Career Girls

Overview:

Secretaries and administrative assistants perform routine clerical and administrative duties. They organize files, prepare documents, schedule appointments, and support other staff. 

Secretaries and administrative assistants typically do the following:

• Answer telephones and take messages or transfer calls
• Schedule appointments and update event calendars
• Arrange staff meetings
• Handle incoming and outgoing mail and faxes
• Prepare memos, invoices, or other reports
• Edit documents
• Maintain databases and filing systems, whether electronic or paper
• Perform basic bookkeeping

Secretaries and administrative assistants perform a variety of clerical and administrative duties that are necessary to run an organization efficiently. They use computer software to create spreadsheets; manage databases; and prepare presentations, reports, and documents. They also may negotiate with vendors, buy supplies, and manage stockrooms or corporate libraries. Secretaries and administrative assistants also use videoconferencing, fax, and other office equipment. Specific job duties vary by experience, job title, and specialty.

The following are types of secretaries and administrative assistants:

Executive secretaries and executive administrative assistants provide high-level administrative support for an office and for top executives of an organization. They often handle more complex responsibilities, such as reviewing incoming documents, conducting research, and preparing reports. Some also supervise clerical staff.

Legal secretaries perform work requiring knowledge of legal terminology and procedures. They prepare legal documents, such as summonses, complaints, motions, and subpoenas under the supervision of an attorney or a paralegal. They also review legal journals and help with legal research—for example, by verifying quotes and citations in legal briefs.

Medical secretaries transcribe dictation and prepare reports or articles for physicians or medical scientists. They also take simple medical histories of patients, arrange for patients to be hospitalized, or process insurance payments. Medical secretaries need to be familiar with medical terminology and codes, medical records, and hospital or laboratory procedures.

Virtual assistants work from a home office, providing support to one or more clients on a contract basis. They use the internet, email, and fax machines to communicate with clients. Although their assignments often vary from short-term to long-term, their typical duties are similar to those of other secretaries and administrative assistants. Working from a remote location allows virtual assistants to support multiple clients in different industries.

Work Environment:

Secretaries and administrative assistants held about 4 million jobs in 2014 and worked in nearly every industry. Most secretaries and administrative assistants work full-time.

Many secretaries and administrative assistants work in schools, hospitals, governments, and legal and medical offices. Most secretaries and administrative assistants work in an office setting. Some administrative assistants, who are also known as virtual assistants, typically work out of their own homes. 

Education and Training:

High school graduates who have experience using computer software applications, such as word processing and spreadsheets, usually qualify for entry-level positions. Although most secretaries learn their job in several weeks, many legal and medical secretaries require additional training to learn industry-specific terminology. Executive secretaries usually need several years of related work experience.

High school graduates can take courses in word processing and office procedures at technical schools or community colleges. Some temporary placement agencies also provide training in word processing, spreadsheet, and database software.

Some medical and legal secretaries learn industry-specific terminology and practices by attending courses offered at community colleges or technical schools. For executive secretary positions, employers increasingly prefer to hire those who have taken some college courses or have a bachelor’s degree.

Secretaries and administrative assistants typically learn their skills through short-term on-the-job training, usually lasting a few weeks. During this time they learn about administrative procedures, including how to prepare documents. Medical and legal secretaries’ training may last several months as they learn industry-specific terminology and practices.

Executive secretaries can gain experience by working in administrative positions that have less challenging responsibilities. Many secretaries and administrative assistants advance to higher level administrative positions.

Although not required, certification can demonstrate competency to employers.

The International Association of Administrative Professionals offers the Certified Administrative Professional (CAP) certification. Candidates must have a minimum of 2 to 4 years of administrative work experience, depending on their level of education, and pass an examination.

Legal secretaries have several certification options. For example, those with 1 year of general office experience, or who have completed an approved training course, can acquire the Accredited Legal Professional (ALP) certification through a testing process administered by NALS (previously known as National Association of Legal Secretaries). NALS also offers the Professional Legal Secretary (PLS) certification, considered to be an advanced certification for legal support professionals.

The Certified Legal Secretary Specialist (CLSS) certification is conferred by Legal Secretaries International in areas such as intellectual property, criminal law, civil litigation, probate, and business law. Candidates typically need to have 5 years of legal experience and pass an examination to become certified.

Secretaries and administrative assistants generally advance to other administrative positions with more responsibilities, such as office supervisor, office manager, or executive secretary.

With additional training, many legal secretaries become paralegals or legal assistants.

Skills to Develop:

Integrity: Many secretaries and administrative assistants are trusted to handle sensitive information. For example, medical secretaries collect patient data that is required, by law, to be kept confidential in order to protect patient privacy.

Interpersonal skills: Secretaries and administrative assistants interact with clients, customers, or staff. They should communicate effectively and be courteous when interacting with others to create a positive work environment and client experience.

Organizational skills: Secretaries and administrative assistants keep files, folders, and schedules in proper order so an office can run efficiently.

Writing skills: Secretaries and administrative assistants write memos and emails when communicating with managers, employees, and customers. Therefore, they must have good grammar, ensure accuracy, and maintain a professional tone.

Job Outlook:

Overall employment of secretaries and administrative assistants is projected to grow 3 percent from 2014 to 2024, slower than the average for all occupations.

Employment of secretaries, except legal, medical, and executive, the largest occupation in this profile by far, is projected to grow 3 percent from 2014 to 2024, slower than the average for all occupations. In some organizations, technology is expected to substitute some functions that secretaries used to do and enable other staff to prepare their own documents without the assistance of secretaries.

Employment of medical secretaries is projected to grow 21 percent from 2014 to 2024, much faster than the average for all occupations. Employment of medical secretaries will depend on growth of the healthcare industry. The number of individuals who have access to health insurance is expected to continue to increase because of federal health insurance reform. In addition, aging baby boomers will demand more medical services as they become eligible for Social Security and Medicare. As a result of these effects, medical secretaries will be needed to handle administrative tasks related to billing and insurance processing.

Employment of executive secretaries and administrative assistants is projected to decline 6 percent from 2014 to 2024. This is largely because many executive secretaries and executive administrative assistants can support more than one manager in an organization. In addition, many managers now perform work that was previously done by their executive secretaries. For example, they often type their own correspondence or schedule their own travel and meetings.

Employment of legal secretaries, the smallest occupation in this profile, is projected to decline 4 percent from 2014 to 2024. In legal firms, paralegals and legal assistants use technology that enable them to perform work previously done by legal secretaries, such as preparing and filing documents.

Many job openings are expected to come from the need to replace secretaries and administrative assistants who leave the occupation.

Those with a combination of related work experience and experience using computer software applications to perform word processing and create spreadsheets should have the best job prospects.

Earnings:

The median annual wage for secretaries and administrative assistants was $37,230 in May 2016. The median wage is the wage at which half the workers in an occupation earned more than that amount and half earned less. The lowest 10 percent earned less than $22,930, and the highest 10 percent earned more than $62,230.