The secretary is a kind of coordinating center of each organization.
There is a misconception that any competent person will be able to cope with the functions of a secretary.
However, this is not the case, and a candidate for the post of secretary must have a number of professional qualities to perform all functions.
The main functions of the secretary
The duties of the secretary of the head of any organization include the following tasks:
- receiving and sending correspondence;
- record keeping (creation and acceptance of documents, processing of materials necessary for the work of the organization and the leader personally, etc.);
- organization of meetings and negotiations of the head, obtaining information for the head and sending his resolutions to employees;
- conducting preparations for meetings and meetings and organizing their holding;
- Creation necessary conditions for the work of the head in his office;
- contacts with visitors and clients of the organization in person and by telephone;
- entering the necessary information into the data bank and printing out the information necessary for the manager or other employees from it.
Based on these functions, the secretary must know:
- fundamentals of modern office work and archiving;
- basics labor law and administrative law;
- rules business communication and preparation of business papers;
- rules for organizing the work of the head.
Personal characteristics
Organization, goodwill, resistance to stress - these are the main features that a secretary must possess without fail.
Every visitor of the company meets with the secretary, and all its employees are in contact in connection with their official duties. The secretary should communicate calmly and with a constant smile with everyone, despite his mood and his own well-being.
The secretary must have organizational skills and abilities, the ability to self-organize.
The ability to quickly reorganize in non-standard situations, show initiative in organizing the work of the company, and act in some cases without special instructions is especially appreciated by managers.
We are reviewing the resume of the secretary
Interview questions for a secretary are very important, but it all starts with a review of the candidate's resume.
The main purpose of any resume is to present the professional skills and personal qualities required for a particular position.
A well-written resume is self-promotion designed to interest the employer..
You need to arrange it in such a way that you would like to meet and talk with you.
Compiling a resume is based on a specific employer. You can not use the same, universal text of a resume for the position of secretary to apply to all organizations at once.
Before writing a resume, study the requirements of a particular vacancy, and write the text, focusing specifically on them. If there are special requests in the ad, do not forget to mark your compliance with them.
Education, experience and work skills are the main positions that are paid attention to when selecting candidates for secretaries, so they need to be presented in the most favorable light. It is necessary to indicate that the candidate for the position of secretary is punctual, diligent, sociable, stress-resistant.
One of the requirements of the resume is to provide a photo. You do not need to put in it a photo where you are relaxing at the sea, having fun in a club or smelling flowers in the country. Your task is to show that you are a business person, so imagine a photo in a business setting that clearly shows a face and a smart look.
Resume writing is a special issue.. The desire to paint a piece of paper with all the colors of the rainbow and monograms of various outlandish fonts leads to the fact that a potential leader does not even read the text. A resume is a document and should be designed in a single, strict font of the same color, highlighting the most important points in bold italics. Each block should be clearly structured and separated from others by a subheading.
Reread the text several times and check for errors. They should not be in the resume in any case, since the secretary must be literate. In the process of work, he will have to correct the mistakes of employees and even the manager, but how will he do this if he cannot competently build his own document.
Preparing for an interview
Each specific organization has its own specifics of work, so before the conversation you need to find out as much as possible about it and the area in which it operates. 
Conversation rules
And now more on the issue: interview of the secretary, questions and answers.
At the beginning of the interview, they are traditionally asked to tell about themselves, so it is better to think over the monologue in advance.
Tell us about your education and early career, but not for long.
Particular attention should be paid to the description of professional qualities, to talk about work experience, with an emphasis on the ability to organize work and thereby achieve results.
When describing the work, use the phrases “I did”, “I organized” less. It is better to say “our company”, “department under my leadership”, “I organized work on ...”.
When talking about yourself, do not talk about financial difficulties, health problems. You can not raise religious and political topics. Do not give anyone or anything a negative rating. Only positive emotions and goodwill towards everything that surrounds you should come from you.
Be at ease, do not lower your eyes to the table. But do not be arrogant - this is a direct path to failure. Trying to present yourself as an ideal worker does not lead to anything good.
It is better to create an impression of yourself, as well as a person striving for development. The authorities do not like it when someone considers himself smarter than him.
Your task is to give the impression of an educated, self-confident person, but without showing arrogance, ready to become an assistant to the head in organizing the work of his company.
Listen carefully to the interlocutor and try to use a few of his own words in the answer. The phrases can serve as the beginning of the answer: "You say that ...", "If I understand correctly, you are interested in ...".
In any case, behave with dignity, do not break into a cry. Even a failure in an interview is not the end of life and not a disaster, but a certain life experience. If you keep this in mind, peace and confidence are guaranteed to you.
