Person who is dedicated to performing administrative tasks in an office and assisting his boss
A Secretary, also known in some parts of the world as administrative assistant, is that person in charge of carrying out elementary office activities, either in a private company or in some state agency, in addition to being the close collaborator of the manager or executive who attends, that is, the secretary of the president of a company is in some way the manager of his time so that he does not have more to worry about with regard to the decision-making of the company in order to get better clients, the rest are the secretary will order. For example and among others in your agenda, to answer your calls and everything you need.
So, if you want to have effective business management, it will be essential to have an efficient person who will perform this position, since most of the proceedings / activities of an organization will pass through them.
Principal functions
Their main functions or activities are linked to what is known as office work, administrative, such as processing the entry and exit of correspondence, receipt of documentation, attention to telephone calls, attention to visits and suppliers, filing of documents, carrying out calculations, reporting to your superior everything inherent in your area, keeping abreast of the processing of files, management of the agenda, both meetings and contacts, and its maintenance in an organized and updated way, management of all those tools of an office, such as the photocopier, printer, fax, computer , among others, language skills, preferably English, but of course the more you handle the better, since your conditions and aspirations may be much higher within the organization in which you work and have knowledge of protocol. institutional and business.
Private secretary. A relationship of close trust with the boss
Secretaries can work in various areas and contexts, while one of the most paradigmatic variants of the position is undoubtedly the so-called private secretary, which, as its name already anticipates, is the one whose functions are to deal with all matters inherent to his boss, the personal ones and also the work ones. Generally, bosses and secretaries establish a very close and close bond as a result of the amount of secrets and weaknesses that secretaries know these. This is even why the figure of the secretary and her relationship with her boss has been the subject of countless representations in various fictional stories.
One of the most remembered is undoubtedly Executive Secretary, a film produced in Hollywood in 1988 and starring Harrison Ford, Melanie Griffith and Sigourney Weaver. Griffith's character is Weaver's secretary, a rather rude and evil executive. Griffith's character demonstrates his capacity in the position and discovers that his boss is left with an idea of his to start a business. He finally unmasks her and ends up not only gaining ground in it but also falling in love with the business millionaire played by Ford.
Preparation
Although it does not require long years of study like undergraduate careers, Secretary is a profession that can also be studied and that of course includes all those activities that will be required of whoever performs the position.
Generally, those who aspire to the position are given a brief test in those specific questions that are sought, for example that they handle this or that computer program or that they speak and write in perfect English.
A position where the female sex prevails
Although the position is mostly occupied by women, we must say that there are men who hold this position. Contrary to what happens with other positions or professions, secretary is a job position that has historically been reserved for the performance of women.
Dependency of the state that manages an area
On the other hand, the concept is used in many Spanish-speaking parts to designate that agency of the state that is in charge of managing some area, for example the secretariat of education, the secretariat of security, among others.
The secretariat is led by a public official called the secretary, who will be the highest authority within the secretariat and who must respond to the policies outlined by the government that appointed him.
