program associate

marketing specialist

senior staff attorney

director

administrative assistant

American Bar Association

o Keep track of several lists for Constructions Forums including Listserve and Committees in TIMSS
o Produce and maintain clear, well organized records, assist with data entry, reporting data on programs and administration in collaboration with all departmental management.
o Managed timelines, Executive Calendars, vendor relationships, travel, catering, rentals and other arrangements.
o Handle confidential and non-routine information professionally.
o Schedules, organizes and assists with Board meetings, conferences and appointments.
committee meetings and select special events.
o Knowledge of CLE accreditation – write updates for intranet and journals
o Created brochures and direct mail pieces for lawyers, students and employees
o Special Events coordinator for 3 Legal forums for 1-200 lawyers in various cities; ordered special needs, menus and various equipment for meetings, as well as travel as hotel accommodations
o Coordinate conference calls and variety of printings, signage and budget materials
o Heavy phones and inter/intra company emails
o Responsible for all procurement and maintains inventory of office supplies, paper goods and general maintenance materials.
o Assists in processing accounts payable expenditures and reconciliations
o Prepare documents for Construction forums and meetings
o Write/edit attorney biographies
o Desktop publish brochures and calendars – Updated intranet forum webpage
o Proof copy for meeting materials
o Proficient in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Publisher, Outlook, PageMaker and HTML

Syprot International Corporation Chicago, IL
Marketing Communications Coordinator / Administrator 04/10 to 08/11

• Marketing Communications coordinator and copywriter/Brand manager
• Execute product/category marketing plans for segments driving incremental sales growth, share gains and positive brand attributes. Marketing Communications planner/ coordinator and copywriter.
• Devised Communications plans for internal and external audiences to broaden publicity and promote brand image.
• Executive Meeting Planner/coordinator; Send company-wide emails; maintained multiple list and spreadsheets. Managed timelines, vendor relationships, catering, rentals and other arrangements.
• Track Executive monthly expense reports and credit card transactions
• Process invoices and arrange venues, meals for on and offsite meetings
• Manage Communication budget and tracked all communications efforts
• Project manager; Meeting/calendar planner; Arranged travel, hotel, special needs for consultants
• Social Media and External news media specialist
• Creative writer and designer for newsletters, direct mail pieces, promotional materials and press releases
• Graphic Design utilizing HTML program and Photoshop
• Respond to media inquiries and update intranet site
• Coordinate media interviews with key executives. Write talking points and update executive bios.
• Write and coordinate press releases and talk points, pitch media, field media inquires; coordinate executive interviews
• Manage media inquiry calls from local, regional and national media outlets
requests and escorts (interviews/filming & photography)
Maintain media database, PR calendar, and track and report media hits. Responsible for tracking and documentation of projects from proposal to closeout
Project & event coordination including identifying needed resources and liaising with
various internal and external stakeholders
• Develop propositions and programs to drive business
• Conduct competitor and market analysis, including product and claim analysis, to develop counter strategies and initiatives
• Collaborate with internal and external partners to execute go-to-market strategies, ongoing support and plans including new product launches, advertising creative, media planning, channel strategies, public relations, point of sale, promotions etc.
Internet maintenance
• Manage Communication budget
• Track all communications efforts/ Project Manager
• Social Media and External news media specialist

Imagine being supervised and managed by the resenting mean kids from high school. You will feel this during the interview but it’s so much worst than that. After the interviews they will sit around like mean girls ripping apart interviewees based on their looks, or where they went to school or where they are from. They are bullies, if you don’t laugh at their mean crass jokes, you are out. They hire their own friends and tell them all the “secrets” for them to gain more perks at work, like asking for x salary during the interview or when to take advantage of certain situations to either get free things or earn more money. Friends of supervisors and managers are the only people who get raises, or promotions. Don’t bother going above and beyond at your work at ProBar, your work will often be overshadowed and devalued, while those who do the bare minimum and get promoted or offered other opportunities to advance, not on merit but because of their friendship with the Supervisors. 

The job is hard. You deal with trauma on a daily basis, children who have been abused and you really don’t have the proper training to deal with their trauma and end up with secondary trauma as well. Then you go back to the office to hear the “managers” anda “supervisors” say how hard our jobs are and how we do so much more than anyone else in the office and we deserve more, yet we are the ones who are paid less than anyone else with a degree. Some will do the bare minimum and avoid going to see the kids at the shelter to their job and give lectures or legal interviews. The schedule is made by one person, and she is petty. The schedule is available for everyone to see, and tells you where you need to go and if you will be doing interviews or lectures in the morning and afternoons. If she doesn’t like you you will notice it on the schedule, you’ll be scheduled to work out of the office everyday, and you’ll be giving lectures and doing interviews every morning and afternoon. Her buddies get to stay in the office, and usually get really relaxed days. It got so infuriating to be paid less than some coworkers when I was giving it my all. So I stopped having a passion for the job. Then they started noticing when my work ethic began to falter and pointed it out to me. That was the final straw. 