As you can see, it is not so difficult to pass an interview for the position of a secretary, the main thing is to follow certain rules.
April 24 is International Secretary's Day. For the first time this holiday began to be celebrated in the United States in 1952 thanks to the efforts of the New York publicist Harry Clemfuss. In a broader version, this is a holiday for all administrative workers - office managers, stenographers, assistant managers, etc. According to statistics, secretaries are among the five most sought-after and popular professions in the world.
People call secretaries "filters", this reflects the essence of their work. The classic duties of a secretary are receiving calls, meeting visitors, working with documents, tea and coffee. Depending on whose secretary it is, it filters and redistributes the corresponding flow (people, letters, calls, etc.).
Types of secretaries
A secretary is always an accessory link to an office, department or boss. Therefore, there are many various kinds secretaries depending on their area of activity. Often the functions of different secretaries are so mixed up that it is difficult to distinguish the type to which this employee belongs. But, in fact, there are two main areas of this work: the secretary-receptionist and the secretary-referent. The rest is just derivatives of them.
Receptionist (reception) is an administrative employee of the office. He meets visitors, offers them tea / coffee (if it is accepted in the company), is responsible for calls received on the general phone of the organization, works with couriers, distributes correspondence. Now part of the functions of the secretary on the phone has been taken over by automatic answering robots, which direct the client's call to the appropriate specialist by selecting it in the telephone menu. The receptionist is the person who first greets you when you enter the office. In some companies, the receptionist may have additional responsibilities in the form of ensuring the life of the office (ordering water, stationery), ordering tickets and issuing visas for employees.
Assistant Secretary is the manager's secretary. IN Lately in the job market, this position is more commonly referred to as "manager's assistant" or "manager's assistant." If the receptionist performs administrative work for the entire office, then the assistant secretary assists only his manager. His duties include meeting visitors in the chief's waiting room, preparing tea and coffee, working with correspondence, and answering calls. The secretary-referent owns the boss's schedule. Depending on the size and structure of the organization, the duties of a secretary may vary from simply filtering the entrance to the reception to the personal assistant to the head. In any case, the measure of responsibility of the assistant secretary is much higher than that of the receptionist. Also, due to the nature of their work, the referent often owns confidential information. Sometimes the assistant manager also deals with matters related to the family and personal relationships of the boss.
The specifics of the profession
With the profession of a secretary, it is customary to associate those who meet you with a smile. Indeed, the overwhelming majority of this position is occupied by women, due to their ability to withstand monotonous work, to be polite and helpful. In addition, the work of a secretary is always playing on the sidelines, which is unacceptable for most men. A person must understand that he will always be in the shadows, and the laurels will go to the leader. However, more and more often, in the role of personal assistants, managers want to see men who can become excellent business partners and reliable colleagues.
The secretary is the face of the office, and many companies want this face to be pretty. Therefore, external data and young age are important characteristics for work. It happens that ladies of respectable years, famous for their business qualities, work as secretaries. But these are special cases, typical mainly for the head and the secretary, who have been working together for a long time. Also, work requires sociability, openness, friendliness, delicacy and a culture of communication. The secretary must behave in such a way that the client has the feeling that the company will do everything to solve his problem. By occupation, the secretary communicates with the most different people and must remain polite in every situation. If you are shy, it is difficult for you to make contact, smile at strangers, then this job is definitely not for you. Among other things, the secretary needs to have self-control and emotional stability, the ability to remain calm and collected. Of business qualities, organization, attentiveness, discipline, good memory and hearing, clear diction, literacy and sometimes knowledge are important. foreign languages.
When gathering, be prepared for an irregular working day, frequent overtime. If you are an office secretary (receptionist), then you arrive before everyone else and leave last. If you are an assistant manager, then your schedule is completely dependent on the schedule of the boss, and it often goes beyond the normal working day.
Secretary Education
To work as a secretary, in most cases, you do not need to have a higher education, it is enough to complete specialized courses. Many employers offer on-site training. But a university diploma will give you good advantage when applying for a job. It is also good if you understand the area in which the company operates.
The secretary must be able to confidently use a PC and office equipment, be able to work with documents, keep minutes of meetings. Also among the necessary characteristics can be noted literacy, good oral and written speech, knowledge of etiquette and a high general cultural level.
