accounts assistant

Alcon

I was an Executive Assistant with CIBA Vision Canada Inc. for the past 12 years.   While at CIBA Vision, my role had expanded to a Supervisor for Admin Services.  As the Executive Assistant, I reported to the General Manager and his Leadership Team.  I managed their calendars, travel, organizing internal and external meetings, organized townhall meetings, agendas and followed-up to any action points.   I was also responsible for typing reports using MircroSoft Office ie. Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Visio.  

As a Supervisor, I have managed Administrative Assistants and collaborated closely with them to ensure all processes were aligned for multiple departments.  In addition, I also managed the Security staff on-site.

I headed the Social Committee which was a fun part of my job.  As a team we organized events for all employees which also included Charitable and Community Partnership Events.

The people at CIBA Vision were great.  We all helped each other out and worked as a team.  

The hardest part of my job was dealing with a difficult employee but with the help of HR, we resolved the issue.  It was a great learning experience.

I have learned so much at CIBA Vision.  From being an Executive Assistant as well as a Supervisor.  I had the opportunity to attended Leadership training courses to learn and understand how it is to be a successful Supervisor.  As an Executive Assistant, I felt I became a coach to other Administrative Assistants which was quite fulfilling but it created a sense of respect from both sides.

Novartis is the parent company, and we were all responsible for completing all training that Novartis would send on-line, ie Information Management e-training, Adverse Events,Code of Conduct, Data Privacy.

I joined CIBA Vision Canada Inc. as the Executive Assistant to the General Manager.  Over the years, I was given a promotion of Supervisor Admin Services whereby I managed the Administrative Assistants on site.  I thoroughly enjoyed my job as it kept me busy with supporting the General Manager and his Leadership Team with day to day Administrative support.  As the Supervisor, I enjoyed interacting with the other admins and worked as a team to ensure all office procedures were aligned.  We worked as a team to ensure all Safety Walks and Talks were conducted.  We supported each other if extra help was required.  
Over the 12 years with CIBA Vision, I have matured to work well with all my co-workers, coached them and provided constructive feedback so that there was continuous improvement for the site.  We definitely created a sense of ownership.
There is always something that is difficult which is giving someone a negative feedback but I learned quickly if feedback is not provided, improvements cannot happen.  It is hard but it needs to be done for everyone's success.  I enjoyed organizing events for the company.  Using the budget provided and working with an enthusiatic team becomes very creative and fun for everyone no matter what position they hold.

Working at Ciba Vision in Mississauga was an ideal location. A customer service representative job included placing, tracking and faxing orders. Answering inquiries regarding warranty, pricing and product information. As a customer service representative, one learns to be very multitasked and organized. At all times, my supervisor was very approachable and respectful. Working with a group of people that worked well a team made a regular work day pass by very smoothly. Satisfying customers was the most difficult part of this job. Dealing with extreme long back order situations were the most difficult times. Talking to customers at all levels, whether it was talking to an optometrist, a doctor, secretary or customers was the best part of my day.

As a learning and skill building position the job offered all the things that were needed.  Company growth and efficiency were always the top of my list for important factors.  Communicating and understanding are two factors that were never attained and that made for hardships for me as I am very structured and process oriented. My co-workers where nothing but amazing and we had great team chemistry.  Having this made every day feel like a success as we were one big team.  

I have learned that you cannot always be heard and promote change but the idea of never giving up and trying has made me a stronger person.

Great pharmaceutical company, always thinking on our customers and putting quality as number one, keeping up with the process and procedures was essential in order to keep our customers safe


Ciba Vision gave me the opportunity to expand my knowledge in    the pharmaceutical field, they cross trained employees and gave them the opportunity to learn and being capable of performing in different positions of the job.

It was very sad and very difficult to find out that Ciba Vision was moving to the states because most of us grew up with the company.

I will always be great full for the great opportunities that Ciba gave me and the amount of things that I learned working there.

when I start working in the pharmaceutical company it was a challenge for me but everything comes by experience. One day a machine got jammed at the end of the shift on the line security day and there was a big mess under the machine, i had only 15 minutes to clean that mess, rejects, and put the good bottles to inspect in one bin. it was a typical day at work but i finished it on time. I manage my job and enjoy working in a team. The hardest part of the job is inspection because the product quality is most important, if in case i miss some important information on the product it will ruin the company's product, so i have to give extra attention to my job.

Ciba was my best choice of work that I had and best place that I learned most of my work knowledge. I had a hard time as a new Citizen, but that hardship soon dissolved after I landed a position at CIBA VISION. I met amazing staff members that trained me to the Canadian standard expectations. I saw myself working there as a future career, sadly, the company shut down and all employees had to struggle in replacing the loss. It was a wonderful experience to have worked there and I am grateful for all the training that I had. It made me who I am today; a safe experience worker who can also train others.

I learned to use PRMS, Ciba-Vision documentation, Line Clearances, Line Approval and additional knowledge to trouble shoot other machine. The management on packaging line has a backward focus, very sensitive to some correction and comments, poor in judging issues, more of blaming workers rather than focussing on solution. Cant handle criticism and very compulsive in behaviour and always give a negative reaction. Easily give penalty to workers, always focus on the mistakes not on the good contribution of workers and more SOP documentation flaws. Too much changes every week in SOP.

It's nice to come in to work and start working on projects and reports.  Emails and calls are always waiting when i get in to work.  Everyone at Alcon are very easy going and great to deal with.  My co-workers were cooperative in return and we all team played to get projects completed when necessary.
I've found challenges in working with new guidelines that were incomplete or inconsistent, making the task at hand very difficult.
I enjoyed dealing and assisting my 32 sales reps and 6 regional managers, with so much diversity and wide range of characters, it all made my work a great fun challenge.

What is the best part of working at the company?
Great Benefits I worked for Jll but we serviced building  I worked little over a year at the Alcon facility. The nicest people everyone is helpful friendly dedicated to succeed however no egos 

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
No stress only stress on yourself worried that you  might live upto to excellence at the facility. No need to worry it's a nice environment 

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Laid back professional dignity respect 

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Each day different task ....never boring

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