What is the job of a secretary?

The job of a secretary is very significant in small to large every size of companies. In order to understand the jobs of a secretary, you need to imagine that you are standing in an office now, start thinking about what jobs you see existing there. All those tasks like administering the affairs of the business and clerical tasks are all the tasks that you need to handle as a secretary on a regular day basis.

Some of the most important jobs of a secretary are involving in the administering affairs of the business, Advising the board, handling the work of the board, Drafting agreements, taking care of secretarial compliances and industry related legal works, organizing the board meetings of the company, handling and preserving the records of the company, Sending mail, answering phone calls, taking responsibility of the customer service  enhancement,  greeting the visitors,  handling office supplies, proofreading all the important papers and proposals etc.

The significance of the job of a secretary:

Secretary must be a jack of all trades, which means he or she must be an expert in handling  multiple tasks with the most efficiency and productivity. As a Secretary you will receive a lot of respect as well as you will have to face a lot of phone calls which will trouble you or disturb you.

A secretary is required to take up all the administrator and also the clerical responsibilities.  They also help the employees in administrative and clerical works.  The secretary plays a very essential role in order to run an organisation in a smooth and efficient order, for the coordination and administration of all the different types of projects and supervise all the junior staff in the office. Now the job and responsibility of a secretary can vary according to the number of employees and the type of work done in an organisation. Establishing a professional and industry standard communication through  written or oral method, by typing, organising the works and presenting the different aspects of the business is also part of the job of a secretary.

The secretary needs to be able to handle various different types of work like preparing documents, managing the office equipment, maintaining the professional qualities in each and every of your work.

 As you work  as a secretary and handle a lot of responsibility it actually gradually helps you to grow in your career.  As you gather a lot of experience in this work you can move to larger  companies and occupy more responsibilities and leadership positions in different departments. 

In order to become a successful Company Secretary, you need to learn to deal with the people with patients and polite behaviour, like answering a phone politely and transferring the call without hanging up on people etc.

List of the job of a Secretary

• Providing high level of administrative support
• Accounts receivable and payable
• Taking care of the Shipping jobs
• Receiving the documents and products etc
• Being in charge of all travel booking,  it can be domestic or International.
• Checking all the mails and sending the reply.
• Handling the process of credit cards
• Regularly reconciling the credit cards and bank statements
• Politely answering the phones call maintaining professionalism
• Being in charge of Scheduling meetings
• Responsible to order office supplies and lunch
• Buying all the necessary office groceries and equipment
• Taking responsibility of packing the different items and mailing them
• Providing excellent customer service with high level of customer satisfaction rate
• Setting up of business accounts for customers
• Making the Bank deposit if necessary
• Welcoming each and every visitor’s  in the office
•  Preparing coffee or other beverage
• Proofreading the various different email, papers, documents and proposals
• You also need to send flowers and words in case of anniversaries, congratulations and condolences
• Creating the website and social media accounts of the company
• Creating content for the website and social media accounts\
• Maintaining the website and online platforms
• Having at least basic coding knowledge to handle the websites
• If the office is moved then a secretary needs to set up everything in the moved location.
• Helping in moving of the office in different location
• Handling the new services of the company
• Being extremely flexible with the changes of technology and any others things
• Arranging and conducting the board meetings
• Sharing ideas and advising the board regarding different official matters
• looking after the activities if they are compliance with the policy of the company
• Looking after the board meeting and minuting them
• Making sure that the activities of the companies are compliance with the legal obligations of the state
• Maintaining all the records, documents and other important data and storing them or keeping back up regularly
• Protecting the brand name of the company
• Maintaining the incoming and outgoing documents
• Maintaining the file system and organizing them
• Assisting the clients in the queries
• Managing the calendar,  scheduling of the appointments, time and venue of meetings and diary commitments etc
• Assisting in the travel arrangement
• Handling the jobs of photocopying and typing
• Coordinating in the billing and expenses

Purpose of the job of a secretary

The main purpose of the job of a secretary is to undertake a range of duties to provide complete support to administrative tasks, managing files and taking care of all the clerical responsibilities of the office.

Skills Required for the job of a secretary:

• You are at least expected to have PSC/ Diploma in Business management or Having company secretary degree
• Possessing excellent typing skills with the minimal errors
• Strong business and finance related knowledge
• Experience in working in real world work environment
• Strong command on interpersonal and communication skills
• Proficient in both written and spoken English
• Having technical skills like knowledge of MS office softwares, website designing and maintaining and SEO knowledge
• Having basic knowledge of digital marketing will be plus
• Ability to handle the social media, website and online platforms of the company
• Displaying mature and professional personality in your work, attitude and behavior
• Able to work independently and with dedication
• Strong organizational skill
• Excellent administrative knowledge and ability
• Proactive and motivated person, who can become a source of enthusiasm and inspiration to others
• Must carry very flexible approach 
• Easily adoptive to the technical and others changes
• Up-to-dated with the technological advancement
• Strong attention to detail skill to ensure that each and every task are done with minimal errors or without errors
• Maintaining higher level of standard in your regular tasks
• Proficient in using excel or other spreadsheet softwares.
• Ability to work in a team and autonomously according to the situation
• Ability to manage and prioritize your own works
• Excellent verbal communication skill
• Strong non-verbal and written communication skill with professional standard
• Profound Presentation skill and knowledge of using softwares for presentation
• Ability to build trust and relationship with people of all level

Takeaways from the job of a secretary:

In simple sentences, a secretary is a person who plays a vital role in a company by doing several types of jobs like from advicing in the administration to the clerical jobs.

As a secretary you may enjoy a lot of respect from several people as you will be the main representative of your entire office but along with respect you may also need to digest some yelling and angers of people while taking the telephonic call. 

Moreover, you may face little difficulty at the beginning of the secretary job as you need to become a jack of all trades but as you become an experienced person you will most probably feel comfortable with this job and there will be a lot of opportunities ahead of you to work with very large company, receiving more and more respect and earn better salary.

Developing your communication skills, technical computer skills, business knowledge, multi-tasking ability will become keys for your growth in career as a professional secretary. 

Let me know your suggestion in the comment section below for adding more life to this article and helping others to grow.

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