Where to work
Every company has a secretary in one form or another. The job market in this direction is replete with offers. Be prepared for the fact that in small firms the functions of a secretary will be mixed with some other work, and you will have to combine all these activities. In large organizations, as a rule, the duties of a secretary are spelled out quite clearly.
secretary salary
Since secretarial work does not require special knowledge and skills, one cannot count on a high salary here. The average salary of a secretary at the reception in Moscow is 29,000 rubles, in the region - 24,000 rubles. The secretary-referent has a higher degree of responsibility and, accordingly, receives more. The average figures for Moscow are 37,000 rubles, for the Moscow region - 31,000 rubles. For comparison, for example, in Samara 21,000 rubles (receptionist) and 20,000 rubles (receptionist), in Yekaterinburg 19,000 and 22,000 rubles, respectively.
secretary career
There are not so many prospects in the career of a secretary. You can develop along the lines corresponding to the two types of these workers. The receptionist can grow to office manager by expanding his administrative functions in the office. The secretary-referent can become a personal assistant to the head. It happens that the manager's assistant has certain ambitions and aims for the place of his boss. Be that as it may, you should not talk about your plans and make it clear to everyone that you will not stay here for a long time. If you cannot accept the fact that your personality remains in the shadows, it is better not to take on secretarial work, but to look for a job to your liking.
The career of a secretary is usually not the goal of a person's professional growth and serves as a temporary shelter in a particular area or company. One way or another, the secretary must delve into the nuances of the company, so choose areas in which you will be interested.
As a result of secretarial work, one can acquire both skills and knowledge in the field of work of the company. This could become good start for a career as a specialist or manager, because the secretary, like no one else, knows perfectly all the internal kitchen of his company.
Interview with business coach Anna Nikolaeva at the radio station "Moscow speaking" 62.0 FM. Visiting columnist Igor Igorev.
I.I. It's not easy being a good secretary. Firstly, the secretary is the face of the company, he has a lot of real responsibility. Secondly, this profession is not in vain considered one of the most stressful: a lot of work, a lot of problems, you have to do everything and at the same time do everything perfectly and not get confused. How to do all this? How can you resist stress and become a successful and worthy representative of your company? What is this secretary bird? When we are talking about the secretary, most employers have a question what kind of secretary they need. Most likely, the majority will answer that they are more important than the legs, not the head, because they need presentable people. Somehow the head will fit. Who is the secretary today?
A.N. - The word "secretary" appeared in the Middle Ages. In Latin it means " confidant". The person holding this position must be well educated, know his business, sociable, because the secretary's task is to easily find contact with people. Of course, you should not choose between head and legs, because the secretary is the showcase of the company. Based on his work, the client draws conjectural conclusions about the work of the company, about how they will work with him in the future.
I.I. - Is it most difficult for a secretary to resist stress, to know the workflow, to follow the orders of the boss? It's no secret that many secretaries perform functions that are unusual for this profession. They work as personnel officers, sometimes they do accounting work, carry coffee, clean the office.
A.N. – Of course, this happens. The main duties of the secretary are document management. This is the processing of incoming and outgoing documents, the preparation of letters, faxes, and certificates. In addition, the secretary needs to manage the protocol of visitors, coordinate with the manager the priority of the schedule for receiving visitors. His duties include organizing meetings, meetings, conferences, telephone conversations. In any case, the secretary must familiarize himself with his official duties and rely on them in the process of work.
I.I. - What are these duties? Should they be written down?
A.N. - Certainly. If the duties are not spelled out, it is recommended that the secretary himself write them down and rely on this list in the course of his work.
I.I. - Fulfill the desires of the leader - that's all the duties.
A.N. - Quite right. The manager for the secretary is the main client. He needs help, unloading him, unobtrusively taking care of the leader.
I.I. - And what about the rest of the employees who turn to the secretary? The secretary communicates not only with the head. Clients and visitors come to the secretary. Must be fluent in foreign languages. Even if the secretary is the legs, then the legs should be with five tongues.
A.N. – Indeed, knowledge of foreign languages is an advantage for a secretary. Customers and visitors must be properly received, smile at them, offer to sit down, serve coffee, tea. These are commonplace things, but, unfortunately, secretaries do not use this knowledge in all companies. Sometimes the company gives the impression that you tore the secretary from important work, from reading a magazine.
I.I. - Sometimes the secretary taps something on the computer. There is an image of a secretary who types something on a typewriter and is responsible for endless phone calls. Every now and then she comes into the office to the head. Everyone remembers this very well, and whoever does not remember can look at it in Soviet films. But now the secretaries are different.
A.N. - Quite right. Now many managers train secretaries telephone etiquette. The secretary needs to know the rules for receiving an incoming call, switching to an employee or head of the company. In addition, there are rules for holding the horn and saying goodbye.
I.I. - Holding the dial tone is a process when music is turned on in the phone, which says into the handset that this call is very important for the company? At this time, music is played, for example, by Beethoven.
