Developing Thoughts
I don't know whether I've ever sat down and explained my job properly. So as I start to think about moving on, I thought it might be time to take stock - and it's taught me some things.
Essentially, my work is administrative. The title "Development Office Administrator" is one I've adopted as a convenient tag to help explain to Old Members who donate a lot of money why a 22 year old is handling their bank details. However I don't actually have a job title, nor a job description. I started as an intern, now... who knows?
So, day to day, I deal with the mail, with website queries (including passwords etc), with all of the donations that come into college (incl overseas gifts, shares, pledges and random gifts in kind like a dinner jacket we got a while back), event payments, bank statement reconcilliation, and donor stewardship.
The other major part of my job is prospect research - essentially using the internet and other resources to get as much background information about potential donors as possible in order to brief The Boss/ The Rector. It takes about 6 hours to build up a full and detailed profile on someone.
I don't really get much time to do this these days - too much admin, which is a huge shame because I really enjoy it.
Then there are little bits of PA-ing for The Boss, dealing with whatever comes into to the communal email inbox, and helping to organise/run events for OMs (as well as attending them - as on Sunday), with publications and anything else that needs doing in the office.
I've ended up becoming something of a financial manager and, while I like making the ledgers balance - the satisfying feeling of a row of ticks, I hate the red tape. I certainly don't like the fact that I spend all day dealing with a pile of cheques and haven't got through a to do list in months, let alone got near doing research.
However, what I've also found out is that I love listening to people, and helping to solve their problems. It irks me to go home at the end of the day with things unsolved, and I love the feeling when everything gets sorted out - that relief/satisfaction mixture. To a certain extent, I also like troublesome people, especially when I can solve whatever it is they're fussing about.
(Incidentally, and weirdly, some of the richer OMs are among the nicest - there's a fairly old guy in the US who insists we all call him by his first name, despite his status, wealth and the age gap! Of course there are some who are a little more prickly, but you get that all over).
But most of all I like the colour - listening to and reading the stories and recollections, especially of older OMs about the time tonker scored a try, or fred climbed the wall after curfew, or the Rector's pocket was on fire in chapel. I adore listening to them face to face as well - meeting people is a joy, and I love being introduced to new people. (The fact that some of them are famous is a bonus, of course).
And the other things - like the ridiculously long letter to the Rector about how women were inferior and shouldn't be educated with men, to which she simply replied
Dear Sir,
We disagree,
Yours sincerely,
(sig)
I actually laughed out loud when she gave it to us for reference.
I could write a book about it, except I'm not allowed to break the confidentiality agreement...
All food for thought though.
Essentially, my work is administrative. The title "Development Office Administrator" is one I've adopted as a convenient tag to help explain to Old Members who donate a lot of money why a 22 year old is handling their bank details. However I don't actually have a job title, nor a job description. I started as an intern, now... who knows?
So, day to day, I deal with the mail, with website queries (including passwords etc), with all of the donations that come into college (incl overseas gifts, shares, pledges and random gifts in kind like a dinner jacket we got a while back), event payments, bank statement reconcilliation, and donor stewardship.
The other major part of my job is prospect research - essentially using the internet and other resources to get as much background information about potential donors as possible in order to brief The Boss/ The Rector. It takes about 6 hours to build up a full and detailed profile on someone.
I don't really get much time to do this these days - too much admin, which is a huge shame because I really enjoy it.
Then there are little bits of PA-ing for The Boss, dealing with whatever comes into to the communal email inbox, and helping to organise/run events for OMs (as well as attending them - as on Sunday), with publications and anything else that needs doing in the office.
I've ended up becoming something of a financial manager and, while I like making the ledgers balance - the satisfying feeling of a row of ticks, I hate the red tape. I certainly don't like the fact that I spend all day dealing with a pile of cheques and haven't got through a to do list in months, let alone got near doing research.
However, what I've also found out is that I love listening to people, and helping to solve their problems. It irks me to go home at the end of the day with things unsolved, and I love the feeling when everything gets sorted out - that relief/satisfaction mixture. To a certain extent, I also like troublesome people, especially when I can solve whatever it is they're fussing about.
(Incidentally, and weirdly, some of the richer OMs are among the nicest - there's a fairly old guy in the US who insists we all call him by his first name, despite his status, wealth and the age gap! Of course there are some who are a little more prickly, but you get that all over).
But most of all I like the colour - listening to and reading the stories and recollections, especially of older OMs about the time tonker scored a try, or fred climbed the wall after curfew, or the Rector's pocket was on fire in chapel. I adore listening to them face to face as well - meeting people is a joy, and I love being introduced to new people. (The fact that some of them are famous is a bonus, of course).
And the other things - like the ridiculously long letter to the Rector about how women were inferior and shouldn't be educated with men, to which she simply replied
Dear Sir,
We disagree,
Yours sincerely,
(sig)
I actually laughed out loud when she gave it to us for reference.
I could write a book about it, except I'm not allowed to break the confidentiality agreement...
All food for thought though.