Do not job hop into administrative roles
Most administrative jobs vary little from expected duties to the next. Job hopping in this sense only ensures that your learning curve will remain pancake flat. The only thing you’ll be educating yourself on is your new boss’s name and how to fax from the copy machine.
That is why it’s important to not spend a lot of time (and effort) hopping from one administrative job into another unless they meet the following criteria:
- An industry in which you want to carve a career
I don’t suggest taking another administrative job for more money. Be careful when doing this unless you think it’s going to make a considerable difference (meaning going from below poverty level to being able to afford Ramen noodles).
That, however, is a slippery slope.
Making more money may actually distract you from concentrating on your career. You’ll inadvertently spend time concentrating on the money aspect of a job you may loathe and not enough time transitioning skills into a career you want.
Also, avoid the trap of taking another administrative job for what you perceive as gaining more responsibility. There’s really no such thing as “more responsibility” in an administrative job, especially if your title (or job duties) aren’t changing to those of an office manager or VP.
Theoretically, if you stay where you are and explode your current job duties with added responsibilities and new ideas, you won’t need to leave your current role. This is so because the increased responsibilities (for whatever you want) would’ve been already created for you on your own terms.
Your learning curve increases without the added stress of learning a whole new administrative culture (at a new job), the groove of a new boss, and coworker idiosyncrasies.
Next, the obvious question – what if my boss truly sucks and “role expansion” is a joke?