Secretary…
The actual role of a secretary has evolved over the years. In some businesses it has merged into a personal assistant or administration assistant to a certain degree. Even receptionists carry out a lot of duties that would normally be thought of a secretarial. Very rarely will you see a job advertised as ‘Secretary’.
Years ago there used to course to train to become a secretary. Again, those are also dying out. So what qualifications do you need? Typing is the obvious one with accuracy and speed important. Good grammar skills as you’ll be writing numerous letters and discretion. Secretary’s can be privy to some very important information. As they say ‘loose lips sink ships’ and that’s why the word ‘secret’ is the job title. Good grasp of speaking and understanding the English is very important as a big part of the job will involve answering the telephone. Secretary’s can also expect to be responsible for the filing, the organising of their employers diary and general office duties.
You can expect the salary to range depending on the sector that you apply for. For example, a secretary in a health club would be looking at around 15K per annum. A secretary for a property company, for example, might earn up to �3K more a year. A similar job in the University of Bristol would offer a salary upwards of �20K a year. All positions are based on experience and all require a level of education to at least A-Level standard.
However, if you do not have all of the relevant qualifications a great place to look for secretarial work is with Temp agencies, they often have a selection to choose from. This option is good as a quick fix but it also makes you known to that company. Having an ‘in’ to a company for any future employment can be as important as the qualifications to begin with. Just make sure you do a good job when you are there. It’s not a salary position but �9 per hour is a pretty decent wage in the current climate.
ADMIN
If you were looking for a job in administration then now looks to be the best time for a long time. This job sector has not been hit as hard as some by the country’s economic down turn at all. A simple website search yields a host of different jobs for lots of different companies.
Currently, the choice is so varied. Just a quick search will provide vacancies at schools, universities, the Bristol Hippodrome, charities, finance companies and so on and so forth. The good news is that these jobs actually exist and are varied enough to give a jobseeker options. This much choice is a rarity in the current job market. The administration positions in the education sector (University of Bristol and the Brisol Grammer school) offer upwards of �20K. For a senior position �26K.
The work is fairly standard though regardless of the ‘genre’ of the business. You will need to be proficient with the usual Microsoft packages such as Word and Excel. Communication is essential so excellent verbal and written skills are required to work successfully within a team environment. Emails and letters will form a large part of the job.
The only real pitfall is that the positions mentioned already will require previous experience. Usually about two years. There are, however, positions out there for the more inexperienced administrator. These start with a salary of �13K. The majority of these lower salary positions are listed as either a temporary position or offer a probation period. If you are just starting out it is important that you take a serious look at these jobs. For the higher paying jobs they won’t consider an applicant unless they have that two years experience mentioned. So, if you were to work three or four temporary positions the experience and varied nature of the roles would build up the experience thus making you a serious applicant.
Administration jobs can be quite demanding with a high workload and constant deadlines. As with most office based jobs there is camaraderie amongst the co-workers that helps bind, which is helpful when the deadlines loom.