I.I. - How should I ask? Maybe you should say, "Introduce yourself, please"?
A.N. - Yes, you can do that. You must ask to stay on the line, and not wait or hang until the person is connected to the subscriber he needs. For each action there is a work algorithm that must be followed. In addition, there is a telephone taboo. These are the words hello, I'm listening to you, a minute, a second, a fax, a telephone. These words must not be used.
I.I. - Of course, it is better to leave diminutive forms. But this does not apply to the work of a secretary, but to the work of a girl on the phone. Now the range of professions is quite wide.
A.N. - Quite right.
I.I. - This can be done by a girl working in a call center, small employees. The secretary himself is quite a significant person in his company.
A.N. - There are basic duties of a secretary. This is receiving phone calls, visitors, helping the manager in planning the working day, organizing meetings and conferences. In addition, the secretary needs to skillfully resolve conflict situations that develop with clients, help the leader, be his wall and protector.
I.I. - Is the secretary a sister-mistress?
A.N. - Yes.
I.I. “But such girls are called differently. These can be office managers, call center employees, assistant secretaries, and so on. Are they listed in the occupational register?
A.N. - I think they are.
I.I. The secretary is the face of the company. The company should have a written procedure for how a person should behave. First of all, it depends on corporate culture companies?
A.N. - Certainly. The secretary is the visual showcase of the company. It is necessary to be able to properly greet, invite the client to the manager, find out what time the meeting is scheduled for. All regulations must be written to the secretary.
I.I. - The secretary should not only prescribe all this, but also work with documents, organize work. He is the organizer and inspirer of all our victories.
A.N. - Yes.
I.I. - Do young girls who are a showcase always understand what they are doing? In my opinion, the secretary is a middle-aged woman with experience and education. She can perform tasks, resolve conflicts, deal with document management, receive clients and guests, and negotiate if necessary.
A.N. - This can be done by a graduate of an institute or college, if before that she has undergone appropriate training at school or in secretarial courses. This can be taught, as well as working with conflict clients. You can learn time management, telephone etiquette.
I.I. “Don’t they teach this in higher educational institutions? In my opinion, they should not have problems with documents, because universities had the appropriate specialties, people are taught this there.
A.N. - As far as I know, there is no department in higher educational institutions where secretaries are trained.
I.I. It was called business.
A.N. - Office work is studied while receiving secondary specialized education. There are schools for training secretaries, as well as trainings and seminars.
I.I. Does life look like this now?
A.N. - Yes.
Eliseeva Galina
Business trainer, director of the "TrainerPROFI" Center, author and presenter of the training "Technology for the development and conduct of team building trainings"
- Psychology: personality and business
Keywords:
1 -1
Ideal secretary
real secretary
Would you like to get coffee? Black or with milk, with or without sugar, instant or brewed just for you? If you think that the profession of a secretary is just to serve you coffee, you are greatly mistaken.
The profession of a secretary has existed for more than one hundred years and still remains one of the most sought after. Every year the work of a secretary is saturated with new content, new types of positions appear: assistant secretary, personal assistant, office manager, assistant manager. Very often, the position of secretary is considered as a starting position. Young women with higher education, good knowledge of a foreign language start their careers with the work of a secretary (by the way, quite well paid) in big company in order to further climb the career ladder to the very top. Ideal secretary So, let's draw a portrait of the most ideal Mary Poppins of secretarial business. The ideal secretary should be aware of all the events taking place in the unit, organization, this area of activity, he should be the referent and "information center" of his boss. In addition to flawless record keeping, he must be able to filter and sort documents and calls in accordance with the priorities of the manager. The ideal secretary should feel the mood of his boss and provide him with psychological support, as well as invest personal charm and outstanding communication skills to establish the right contacts and create an attractive image of both the leader and the business he is engaged in. In addition, the secretary should be a professional in the field of activity of his company in order to generate ideas and implement them, but at the same time “do not pull the blanket over himself”, remaining in the shadows, maintaining restraint and distance in relations with the leader. Scared? Of course, all this together is not included in the duties of the secretary. However, none of the leaders would refuse such a vision of the secretary of his duties. real secretary However, let's return from the ideal secretary to the real one. The range of expectations of employers is truly enormous: from the idea that secretarial work is feasible for everyone, to exorbitant requirements, which include two higher education(indicating specific elite universities), fluency in several foreign languages (including exotic ones), breathtaking external data of a fashion model, young age, and so on. Coffee or no coffee |
Most often, it happens that a yesterday's graduate or a relative or acquaintance who cannot get a job anywhere is taken as a secretary in a small company. But the secretary is the face of the company. And a random person who does not know and does not seek to learn this profession for real becomes a source of great trouble.