The entire place is cliquey and it starts at the top. ProBar does good things for people, but the people they have chosen to lead do not reflect ProBars mission or ethics. It’s a gross reflection of a company when it puts immature people like that in leadership positions.

Toxic work environment for sure. 

But they pay you money, which wasn’t good enough to keep me dealing with their huge egos.

A typical day at work would involve calls/emails from lawyers, law students, committee members, vendors and speakers regarding details of a meeting, discounts, registration etc.  Did I receive their registration or why he/she didn't receive confirmation.  Members and speakers would inquire about their reimbursement check.  Updating and generating reports and constantly being interrupted. 
What did I learn?  How to be patient and keep my manager informed.
Management:  my manager did not micromanage and she trusted me to get the job done. 
My coworkers and I worked as a team on name badges, tickets to events and shipping materials to meeting sites.  We understood the time constraints.
The harderst part of the job:  Since overtime was eliminated for budget reasons, trying to get everything done in an 8 hour day.
Enjoyable:  My manager was a great person to work for and I learned a lt from her .  Since she had risen from  entry-level, she also knew most of the problems that employees faced.  She motivated me to come up with new ideas and always provided helpful feedback.  

A typical day at the American Bar Association, would be preparing for the next upcoming event or closing that program/conference.  I start by adding meeting information into Personify, check the website for errors before the program goes live to the public.  Have accounts set-up for applying monies for sponsorship; add the conference in the MCLE system, for approval before the conference/meeting starts.  The CLE credit is for attorneys who have attended the conference and most of the attorneys that attend the conferences, need CLE Credits for their state profile as a lawyer.  This position is extremely busy, every day there is always a project to start and complete in regards to hosting a conference.  This is just one part of my responsibilities that consists of preparing for a conference.  It's an extremely busy position.  My position works with four different Forums with the American Bar Association.

The job is very rewarding. A lot of time for independent work with minimal supervision. Certain supervisors have strong preference and favoritism to specific employees. There are different expectations for people who have the same position which creates a very unfair and unhealthy work environment. Supervisors have their favorites it is hard to get a promotion or advance within the company if you are not one of the favorites or if you do not know the supervisors in a social setting, and spend time with them outside of work. There is a lot a lack of foresight and a lot of reactive changes that throw off the day or the week or even an employees trajectory within the organization bc management neglected to anticipate or consider a factor that would affect the workload.

What is the best part of working at the company?
It was a good group of people, and I was made to feel like my work mattered.

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
The uncertainty of the financial situation of the organization because of the reliance on member dues as its main source of revenue made it difficult. 

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Folks were generally friendly and helpful. There was some degree of politics as there is at any organization, but that was more prevalent in the main office as opposed to the DC office.

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
A lot of paper pushing in the position I was in. Budget forecasts for projects, review of contracts, reports on grants, filing of paperwork for CLE's, etc.

People who work at the ABA want to apply legal knowledge and experience to improve life for other people. This can mean maintaining a handbook on legal professional ethics, teaching attorneys to advocate for people in immigration detention, or presenting an international conference for attorneys who want to expand the rule of law in their own countries. As with any large organization the ABA also needs people with other specialized skills such as accountants, media relations contacts, and program managers.

A more bizarre and stultifying workplace environment is not imaginable. The ABA is equal parts toxic and dysfunctional.  A mismanaged, bloated bureaucracy, antiquated technology, multiple layers of dead weight, and a largely siloed and extremely demoralized staff—it all makes for quite a scene. Upper management is wildly overpaid, while salary levels for most at the ABA are not in the least competitive. The benefits package isn't bad, though. But that could change as the ABA's profligate ways hasten its slide into irrelevance and terminal decline.

The American Bar Association offers employees opportunities for advancement, and has a good work-life balance. As director of the ABA's largest entity, my days typically involve member management, staff oversight, and strategic planning. The Young Lawyers Division staff is terrific: diverse, hard-working and team-oriented. The best part of my job is working with very smart people and learning new things. The most challenging  is balancing the expectations of many different people and the tension between member-leaders, organizational constraints, and limited resources.

Although I love what I do here at ProBAR, management is the worst. You kind of feel like you’re back in elementary. Your hard work will go unnoticed unless management likes you. They preach so much about self care and personal development but actions speak louder than words. Don’t expect to advance unless you do the bare minimum and you kiss up to management.  This is hard work and you often end the day exhausted. There used to be opportunities for growth and personal development until there was a change in management and well it’s all downhill from there. 

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Program associate 4 salaries reported	$43,888 per year
Marketing specialist 4 salaries reported	$56,000 per year
Senior staff attorney 9 salaries reported	$73,765 per year
Director 3 salaries reported	$113,333 per year
Administrative assistant 6 salaries reported	$39,233 per year

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