Why boss must have a secretary?
By Polang
@tkonlinevn (6462)
Vietnam
3 responses
@hexebella (1136)
• Philippines
1 Jan 11
A secretary and assistant are two different jobs. I have been working as a secretary to top executives of the company for the past 15 years. My job is to administer the executive office, screen phone calls and visitors, arrange meetings and appointments for the boss as well as maintain a systematic filing system. Among these tasks, most important is writing business correspondence which is a skill that even managers in the organization are not able to do. My boss is a native English speaker and he is not skilled to write letters so I take care of it. The Department Heads in my organization right now are also not skilled to write business correspondence and do not know correct English. Any top executive of a company really needs a secretary to manage and organize the day to day office transactions. However, a secretary is not expected to make decisions on behalf of the boss. In this scenario, the assistant will step in. The assistant can make decisions mostly in terms of daily operations and major issues is on a case to case basis.
I consider myself lucky as my first superiors when I entered the corporate world were really good in English and in business correspondence. My job was just to type their letters which they dictated to me. I could say that I learned a lot from them and adopted their way of writing.
@tkonlinevn (6462)
• Vietnam
19 Nov 12
As your description, secretary is a great job. You must work with much pressure. I have understood more about secretary job by you. Thank you.
@Wordjunkie (435)
• Canada
17 Sep 10
I think it would depend on how much work there is to do and what they qualifications of both are. What type of business too. I wear many hats at work, I am Assistant to the Director, Head of Marketing, Fundraiser Director, Program & Group Coordinator and I also work the front office as an Office Assistant but I would not even think of working as a Secretary. Secretarial work requires a certain set of skills that not all office workers can supply.
@tkonlinevn (6462)
• Vietnam
19 Nov 12
Thank you for your sharing. I never work with a secretary. So, I don't know what their work. However, I think that your boss should have one more an assistant who will share work with you. I think an assistant has many more skills than a secretary.
@anurag3786 (6265)
• India
16 Sep 10
I think every boss need a secretary which will manage boss's meeting and also mostly work related to company.. secretary is the person which have responsibility on their shoulder to manage office works and also boss's meting and their daily schedule ...

@tkonlinevn (6462)
• Vietnam
19 Nov 12
Oh, maybe you're right. If the boss is too busy, they maybe need a secretary to manage his/her time :)
