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Secretary

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Secretary Career Details

Secretaries provide administrative support to one or more people in an organisation. Their duties and responsibilities could vary greatly according to the employer, but may include:

using word processors, spreadsheets and databases to type documents and update records
answering the telephone and dealing with enquiries
making appointments and keeping diaries
preparing and distributing papers and documents for meetings and taking minutes, possibly using shorthand
dealing with incoming and outgoing post
drafting letters and other documents
word processing or typing letters and other documents, possibly using audio transcription
maintaining a filing system.

Well-qualified secretaries, including graduates, may also do work like compiling accounts, controlling budgets and presenting reports and statistics.

Working Environment

Secretaries usually work 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday. They could be asked to work extra or flexible hours at busy times.

Part-time work, job sharing and temporary work are available.

Secretary Related Skills

To be a secretary you should:

be efficient, well- organised and good at time management
have good communication skills, both spoken and written
have an excellent command of grammar, spelling and punctuation
be able to work accurately and pay attention to detail
have an understanding of business
have good keyboard skills and confidence with a range of word processing and computer packages
be able to deal with confidential information
be able to work unsupervised on your own initiative
work well under pressure.

Secretary Career Opportunities

Secretaries are found in all types and sizes of organisations, both in the private and public sectors.

Opportunities may exist to become personal assistant to a senior manager or an office manager. Further specialist training is available to become a farm, medical or legal secretary (see the Farm/Medical/Legal Secretary profiles).

With further qualifications, experienced and well-qualified secretaries could become college lecturers, teaching secretarial skills to students. For more information, see the profile for Lecturer: Further Education.

Further Career Information

If you would like to know more about a career as an Secretary related facts, statistics, articles and websites.

Career Steps

Not quite sure about a career as a Secretary? Try our step-by-step career guide to reaching your chosen career.

Career Courses

Not quite qualified to be a Secretary? Take a look at Training Secretary courses, Adult learning Secretary courses, our course browses or use our search form and find courses which will help you on your chosen career path.

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