Qualifications for an Executive Secretary

An executive secretary, also called an executive administrative assistant, performs clerical and organizational tasks but may also be responsible more complex tasks. In addition to routine secretarial functions such as filing, scheduling appointments, routing mail, taking minutes or typing documents, an executive secretary might conduct research, prepare reports for senior administration staff or supervise clerical staff. In some organizations, an executive secretary may negotiate with vendors, manage the corporate library or perform bookkeeping functions.

Education and Training

Although a high school graduate usually qualifies for an entry-level secretarial position, many organizations prefer or require that an executive secretary have a bachelor’s degree. College courses for this position include business English, mathematical literacy, computer graphics, business accounting, corporate communications, human resources management, presentation skills and extensive training in software applications, spreadsheets and word processing. An executive secretary may also receive training in video conferencing, phone systems and database management. Specialized training may be necessary for executive secretaries in some industries such as law or health care.

Interpersonal Skills

An executive secretary deals with many people from all levels of an organization as well as visitors, business associates and competitors. A pleasant and friendly personality is critical in this position. Other interpersonal skills such as patience, tact and the ability to maintain composure are also valuable. Good communication skills, both verbal and written, are a basic requirement for an executive secretary. In some organizations, especially those that do business internationally, a second language may also be a useful or even a required skill.

Organization and Coordination

Organizational abilities are vital for an executive secretary, who must often manage paper and electronic files, databases and a variety of other projects. In addition to personal projects, the executive secretary may also be responsible for managing the files, databases and projects of one or more executives. These activities need good coordination and the executive secretary must be able to be assertive but polite in the face of conflicting demands. If an executive secretary serves multiple people, she must be able to adapt to different work and communication styles.

Other Characteristics

The executive secretary should have a strong sense of responsibility and might need to put in extra hours, depending on job demands. Autonomy must be balanced with teamwork, particularly if the secretary supports more than one executive. An executive secretary should be able to work with minimal supervision and direction. Although it is not a requirement for most positions, some executive secretaries choose to become certified in their field to demonstrate commitment, education and skill levels to prospective employers.

Responsibilities of the Secretary

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:The responsibilities of the Secretary of a Management Committee are

1. Ensuring meetings are effectively organised and minuted

• Liaising with the Chair to plan meetings
• Receiving agenda items from committee members
• Circulating agendas and reports
• Taking minutes (unless there is a minutes secretary)
• Circulating approved minutes
• Checking that agreed actions are carried out.

2. Maintaining effective records and administration

• Keeping up-to-date contact details (i.e. names, addresses and telephone numbers) for the management committee and (where relevant) ordinary members of the organisation.
• Filing minutes and reports
• Compiling lists of names and addresses that are useful to the organisation, including those of appropriate officials or officers of voluntary organisations.
• Keeping a record of the organisation's activities
• Keeping a diary of future activities

3. Upholding legal requirements

• Acting as custodian of the organisation's governing documents 
• Checking quorum is present at meetings
• Ensuring elections are in line with stipulated procedures
• Ensuring organisation's activities are in line with its objects
• Ensuring charity and company law requirements are met (where relevant, unless there is a separate company secretary)
• Sitting on appraisal, recruitment and disciplinary panels, as required.

4. Communication and correspondence

• Responding to all committee correspondence
• filing all committee correspondence received and copies of replies sent
• keeping a record of any of the organisation's publications (e.g. leaflets or newsletters) and
• reporting the activities of the organisation and future programmes to members, the press and the public (unless there is an Information or Publicity Officer).
• Preparing a report of the organisation's activities for the year, for the Annual General Meeting. 

Secretary Duties

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A secretary has many administrative duties. Traditionally, these duties were mostly related to correspondence, such as the typing out of letters, maintaining files of paper documents, etc. The advent of word processing has significantly reduced the time that such duties require, with the result that many new tasks have come under the purview of the secretary. These might include managing budgets and doing bookkeeping, maintaining websites, and making travel arrangements. Secretaries might manage all the administrative details of running a high-level conference or arrange the catering for a typical lunch meeting. Often executives will ask their assistant to take the minutes at meetings and prepare meeting documents for review.

History of Secretary

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Since the Renaissance until the late 19th century, men involved in the daily correspondence and the activities of the mighty had assumed the title of secretary

With time, like many titles, the term was applied to more and varied functions, leading to compound titles to specify various secretarial work better, like general secretary orfinancial secretary. Just "secretary" remained in use either as an abbreviation when clear in the context or for relatively modest positions such as administrative assistant of the officer(s) in charge, either individually or as member of a secretariat. As such less influential posts became more feminine and common with the multiplication of bureaucracies in the public and private sectors, new words were also coined to describe them, such as personal assistant

Secretary Types

تاريخ النشر : 8 صفر 1435

؟So what is the definition of Secretary

Secretary is an administrative assistant who perform several office tasks within one job in Business Office Administration.

:Oops, don’t be wrong. Secretary is also appertain into the following types

Administrative Secretary

Executive Secretary

Legal Secretary

Office Secretary

School Secretary

Litigation Secretary

Medical Secretary

Real Estate Secretary

Unit Secretary

By Mohammed Al-Muslim 

Mohammed Al-Hajji