Administrative Assistant Career | Administrative Secretary Career | Secretary Job
Administration Assistant Jobs - What is the Job of Office Secretary Work? What do Executive Secretary Jobs Involve?
Technology has truly changed the landscape of the administrative secretary, as advanced automation and computer technologies have allowed secretaries to take on many of the roles that were once reserved for administrative managers. Coordinating the administration of an office is now increasingly the responsibility of a secretary or administrative assistant.
Administrative assistants have the role of performing duties such as scheduling meetings and appointments, organizing files, managing projects, conducting information research, and sending information through the telephone, web sites, or e-mail. Travel arrangements also fall under the responsibility of a secretary.
Secretaries will use fax machines, copiers, scanners, and telephones as the tools of their job. Computer technology will also be made good use of in the work of secretaries, which can include desktop publishing software, digital graphics, database management, creating PowerPoint presentations, composing letters, and creating spreadsheets.
Other roles of a secretary include negotiation, maintaining leased equipment, purchasing office supplies, and managing stockrooms. Many of these roles used to be assigned to administrative managers, however, computers have greatly eliminated the need to do dictation and word processing, leaving more time for these other office related tasks.
The specific job of a secretary career will depend on their experience, and executive secretaries will provide administrative support for an office in lieu of an administrative manager. A legal secretary may handle legal issues such as complaints, motions, legal research, and summons. Medical secretaries have the responsibility of being familiar with insurance rulings, proper billing practices, and hospital procedures.
Engineering secretaries may offer correspondence that is highly technical and will gather scientific papers together in order to assist an engineering firm.
School secretaries are employed in elementary schools and secondary schools in order to handle communication between parents, teachers, and administrators. They may need to know bus schedules and what immunizations should be taken, in addition to keeping track of students grades, and issuing room assignments.
Working Conditions for Administrative Assistant Jobs - How is the Working Environment for a Secretary Job?
Secretary and administrative assistant working conditions usually involve a fairly low stress 40 hour workweek. Twenty percent of all secretaries will work part time, and they spend most of their day and a computer screen typing away the keyboard or performing other routine office tasks, such as scheduling meetings and appointments.
As a result of working in a computer for long periods of time, administrative assistants may suffer from repetitive motion injuries such as back pain, eyestrain, and carpal tunnel syndrome.
Secretarial Support Education - How to Become a Private Secretary - How to Receive Your Administrative Assistant Training
Secretary education usually requires a high school diploma, but it is common for secretaries to have further training in office skills by taking a one or two year program at a community college in office administration.
Office secretary employers are increasingly providing formal training in computer skills, in order to teach various word processing and spreadsheet programs. Medical secretaries and legal secretaries have special training in order to help them properly perform their job in a highly technical field.
Executive secretary jobs increasingly involve a bachelor’s degree as these secretaries must coordinate with executives in a company. Most secretaries and administrative assistants will need to continue their learning in new office technologies such as learning a new version of a word processing program or a new dictation system.
Office Secretary Training Requirements - How to Become a Administrative Assistant
Skills that office secretaries should have include excellent spelling and grammar, in addition to an ability to communicate thoughts and ideas clearly. Most secretary employers look for good customer service skills, as secretaries are responsible for dealing directly with clients, and as such must promote a professional image for the firm that they’re working for.
Secretary certification is provided by number of organizations including the National Association of Legal Secretaries, which offers two designations including the professional legal secretary accreditation, and the certified legal secretary specialist accreditation. The former provides training in legal support, and the latter provides training in specific areas of intellectual property, civil litigation, and business law, for those who have experience and can pass an examination.
Other designations which a secretary can receive include the certified professional secretary and the certified administrative professional, which are both met by passing a training period and an examination.
Advancement in the field of secretary employment is usually acquired by going to college and obtaining an associate’s degree or a bachelor’s degree in office management in order to become an executive secretary. Some legal secretaries decide to gain additional training and to become a paralegal.
Administrative Assistant Employment - What is the Future of Virtual Secretary Jobs?
Over the next decade, administrative assistants and secretaries should experience job growth of about 9%, in average pace for American occupations. Growth in healthcare industries are the largest factors in growth, while the fastest growing fields are still the professional and scientific fields.
Overall, legal secretaries, medical secretaries, and executive secretaries face the best employment opportunities, due to increased office automation and corporate restructuring which has made individual secretaries much more productive. Computers and e-mail have allowed administrative assistants to accomplish vast amounts of work in short periods of time.
Traditional duties of the secretary such as filing, making photo copies, and typing are largely done by office clerks, but secretary jobs cannot be eliminated, as these working professionals are responsible for providing a professional face to the company’s image.
Job prospects in secretary work are best for those who have an associate’s degree or a bachelor’s degree in office management, as well as ample computer skills.
Administration Assistant Salary Pay Scale - How Much Do Administrative Assistant Jobs Earn?
In 2006, office secretary jobs, excluding specialties, earned a median salary of $27,450, with those working for local governments earning the most at $30,350, and those working for employment services earning the least at $26,810.
Executive secretaries and administrative assistant jobs earn a salary of $37,240 over the same time period, and managing secretaries of companies had the highest rate of pay $41,570.
In the same year, legal secretary jobs had median earnings of $38,190, and medical secretary jobs had median salaries of $28,090. Salaries will vary depending on the technical nature of the secretary’s work and the amount of their responsibilities.