Konisenta makes good use of her office know-how
Derek Neary
Northern News Services
Fort Simpson (Mar 30/01) - Kathy Konisenta went back to school and now she's reaping the benefits.
Konisenta is the executive assistant at the Deh Cho Business Development Centre. It's a job tailored made for her.
"It's what I wanted. I get to use all my computer skills," she said.
Her computer and general office administration skills are the products of two years of at Aurora College in Fort Smith, followed by two years of office administration that she completed at Grande Prairie.
"It came easily. The toughest part was the academics. There was a lot of writing," she said. "After that, it just fell into place."
She felt she had to upgrade her education to find something better than work as a cashier or odd jobs.
Born and raised in Nahanni Butte, Konisenta lived in Fort Simpson from 1983-89. After finishing school, she returned to the community last year to do some "job hunting." She spent part of the year working at the Financial Management Board Secretariat (FMBS) and learned quite a bit from that position, she said.
Then she saw an ad for her current job. She applied, was hired and started in January.
Working from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, she carries out basic office duties such as faxing, photocopying, mailing, and scheduling appointments. She knows how to use Excel, Word, Access, Outlook and Power Point. She also handles the accounting duties and assists clients who require information on small businesses. Konisenta is familiar with many of the resources because she oversees the Business Development Centre's library, numbering and labelling the books, videos and CDs.
There is a lot more to running a small business than one would think, she noted.
"You've got to do quite a bit of research," she said.
Her experience could very well help her to realize one of her own dreams.
"That's one of my goals, to run a small business out of my home," she said, and has accounting services in mind.
