Secretary

Secretaries provide administrative support to managers and other professionals. Duties include using a computer to produce letters, reports and other documents, answering telephone calls, arranging meetings, keeping the manager’s diary and dealing with visitors.

Work activities

Secretaries provide administrative support to one or more managers, although some secretaries support small teams or company departments. They usually answer incoming telephone calls, deal with routine enquiries, take messages and decide which calls need the immediate attention of the manager. Secretaries might be responsible for checking incoming mail and email, and deciding which correspondence the manager needs to look at or deal with personally.

They organise and prioritise office correspondence on their manager’s behalf, and usually keep a computer (or paper) filing system so that documents can be found again when needed. Senior managers sometimes dictate letters to their secretaries, who might use audio transcription or sometimes shorthand or speed writing skills. Using their initiative, some secretaries also prepare and word process draft replies to correspondence without supervision, showing these to their manager for approval and signature. Senior secretaries might write and send off their own letters.

Secretaries keep their manager’s diary and might arrange meetings on their behalf. They also use writing skills to draw up an agenda prior to a meeting, take accurate minutes (often using shorthand or speed writing) and write them up concisely afterwards. Before the meeting begins, they distribute the agenda and any other relevant papers to people who will be attending the meeting. Secretaries often greet visitors or clients and organise refreshments for them. Some secretaries make their manager’s travel arrangements, reserving hotel rooms and planning the travel itinerary. Secretaries might also do this for international colleagues or clients who visit the organisation.

Experienced secretaries can help managers to make more efficient use of their time. They use their judgement to relieve their manager of unnecessary pressures or frequent interruptions. Senior secretaries and personal assistants use their initiative to make decisions on a manager’s behalf. Sometimes, secretaries go with their manager on business trips or to attend conferences. Specialist areas include legal, medical, school, agricultural and bilingual work.

Being able to read, write and speak Welsh may be an advantage when you’re looking for work in Wales.

Personal qualities and skills

As a secretary, you’ll need to have:

Keyboard, word-processing and audio transcribing skills, and possibly shorthand or speed writing.
Good written and spoken English.
Strong organisational skills to plan and prioritise your workload.
The ability to use your initiative.
An efficient, accurate and methodical approach; you will need to pay close attention to detail.
A good telephone manner and a polite and helpful approach to visitors.
Interpersonal skills.
Tact and discretion.
The ability to think quickly and stay calm under pressure.
A respect for confidentiality, because you could deal with personal, confidential or sensitive information.
The ability to understand how the organisation works, for example, the company’s relationship with customers or clients.

You might also need to use other computer software packages such as spreadsheets, presentation software, desktop publishing applications or databases.

Pay and opportunities

Salaries for secretaries can vary. The pay rates given are approximate. Secretaries start on around £17,000, rising to £35,000 with experience.

Secretaries usually work a 37-39 hour week, Monday to Friday. Full-time, part-time, temporary and flexible working arrangements might be available. Temporary work, on a casual basis or through short-term contracts, might be available from secretarial and office employment agencies.

Where could I work?

Employers are businesses and organisations in every sector of industry, commerce and public service. Opportunities for secretaries occur in towns, cities and some rural areas throughout the UK.

Where are vacancies advertised?

Vacancies are advertised in local newspapers, on job boards and employers’ websites, and on the Government’s Find a Job and Find an Apprenticeship services.

Entry routes and training

Usual entry is through a full- or part-time course in secretarial/administration studies. A variety of courses cover secretarial and IT user skills such as text processing, shorthand and audio transcription as well as general office and business skills. Courses lead to Institute of Administrative Management (IAM), OCR, EDI, City & Guilds or Edexcel (BTEC) qualifications, and are available at local further education colleges. An alternative route is to find employment as an administrative assistant and learn on-the-job, with part-time study towards nationally recognised secretarial qualifications. An advanced apprenticeship could be a good way into this career path.

Secretaries often attend short courses to keep their skills up to date. It might be possible to work towards relevant Awards, Certificates and Diplomas, including Business and Administration at levels 1-4.

Experienced secretaries can progress into personal assistant or office manager roles, after further training and experience.

Rehabilitation of Offenders Act: Working as a secretary in some settings, for example, with access to people receiving health services or in a school, is an exception to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974. This means that you must supply information to an employer about any spent or unspent convictions, cautions, reprimands or warnings, if they ask you to. This is different from other careers, where you only have to reveal information on unspent convictions if you are asked to.

Qualifications

The entry requirements for secretarial courses vary depending on the course and the college. Some might ask you to sit an entrance test. Employers are likely to look for about 4 GCSEs at grades 9-4, including English. For some roles, employers could expect you to be educated to A-level standard (or equivalent). Some employers might prefer graduates.

If you wish to enter this career through an advanced apprenticeship, you will need GCSEs in English and maths.

In general, employers want to see evidence of fast, accurate keyboard skills, at a minimum of 45-50 words per minute (wpm); some employers expect 60-75 wpm. Where an employer wants shorthand skills, they usually ask for speeds of 80-100 wpm.

Adult opportunities

Age limits: It is illegal for any organisation to set age limits for entry to employment, education or training, unless they can show there is a real need to have these limits.

Some entrants have a relevant background, such as in office and administrative work.

A number of colleges run courses aimed specifically at people who want to gain or update their keyboard and secretarial skills.

Related careers

Agricultural administrator
Bilingual secretary
Court reporter
Editorial assistant
Legal secretary
Medical secretary
Office receptionist
Personal assistant
Production assistant
School secretary