Development/history of the profession
• 16th ----literate man---by hand • Late 19th century and early 20th ----women---
--reasons • Nowadays-----no longer a lowly clerk
• good basic secretarial skills
• administrative ability
• professional appearance and nice voice
• punctual, careful, meticulous, accurate
• good communication/interpersonal skills
Secretaries perform a variety of clerical and administrative duties needed to run an organization efficiently. Secretaries who coordinate office activities also make sure that correct information is given out to staff and clients. So managers, professionals, and other support staff rely on them to keep administrative operations under control. As a result, secretaries are needed in all types of firms and organizations.
5) information collector 6) adviser 7) assistant
3. The desired qualities of a good secretary
• Professional qualities • Personality traits
Professional qualiiesPersonality traits
• being responsible, dependable • self-starter, initiative • flexible and adaptable • confident, polite, friendly • loyal, honest, patient, • acute, considerate, • fashionable
2. Roles of a secretary
1) generalist somebody who has knowledge, skills, or interests in a variety of fields but no specialist knowledge in any one field
• Text ---- reading • Dialogue---- speaking • Practical writing ---- writing • Exercise
Unit 1 Reading
Secretaries---an introduction
1. What is a secretary ?
• A person who does general clerical and administrative work for a company or an individual.
Office functions of a secretary
• screening visitors; • handling telephone calls, mails, appointments; • managing records; • arranging for staff meetings, committee
Nowadays, secretaries perform fewer clerical tasks. In addition to greeting visitors, arranging conferences, handling phone calls and making assignments, they may handle more complex responsibilities such as conducting research, preparing statistical reports, training employees, and supervising other clerical staff.
• organizational and analytical abilities
• confidential, efficient
• career ethics
Ethics are some principles or standards of human conduct, sometimes called morals, which often refer to the code of morality, a system of moral principles governing the appropriate conduct for an individual or group.
2) team worker 3) organizer
somebody responsible for organizing
4) coordinator diverse parts of an enterprise or groups into a coherent or efficient whole
meetings and conferences; • maintaining and assembling information for
the supervisor’s use; • keeping the supervisor informed or advised
in a variety of circumstances.