What's the career path for a secretary?

It’s often said that an executive is only as good as their secretary or personal assistant. Handling the day-to-day administration for a person, team or network, a secretary is the “eyes and ears” of a company, privy to unique and powerful insights about the company culture, performance and future direction.

In today’s ever-evolving job market, where soft skills are just as critical as technical knowledge and experience, more career paths are opening up for secretaries. A secretary can move into a different role – from office managers and administrative coordinators to a general affairs role.

They may even move into careers in project management and human resources functions. Ultimately, where their careers take them depends on the type of secretarial position and the skills honed during their formative years as a secretary.

Here’s how one can develop skills and progress in their career as a secretary.

Transferrable secretarial attributes

When juggling various ongoing tasks, secretaries develop strong organisational abilities, efficient time-management, and good project management skills. This can help them move into roles that require them to multi-task and perform under pressure or tight deadlines, allowing them to move quickly into a project management function, which requires all these skill sets.

Secretaries also act as gatekeepers to an executive, team or network. This often means that they are the first point of contact or the go-to contact person. Besides developing a friendly disposition and professional communication skills, they usually have a personable phone manner and a flair for championing team ethics. This personable attitude and ability to interact and connect with people allows a secretary to be well-placed to move into more HR generalist roles.

While these are general attributes that any professional can develop throughout their job, a secretary, in particular, would have honed these attributes since their day-to-day work calls for developing these skills.

Carrying skill-sets forward to a future career

There will always be different elements to each secretary’s job description. Still, the most valuable asset a secretary or business support professional can bring to the table is the ability to think on their feet.

Secretarial and business support work is demanding, including drafting letters, managing correspondence, coordinating diaries, organising travel, and paying expenses.

These duties may fall under the remit of a secretary or administrator, with the main difference between these titles being a formal secretarial qualification. A secretary needs to be able to touch type and hold literacy in the Microsoft Office suite, while administrators often contribute on a project-by-project basis. Once again, these are all transferrable skills that can be applied to various jobs.

Building a career after secretarial work

Most employers expect a secretary to be educated to at least matriculation level, followed by secretarial training. Typing speed is critical – if you can touch-type, your speed will improve the more typing you do. Otherwise, it is challenging to exceed the average rate of 40 words per minute.

An ambitious secretary will refresh their career every couple of years once they have mastered the latest role. This is the perfect time to take on more responsibility and develop new skill sets, such as project management and supervisory skills. This can be done by seeking out related generalist roles and supporting HR functions.

The alternative is to make a lateral move within an organisation or look to new pastures for the following external challenge.

Employers look for stability on a secretary’s CV, demonstrating highly prized attributes like resilience, the ability to make considered choices, commitment and reliability.

A career path for a secretary can lead in many directions – it’s up to the individual to create the path they want for their career aspirations.

Are you ready to make your next career move? Get in touch with our recruiting experts now.

Start your job search

Michael Page

26/05/2021