A day at the office...


National Office Professional of the Year 2010, Anneke Janse van Rensburg shares her typical working day with us.


6 06h00: 07:00: 07:55: 08:05: 08:10: 10 issue 2 • careersuccess issue 1


My alarm clock goes off – I hit snooze! I know


I’m going to regret this… but just 10 more minutes please? 06h30:


and three snoozes later I’m up. I chase the rest


of the family out of their beds and we create a tornado in the house – running up and down, brushing teeth, getting dressed and sprinting for the garage. Luckily the kids eat at school! I hope my husband took some bread or rusks or something…?


And we’re off! Phew! Note to self – don’t


snooze tomorrow morning. Luckily my husband drops the kids at school, otherwise I would have never made it.


I arrive at the office, glad to be there before


eight. This means I’ve beat the traffic and the snooze button! 08:00:


I unpack my laptop and get my desk ready for


the day. All my current projects are kept in secretarial folders, neatly labeled and organised. I keep these close by as I usually work with them on a daily basis.


Time for a cup of coffee! This is usually


accompanied with a rusk or two. I know it’s very bad for you, but I very seldom have breakfast at home... I’m not a morning person remember…


My husband phones while I’m having my coffee and tells me we have a problem: Our daughter’s best friend has a new pet … a bearded dragon. I nearly decorate my computer screen with coffee upon hearing this! No way! We form an alliance and agree that there will be no bearded dragons in our household. As it is we already have ten rabbits to feed! (It’s true what they say about rabbits you know… they do breed like, erm, well, rabbits!)


I open my e-mail and start wading through


over fifty that found their way into my inbox last night! Oi vey! The problem with emails is most of them demand action! I use the ‘categories’, ‘reminders’ and ‘flags’ tools on outlook to prioritise. I


organise my task list for the day, and make sure that I’m on top of what needs to happen.


09:30: I’m startled by my boss arrival! She had an off-


site meeting this morning, and I was so completely lost in my emails that I didn’t notice her coming in. A cup of coffee sounds like a good idea and I go make us some. We sit together and go through her travel diary. We do this at least once a month to ensure that we book her flights well in advance to save costs.


10:00: I have to get the board packs done today, as we


have a board meeting tomorrow… As I start printing the documents a colleague walks into my office and asks for advice. We move to the Board Room as we discuss her issue. I listen and advise her as best I can. Note to self – remember to follow-up with her in a day or two to see how things went.


10:40: Another attempt at the Board Packs. The phone


rings. It’s a customer who needs help with their account. They have been having queries with their statements for months and want to speak to my boss. I take down the details and run down to the Creditors department to get their side of the story.


10:50: Back up the stairs 10 minutes later, and my boss


is gone… Where did she go!! She has a telecon in 10 minutes! I run to the FD’s office, she’s not there. I run to the HR Director’s office, only to be told by the HR Secretary that they are in an ad- hoc meeting. Argh!! I hate doing this, but I have to interrupt. I softly knock on the door and as I stick my head in.


My boss sees me and immediately realises why I’m there. She excuses herself and we’re off, back up the stairs, almost sprinting for our office. As we do this I huff and puff out the details of the customer complaint call and she promises to phone them later.


10:57: I make sure boss is settled into her call before


I’m off to a safety meeting. I grab my safety reports and run for the conference room at the other side of the building. Thank goodness


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