Why Not Become An Office Assistant?

A career as an office secretary/assistant may sound ordinary. But the demands made on them in the new age, technology-driven workplaces are really high. A look at the job scene in this career graph

This week, I am going to tell you about a career that's ubiquitous but one that has assumed a lot of significance in the new age, technology-driven workplace. It's the job of an office secretary/assistant that I am talking about.

While the job may seem too easy to get and do, I want to focus on this career only because of the importance attached to this job today. In my interactions with career mentors and job hunters, I have realised that it's not easy to get a really capable office assistant who is thorough about modern technologies.

As the reliance on technology continues to expand in offices, the role of the office professional has greatly evolved. Office automation and organisational restructuring have led secretaries and administrative assistants to assume responsibilities once reserved for managerial and professional staff.

In spite of these changes, however, the core responsibilities for secretaries and administrative assistants have remained much the same: Performing and co-ordinating an office's administrative activities and storing, retrieving and integrating information for dissemination to staff and clients.
Secretaries and administrative assistants perform a variety of administrative and clerical duties necessary to run an organisation efficiently.

They serve as information and communication managers for an office; plan and schedule meetings and appointments; organise and maintain paper and electronic files; manage projects; conduct research; and disseminate information by using the telephone, mail services, websites, and e-mail. They also may handle travel and guest arrangements.

It is surprising to realise how much people with secretaries depend on them to get their work organised and done. In fact, these secretaries wield more clout in many offices, as they are considered the close confidante of their bosses.

Work responsibilities of an office assistant

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Secretaries and administrative assistants use a variety of office equipment such as fax machines, photocopiers, scanners, videoconferencing and telephone systems. In addition, secretaries and administrative assistants often use computers to do tasks previously handled by managers and professionals, such as: create spreadsheets; compose correspondence; manage databases; and create presentations, reports, and documents using desktop publishing software and digital graphics.

They also may negotiate with vendors, maintain and examine leased equipment, purchase supplies, manage areas such as stockrooms or corporate libraries and retrieve data from various sources. At the same time, managers and professionals have assumed many tasks traditionally assigned to secretaries and administrative assistants, such as keyboarding and answering the telephone.

Because secretaries and administrative assistants do less dictation and word processing, they now have time to support more members of the executive staff. In a number of organisations, secretaries and administrative assistants work in teams to work flexibly and share their expertise.
Many secretaries and administrative assistants now provide training and orientation for new staff, conduct research on the internet and operate and troubleshoot new office technologies.

Specific job duties vary with experience and titles. Executive secretaries and administrative assistants provide high-level administrative support for an office and for top executives of an organisation. Generally, they perform fewer clerical tasks than do secretaries and more information management.

In addition to arranging conference calls and supervising other clerical staff, they may handle more complex responsibilities such as reviewing incoming memos, submissions and reports in order to determine their significance and to plan for their distribution. They also prepare agendas and make arrangements for meetings of committees and executive boards. They also may conduct research and prepare statistical reports.

Some secretaries and administrative assistants, such as legal and medical secretaries, perform highly specialised work requiring knowledge of technical terminology and procedures.
For instance, legal secretaries prepare correspondence and legal papers such as summonses, complaints, motions, responses and subpoenas under the supervision of an attorney or a paralegal. They also may review legal journals and assist with legal research - for example, by verifying quotes and citations in legal briefs.
What about their qualification and work environments? We shall see that in that next issue.