for contracts and reimbursements, and experts.
for japan we had 11 experts for 3 weeks so hundreds of calls per week.
How many emails you receive/make a week?
between 230 = 269 per week - I count
How many meetings you attend a week?
from 0 to max 4
What does excellence mean in your domain?
accuracy, efficiency, professionalism,
What does incompetence mean in your domain?
the opposite of the above plus laziness I've had colleagues who did not work causing an increased amount of stress for the other colleagues
complaints were made but in vain - the system protects the lazy colleagues more than the other ones :)
Describe a tough day
Starting work after I've worked in the weekend, during an on going emergency, hardest at the start of the onset disaster, no support from colleagues, hierarchy missing, no decision making capacity my workload is increased by lack of power to take decisions myself in a timely manner. Financial persons are on my back with total disregard of my situation to give her latest figures and tables and pushing until hierarchy tells her to back off or postpone for a while
Describe a good day
I can work intensely for 8 straight hours, clean my desk of docs, my emails, my pending issues, prepare all presentations and things to do for the rest of the week or plan them calendar wise, attend only compulsory meetings - and leave the office at 17 30 max. a really good day would involve a discussion with my hierarchy about my work = meaning they are monitoring my workload and are aware of the situation in the unit. I dislike it when I have the feeling the hierarchy is not aware they are giving me too many things to do without coordinating themselves better.
With whom do you have conflicts?
Financial persons in our unit, they work directly with my highest boss the head of unit
What makes you happy in your work?
see above: colleagues, nice working env, international env, languages, trainings opp, salary, experience possibility, beying able to juggle a lot of different tasks and being trusted enough by the hierarchy to be entrusted to jobs way beyond my job description.
basically I've told once one of the bosses to increase my workload and he agreed
the other one told me had he known he would not have accepted not because he does not trust me but because there are not enough AST's in our unit = actually everywhere in the commission
that's his problem because he could ask for more posts but apparently he doesn't get them or does not know how to ask...
How are you evaluated?
at the last CDR I don t know what it means, basically annual evaluation with the hierarchy discussion plus writing an evaluation report, I do my own assessment of the achieved objectives I write new objectives and everything is approved and signed by the entire hierarchy and the hr people
How long one does this job?
Not long, my colleagues get promoted or became secretaries
my contract finishes in nov. I understand that my dg does not ever give contracts like mine (temp agents) because they have a small hr budget and try to save by hiring only contractual agents that have passed the CAST or interimaires. I guess I will accept any other types of contracts if I can keep or improve my job profile but they cannot give me a CA as i have no cast passed
and an interimaire possition is only fo 6 months and it is hard for the hierarchy to get one
usually they get them for people working for a legislative proposal or a communication / green paper
and after that they leave
How many years one has to study to do this job?
like the un or other international organisations the ec says that you only need hight school but all of my colleagues are master graduates at least and with 3 to 10 years of working experience in international environments
What kind of training are you offered?
extremely broad range - can provide a list of my passport trainings since 2008 = its 5 pages
What does your boss?
manager, policy maker, coordinator, decision maker, politician
What do your subordinates do?
na
What do you do to get fired from this job?
contract finishes
What do you do to get promoted from this job?
become a functioneers
What did you do before doing this job?
various internships or night courses
What could you do after this job?
to be decided
Could you do this job in other country?
yes
How do you get dressed to work?
casual professional due to long hours = heels, shirt, suit pants
How many hours you work a week?
we should only have 37,5 per week
i take 2 days off per month because we have the right to take the extra hours off
as i have at least 15 hours extra per month i take the days off and the rest until 15 is transfered to to the next month
How often you do overtime?
each month
Do you go out to have lunch?
not as often as all my colleagues = i try to get out of the office as fast as possible mainly because i have to got to courses that start at 18 00 and to be finished by 17 30 i cannot take a 45 mn lunch break ...
Do you have lots of friends at work?
5 or 6
Are you happy with how much you earn?
yes, for now.
What other job you would love to have?
write, create/ make presentations/ discuss ideas, concepts, theories, read
What would you change to make your job more beautiful?
bring it closer to the place where I live
change some of my colleagues
have sports altenatives during lunch breaks like yoga or pilates
Would you recommend this job to your kids?
higher levels maybe
You are happy with this job: YES/NO
yes
