Learning Materials

English for Secretarial and Office WORK

Kunlas
uth
(B.Ed.,
M.A.)

Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences

Suan Dusit University
2016
 Secretarial WorK

Introduction
A secretary not only deals with office and clerical work

but also cooperates with superiors, colleagues and other

organizations. Therefore, individual firms are typically looking for

a secretary with the best qualifications. This unit presents

qualifications and attitudes that a company secretary should have.

The duties that a company secretary should perform are

also presented.

Qualifications of a Secretary
The qualities and skills are required for an efficient

secretary. Furthermore, the secretary should have basic

knowledge of business, especially the type of business he/she

works in. To explain more, the following descriptions show

efficient qualifications of the company secretary.

According to Merriam-Webster Online: Dictionary and

Thesaurus (Merriam- Webster, 2013), the origin of “secretary”

comes from Latin secretum that means “secret”. This reflects

that keeping secrets is important characteristics of a secretary.

Moreover, qualifications of a good secretary are represented in

each letter in the word “secretary” which can be described as

follows:

S Sincere

A secretary should be sincere in his/her views and work.

E Enthusiasm

A secretary should have a great eagerness to be involved in

secretarial work.

C Courtesy

A secretary should behave with politeness towards

people whom he/she contacts with.

R Royalty

A secretary should have royalty to superiors and organization.

E Energy

A secretary should be full of energy or full of new and

exciting ideas to handle his/her duties.

T Tact

A secretary should have ability to avoid offending people by

being careful not to say or do things that would hurt

their feelings.

A Active

A secretary should be active and dynamic in completing

 assignments.

R Responsibility

A secretary should be responsible for work.

Y Youth

A secretary should act young at heart always.

From ideas above, it is believed that a secretary usually

performs different tasks and coordinates different sorts of

people. In order to complete the tasks, he/she is not only

willing to do the jobs, but also cares for the people.

Regarding wiki.answers.com (Answers Corporation, 2013), a

good secretary should be equipped with these qualifications

suggested below.
 1. Sound general education

2. Knowledge of the English language

3. Knowledge of shorthand

4. Basic office skills

5. Communication skills

6. Computer literacy

7. Decision-making skills

8. A good personality

9. General knowledge

10. Knowledge of foreign language

As the qualifications mentioned above, it is concluded

that an effective secretary should have educational

background at least bachelor’s degree. It is necessary for the

secretary to have a good command of English language. Having

knowledge of other languages is an advantage. He/She gains

the knowledge of shorthand, computer skill and office skills

such as handling office equipment, answering phone calls,

composing business correspondence, making appointments, filing

and organizing meetings. It is challenging if he/she assembles

general knowledge including news and trends. It can be seen

that a secretary will be able to operate multi-tasks. Moreover,

in order to succeed in career, a secretary should have

interpersonal skill. That is, he/she contains a good personality

including appearances and characteristics as well as an ability to

make decisions and communicate with other people.

The above information indicates that being an effective

secretary is not easy but it is not too difficult. In order to

become a skilled professional in this career, a successful

secretary should be equipped with the qualifications as

follows:

1. Competence

2. Confidence

3. Personality

4. Friendship

5. Good memory

6. Positive attitudes

7. Vision and goal

8. Generosity

9. Effective use of time

10. Look-out of good things

Attitudes of a Successful Secretary

Besides required qualifications, a successful secretary

should have positive attitudes towards his/her work, executives

and organizations. The followings display attitudes of a

secretary.

a. sense of humour f. self-confidence

b. confidentiality g. flexibility

c. computer skills h. teamwork

d. organisational skills i. loyalty

e. availability j. eagerness to learn

Duties of a Secretary

Secretaries and administrative assistants are employed to

be responsible for a variety of administrative and clerical tasks

necessary to run an organization efficiently. They serve as an

information manager for an office. The following duties are

exemplified below.
o Receive visitors

o Organize and maintain paper and electronic files

o Distribute postal mail

o Circulate memos

o Use a variety of office equipment such as

telephones, facsimile machines, photocopiers,

and computers

o Be in charge of petty cash

o Keep the boss's diary

o Arrange and fix appointments

o Answer phone calls

o Prepare and compose correspondence

o Take dictation

o Take notes in shorthand

o File documents
 o Organize meetings

o Write agendas

o Take the minutes

o Write notes and reports

o Make reservations

o Make travel arrangements

o Prepare professional slides for presentations

o Manage projects

o Conduct researches

As the duties mentioned above, it is found that

secretaries not only perform clerical and organizational tasks but

are also responsible for complex tasks. Moreover, some

secretaries and administrative assistants have to work in specific

and technical areas. That is, they have to perform highly

specialized work requiring knowledge of technical terminology and

procedures. For instance, legal secretaries prepare legal

correspondence and related papers. They also may review legal

journals and verify quotes and citations in legal briefs.

Medical secretaries prepare medical correspondence and

assist medical persons with reports, speeches, articles, and

conference proceedings.

To conclude, secretaries and administrative assistants

should have responsibilities not only in term of various sorts

of work but also there is a need to have knowledge of

business type they work in.

References
About.com. (2013). Reading comprehension for beginners - a secretary's desk.

Retrieved November 20, 2013, from

http://esl.about.com/library/beginner/bl_beginner_read_secretary.htm

Answers Corporation. (2013). What are the qualifications for becoming a

secretary?

Retrieved November 20, 2013, from

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_are_the_qualifications_for_be

coming_an_Sec retary?#slIDE2

Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd. (2000). Attitudes of a modern secretary.

Retrieved November 20, 2013, from

http://www.eltplanet.net/archive/index.php/t-8128.HTml

Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd. (2000). Workload of a modern secretary.

Retrieved November 20, 2013, from

http://www.eltplanet.net/archive/index.php/t-8128.html

Mckellen, J.S. (1990). Test your business English general usage.

 London: Penguin Books.

Merriam-Webster. (2013). Origin of secretary. Retrieved

November 20, 2013, from http://www.merriam-

webster.com/dictionary/secretary

Pohl, A. (2002). Test your professional English:

Secretarial. Harlow: Pearson Education.