It is also worth noting that the selection of a quality secretary is becoming a problem for recruitment agencies, since it is they who are faced with exorbitant customer appetites. Agency employees should find out how justified the requirements for this position are. After all, a highly professional secretary with an excellent education and work experience knows his own worth and, despite the fact that payment under such requirements is usually worthy, he has his own requirements for the content of the work.
Coffee or no coffee
The construction company asked to select a secretary for the first person, indicating that he must have a diploma from Moscow architectural institute and be fluent English language. The agency fulfilled the order, but after a week of work in a new place, the employee told the agency consultant that she was disappointed and was going to quit. The reason was the complete inconsistency of the content of the work with the requirements. She only had to serve tea / coffee to visitors and answer calls, and only in Russian. Neither professional knowledge nor language was in demand.
Therefore, an experienced consultant immediately finds out from the customer what caused this or that requirement, and advises to remove the excess: it is cheaper for the company and does not mislead a new employee - after all, without practice, many knowledge and skills are lost.
So, looking for a job as a secretary is like a lottery, you know. It may turn out that you really become the boss’s right hand and quickly go for a promotion (or go if you become too necessary for him), or you will just serve coffee and think why you spent so much time studying marketing analysis, logic, rhetoric and five foreign languages in one of the prestigious universities.
In order to clearly define official duties secretary, you need to know who exactly it is. After all, it can be viewed from several angles. Known, for example, is the secretary-referent as an office employee, the Secretary General as the head (head) of a certain organization, the Secretary of State as a civil servant, the secretary as a diplomatic person, the secretary of the head as an employee and other options. Most often, when referring to this position, they mean an employee who performs tasks (assignments) of both the director of the enterprise and individual managers of it. structural divisions. It turns out that the official duties of the secretary in this case are reduced to the implementation of one-time assignments to resolve organizational and technical issues.
What a secretary must know and do
The daily secretary should perform the following functions:
- Receive information from subordinates to transfer it to the head.
- Organize telephone communication with the manager. In his absence, take information, and then bring it to the attention of the director.
- Receive and keep records of telephone messages.
- Create conditions for the normal work of the manager: monitor the need for stationery and office equipment.
- Assist in the organization of production meetings and meetings. Inform participants of the date, place and time of the event. Gather necessary materials ensure the attendance of those present and take minutes of the meeting.
- Conduct office work in the company. To do this, the secretary must receive, systematize incoming correspondence and submit it to management for consideration. Then, on the basis of the imposed visa, transfer the documents to the performers against signature. The secretary also includes control over the course, timing and result of their execution.
- Perform printing and copying of documents.
- Organize the reception of visitors to the head of the company and, if possible, create conditions for the speedy resolution of issues.
In order to perform these seemingly simple job duties of a secretary, an employee must know:
- the entire composition of the management of the enterprise and its structural divisions;
- charter, staff and structure of the enterprise, its profile, development prospects and specialization;
- regulatory documents for proper record keeping;
- rules for the use of office equipment and communications;
- VTR, OT rules, fire safety and industrial sanitation;
- rules for organizing work in the workplace;
- regulatory and legal acts, orders, resolutions, orders for planning, accounting and quality management of work performed.
The specifics of the clerk
If it's more specific, narrow specialization, the situation is somewhat different. Take, for example, The very title of the position clearly defines the aspect of the work to be performed. Usually every company already has job description, which indicates the areas of activity of a specialist in office work. If there is no such instruction, then it is better to create it. For this you should use qualification handbook, which contains approximate samples. After that, the standard version must be finalized in relation to a particular organization, taking into account the specifics and internal features. In general, the duties of the secretary-clerk should clearly follow 3 main directions:
- Correspondence work. Reception, processing in modern ways and timely dispatch.
- Proper maintenance of internal documentation.
- Registration, strict accounting and transfer of documents to the archive for storage.
Features of the work of the referent
At some enterprises, such a position is introduced into the state, which includes a wide range of duties: from the “desk of information” to the “assistant director”. Such a specialist should have versatile knowledge and good command of the situation. The duties of the referent secretary are slightly expanded due to the increase in powers. In general, this is regular work secretary, but the word "referent" makes some additions to the standard list. In particular, the assistant secretary can independently receive visitors on certain issues. Having certain information, he is able to make decisions independently. In addition, the referent performs the responsible instructions of the head regarding economic activity organizations (enterprises). Sometimes the assistant secretary is charged with duties. This is done only when the total amount of work allows you to perform additional duties.
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