Professional development has always been a bit of a quandary for Executive Administrators.  There has always been the plethora of short, skill-based courses, which are useful to obtain specific skills in a short amount of time.  There has also been the plethora of conferences, which are great for networking with other PA/EA’s and for gaining a wide range of information.

Professional development is critical in every profession.  As an aging population, we are all staying in the workplace longer.  The workplace, and role of the EA, has changed significantly over time and is continuing to change and we all start to feel vulnerable as we head towards, and over, the 45+ age bracket.  

Having an investment plan which aims to develop your skill set to ensure you are sitting in the optimum position possible in order to make a career move, or to maintain, and increase, your worth to your organisation, is critical.  A good investment plan will contain a range of activities such as short courses to develop specific skills; seminars/conferences to provide up to date information on what is happening in your field; a mentoring relationship to develop your career path and broaden your knowledge and skill base; formalised networking to enhance career opportunities; professional memberships and finally, a formal qualification.

The Graduate Certificate in Business (Executive Administration) is a postgraduate qualification developed specifically for EA’s to provide high end skills and knowledge such as public speaking, managing a team, preparing professional presentations, managing projects, evaluating and developing web sites and understanding management processes.

It is available on campus via Saturday sessions delivered fortnightly at the Prahran campus.  It is also delivered online so students who are regional or interstate can also complete the qualification.  Online learning works extremely well for students, who are independent learners, have jobs with peaks and troughs and require flexibility, and who are good at time management and self-motivation.  Students contribute to online discussions designed to simulate classroom discussions.

For further information about this qualification contact:

Kathy Thomas on  (03) 9214 6887 

or kthomas@swin.edu.au 

or visit the course website at www.tafe.swin.edu.au/admintech/execadmin