Who has worked a clerical/assistant kind of job?

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zeldapsychology
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15 Nov 2009, 5:26 pm

I was thinking perhaps filing papers in a doctor's office or hospital type of sort of job. So I was curious has anyone had experience with this type of job? Due to my bad knee retail is out of the question but I think perhaps working with filing papers might be good for me. (not really sure since I've never tryed it.) :-)



Nan
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15 Nov 2009, 5:44 pm

hi zelda, - if you're going into medical records, there is usually a requirement that you've had training specifically in medical records. most community colleges have short programs that will train you. i have done many clerical jobs, though none in a doctor's office. i enjoyed the routine. a lot of the filing is going electronic, so i think that, on the long term it's a dying field. but it will be around for another several years at least. medical records in hardcopy may be around a bit longer.



zeldapsychology
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15 Nov 2009, 6:46 pm

Darn it!! !! You need a degree to JUST file papers in a doctor's office or hospital SHEESH!! !! !! !! !! !! Before you know it you'll need a doctorate to do the most basic of work LOL! (Already alot of jobs require experience OR Bachelor level!! !!)



concerto
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15 Nov 2009, 7:34 pm

I worked as an executive assistant before (for government officials). I like that particular job, because my two colleagues were very unusual and unconventional. I held 10 other such jobs in 2 years when I decided to move to another city and none of them worked out. The first job was probably by pure chance - the others did not work out because of my social interaction problems. I held a very high level position without a degree (never finished it), but some college courses are necessary I should think. Good luck to you.



Nan
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16 Nov 2009, 3:40 pm

zeldapsychology wrote:
Darn it!! !! You need a degree to JUST file papers in a doctor's office or hospital SHEESH!! !! !! !! !! !! Before you know it you'll need a doctorate to do the most basic of work LOL! (Already alot of jobs require experience OR Bachelor level!! !!)


zelda - hardly. a certificate program is more likely. anywhere from six weeks to 18 months. good luck! :wink:



Jaydog1212
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16 Nov 2009, 11:26 pm

If your talking about a Medical Office Front Desk type of position. I don't think a certificate or degree would be required. I looked on craigslist and looked at a few postings and didn't see an explicit request for it. It sounds like there is some filing and some signing in patients and answering phones. Personally, multi-tasking isn't my strength so I would probably fall apart if the phone rang and there was a long queue of people to pay attention to. I guess it really depends on the environment. Some doctors offices and especially chiropractic offices seem very slow but steady.

Now if you wanted to do something with medical billing then that would probably require more training.



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16 Nov 2009, 11:46 pm

If you have a leg injury, then data-entry or customer service may be an option. A file clerk needs to move around a lot. If you want to go into the medical field, a claim adjuster would be a good route, but you need a to be almost a nurse in your medical knowledge.

Accountant clerks & tax preparers are jobs that work for those who have limited mobility.
But for entry level, a call center operator is most likely the best bet. Just basically follow the prompts on the screen and give the answers to the caller.. while sitting on your arse.


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Jaydog1212
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17 Nov 2009, 1:42 am

Oregon wrote:
But for entry level, a call center operator is most likely the best bet. Just basically follow the prompts on the screen and give the answers to the caller.. while sitting on your arse.


There is this company :Convergys

You work from home with a headset. The headset must be VoIP because you don't have to get an extra line (from my understanding). They handle calls for Direct TV, Sprint and As Seen on TV products.

Direct TV - part-time, 20hrs, $9/hr, billing/general inquires and sales/installation/upgrades
Direct Response - 20 hrs, $7.75 plus sales incentives, scripted responses (screen by screen)
Sprint - $9 hr.



luvsterriers
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17 Nov 2009, 10:27 am

I too also did admin/clerical work. I didn't like the phones. Different lines having to deal with. I just don't like to talk much at work otherwise I get made fun of. I rather have non clerical job, no answering phones, or being the office slave. Anna, make the coffee. Anna, go get the mail. Anna, make copies. I felt like a slave. I'm out of there. But still I rather have a job where I work from home and no contact with any co workers face to face.



glow
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13 Jul 2013, 2:19 pm

I once worked on phones too when I dropped out of college once and went to start work.
However, it was not how I thought it would be at all. I basically had to go and canvass for my benchmark employers even though they weren't on the scene at the time when all the chaos broke out. Tension within groups is never easy.



Forkliftoperator
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13 Jul 2013, 4:06 pm

I worked as a legal assistant for 2 months while doing my practicum for my legal assistant diploma. I was good at the technical parts but not the social aspect. I enjoy shipping and receiving/ warehousing more. There is not many social demands at my job since I work alone most of the time.



glow
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14 Jul 2013, 5:34 am

Forkliftoperator wrote:
I worked as a legal assistant for 2 months while doing my practicum for my legal assistant diploma. I was good at the technical parts but not the social aspect. I enjoy shipping and receiving/ warehousing more. There is not many social demands at my job since I work alone most of the time.


