Customer Reviews

Be a Kickass Assistant: How to Get from a Grunt Job to a Great Career

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This book is very good if you are going to be working as a personal assistant or for a very high level executive. If you are an Administrative Assistant for anything other than the White House, a Hollywood star, or a top level executive at a Fortune 500 company, this book doesn't really relate to you. I've worked as an Admin Asst for a large public company, a small manufacturing firm and a high school. Almost none of the suggestions applied to me. It was easy reading but really only applied to very high level or personal assistants. Also, the author related how what she learned allowed her to move up the corporate ladder and even go into business for herself. For someone who is looking to work as an Admin Asst for their foreseeable career, this book doesn't give you anymore information than you already know. Not a bad book, but keep in mind who it's geared toward.

I have been working as an assistant for the last twelve years and I felt that I needed to review the "core essentials" of my profession and pick up any techniques that I might have missed or forgotten along the way.

This is an excellent book for anyone who wishes to take stock of their career and review the essentials of what they actually do for a living. The approach of covering everything from first day, first job and career progression is excellent - no matter how much career history an assistant brings to a new job, until she manages to establish in her boss' mind that the new assistant is compentent, the new assistant might as well be a raw rookie.

For the record, the book contains a fair amount of information that will not be particularly useful for readers outside the USA (time zones, telephone numbers, etc). So, unless your boss does a lot of business travelling to the US, the parent company is US based, or the company has a lot of US based clients - these sections are not particularly useful.

I, too, bought the e-book and I would recommend that if time is on your side, buy this book in hardcopy format as it just cries out for a collection of post-it notes, annotations and needs its spine broken in a photocopier.

I have read lots of books designed to give tips to administrative assistants. They are all so mundane and elementary. Not so with this book!

Heather gives you fun stories to relate to the things she is trying to teach you. Her insights into the details of managing a high-level boss are awesome! She discussed details I had never thought of and opened my mind to new ideas at work.

I highly recommend this book for assistants looking to fine-tune their organizational skills. You will not only learn how to be a great assistant but how to springboard into a new career. Get this book! - Bob's Wife, Susan

Heather Beckel was my boss during my very first internship. In a world where perfection was the standard, she taught me how to be the best assistant I could be. I started off well-meaning and earnest, but she helped me turn my enthusiasm into expertise. We were a tight group, those who worked for Heather, and we would all agree it was a career-shaping experience. Read her words. They will help you get to where you want to go.

Wow. Be A Kickass Assistant is my new bible. This book offered a zillion tools to help me be a better assistant. I loved reading about The White House, and even though my boss isn't as cool as George, we've already discussed several things from the book that we're going to implement. My favorite thing about the book was that it gave me a new outlook on my job and about myself. Thanks, Heather Beckel.

This book is written to help you become a better assistant, and it succeeds very well at that. Heather Beckel's suggestions on how to be a better assistant are also useful for anyone who works in an office - her guidelines on computer use, keeping on schedule, and communication were helpful to me.
But, more importantly, the book is an entertaining read for anyone! Beckel has worked in some very interesting places, with some famous and powerful people. She has some great stories to tell that complement her suggestions for the workplace. The book is written in a conversational style that makes it easy to read in "small bites." I enjoyed it.

I wholeheartedly recommend this book for both seasoned and new administrative support professionals. I've been in the administrative field for 11 years and already knew some (not all) of the "tricks" the author gives. I found this book entertaining AND educational...it is definitely a helpful source to have by your side. If I were to offer any critism in regard to this book, I'd have to say that it provides very little assistance with the technology today (i.e. Palm, BlackBerry, etc). This book is a MUST BUY for assistants of any level!!!!

Heather Beckel, former assistant to Clinton White House advisor George Stephanopoulos, wrote this manual for other assistants to help live by. Combining tried and true advice with blow by blow accounts of the White House experience and more, Beckel grounds the reader with why they should take her advice instead of just listening to it. Intended to be an orientation for assistants, this book could also be used by a manager to help them with relating better to their assistants. The author is eclectic yet understated in her own talents. It is no small coincidence that she went from high office in politics to Ralph Lauren in New York City. The skills she emphasizes within these pages allowed her to become her own boss. Good advice is where you find it.

The writer has great style and all, but it's really written for newcomers to this profession.

I was impressed by the title of the book. I like the presentation. But what's really lacking is the content when I dig into it. I had reasonably high expectation of the book, that it's for the 'take-your-career-to-the-next-level' readers (seasoned office professionals). However, it disappoints me in this department.

The information provided, particularly in the "Appendix" is relevant to the US, but may not be the case for other parts of the world. The concepts and principles are useful. Having worked and still do, in large American corporations, I find it easy to relate to the book.

Having said all that, it still makes a GREAT book for everyone who is NEW and ASPIRES to be the BEST admin you could possibly be - A KICKASS ASSISTANT. Happy reading!

This is a fabulous book! Not everything applied to me (If I stayed later than my boss he'd wonder why I was charging overtime) but overall it was a great book. This is not a book about how to be a great assistant to your boss so that s/he will never let you go and that you'll be supporting them forever. This book is about how to be a great assistant and using that to springboard you into something else. That something else could be being your own boss or being a higher level executive assistant. This book is empowering and interesting. I highly recommend this to anyone who wants truly wants to better themselves and their careers.