Hi. I was just wondering if you even tried a legal secretary diploma and what this entails as its one of the diplomas that has cropped up within one of the training programmes I was looking into but which I am not entirely certain about at this time as i've seen a few other separate diplomas which would channel me differently. On all these diplomas there are maths involved aren't there but how much do you actually have to use seeing as you are doing a job now that actively channels your energy responses.
Thanks-



murasaki_ahiru
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14 Jul 2013, 6:00 am

Currently doing this in a volunteer job at the local TAFE helping the careers counsellor. Last job was archiving all of last years client files which I didn't mind doing once Iam on to the job I'm focused. Applied for similar jobs recently but nothing. One job I got a interview the other a rejection e-mail. Hopefully once all the crap with the state government with money for TAFE has died down the careers counsellor wants to see if she can get funding to hire me to PA at least part time. I deserve it.


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Forkliftoperator
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17 Jul 2013, 10:04 pm

glow wrote:
Forkliftoperator wrote:
I worked as a legal assistant for 2 months while doing my practicum for my legal assistant diploma. I was good at the technical parts but not the social aspect. I enjoy shipping and receiving/ warehousing more. There is not many social demands at my job since I work alone most of the time.


Hi. I was just wondering if you even tried a legal secretary diploma and what this entails as its one of the diplomas that has cropped up within one of the training programmes I was looking into but which I am not entirely certain about at this time as i've seen a few other separate diplomas which would channel me differently. On all these diplomas there are maths involved aren't there but how much do you actually have to use seeing as you are doing a job now that actively channels your energy responses.
Thanks-


In Alberta, Legal Secretary and Legal Assistant are the same thing. I got into the college course using mostly my humanities classes from high school ( English, and social studies which is political science, history, and economics) . I use more math as a shipper receiver than I did as a legal assistant.



zer0netgain
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18 Jul 2013, 6:16 am

It's laughable that you need a "degree" for this line of work, but as you do need reliable typing/keyboarding skills, a given level of computer literacy, knowledge of how to organize and file, and fundamental bookkeeping skills, I can see why there is a program for this in most community colleges.

I've been an "executive assistant" for over 8 years (a more "manly" way to say "secretary"). My natural interest in IT work means I did the office IT stuff on top of my usual stuff...which was good as I was not very good with people, so that my boss didn't need a computer tech for all the time I worked there somewhat balanced out my "down side."

In the USA, you need to bring as much as you can as far as skills and versatility to the job as possible. As you will likely stink on ice with customer relations, your angle will be, "I can do X, Y and Z tasks (all technical and solitary work stuff) very well" and then emphasize that a good solution for the lack of your interpersonal skills will be for the boss to hand off coworker's technical tasks off to you in exchange for their doing your customer interactive work...at least for the time needed for you to adapt better to dealing with customers in an acceptable manner.

An e-book I had recommended to me displayed faulty decision making processes, and one example was a woman who was bad with customers and that was half her job. When the boss was debating whether to do the work to dismiss her, a friend asked point-blank, "What would you do if you COULD NOT fire her?" Often, people only see two polar opposite options, and they fail to consider other possibilities. When the woman dismissed the idea of firing the employee, she realized there was another solution. She had the public/private aspects of the job reassigned. Another woman who was good with customers was put up front and given near 100% of the public interaction and the problematic woman was moved to the back office and given most all the technical work to be done in private. Yes, that's not how the job(s) were initially drawn up (drafter wanted employees to be versatile at all job duties), but it worked and now everyone was happy and productive.

In my current situation, the boss knew I was bad with people when he hired me (now I know this), and I'm not "horrible" but I am temperamental and often misinterpreted in my intentions. Ideally, I should have the technical stuff to work on that needs my focus and the stupid menial stuff should be in the hands of a receptionist rather than my being interrupted every 3-5 minutes to deal with the public. Perhaps in time we will redivide how the work is handed off so that we are all working in our best capacities.



1000Knives
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18 Jul 2013, 4:38 pm

I'm doing this for a union. One thing I will say. It'll be harder if you're a girl. Because girls gossip like hell all the time. There's probably a like 6-7 women per 3-4 guys, and all they do is talk all the time about other people. Guys mostly don't give a f**k at all and just either actually do their work, smoke cigarettes, drink coffee, or eat sandwiches. When said women talk to them, they've learned to go "uh-huh, OK, I understand..." but leave it at that. So if you're a guy, please stay oblivious as all f**k in your office jobs, women, I don't know what you're gonna do.

Other than that, if you've got organization problems, it's easier than at home. You know, you get unlimited paperclips, staplers that work, efficient copy machines, etc. Some would depend on your boss. My boss is really cool. Your boss could be a dick. But even if your boss is a dick, it's not USUALLY a lot of multitasking craziness (maybe it could be, though?) it's just "yeah do this and get it done soon." Assuming you're not like some (most?) of the other employees and don't spend a large majority of your day on ebay or looking at houses online, you should be able to actually get whatever tasks you need done.

Basically it's Office Space.