Administrative Secretary Job Description, Skills, and Salary
Get to know about the duties, responsibilities, qualifications, and skills requirements of an administrative secretary. Feel free to use our job description template to produce your own. We also provide you with information about the salary you can earn as an administrative secretary.
Who is an Administrative Secretary?
An Administrative Secretary is also called an administrative assistant. He or she is an individual who provides advanced-clerical support to a department head, executive manager, director, and head-level employee by performing various kinds of secretarial obligations and such as conducting research, collecting data, preparing reports, drafting documents, entering data, and scheduling appointments.
There are various types of administrative secretaries based on the organization they work and they are; medical administrative assistants, legal administrative secretaries, and general business administrative secretaries. The medical administrative sector work in the medical environment such as hospitals, clinics, and the doctor’s office. The obligation he or she conducts is health record management, insurance billing, and medical coding. He or she may also perform other administrative duties such as scheduling an appointment between the client and the patient. The medical administrative secretary must be knowledgeable about medical terminologies to be able to fit into the role.
The responsibility of a legal assistant is; legal research, general office practices, and legal preparation of documents. The legal administrative secretary can work in the court, attorney general office, or solicitor’s office. They can serve as a link between clients and legal officers. For instance, if a client wants a lawyer to represent him or her in court; the client must first contact the administrative legal secretary.
The general business administrative secretary work in mega-companies, firms, and other multinationals. They report to the executive manager of the organization. They are responsible for managing the daily clerical activities of the organization. They keep records of files, handle multiple calls or inquiries from clients and also prepare the necessary documentation. An administrative secretary working in a company keeps a record of the organization’s staff information.
A successful administrative secretary must possess excellent communication skills and showcase experience in a secretarial position. Excellent administrative secretaries are highly organized when discharging their duties.
Administrative Secretary Job Description
Below are the administrative secretary job description examples you can use to develop your resume or write an administrative secretary job description for your employee. Employers can also use it to sieve out job seekers when choosing candidates for interviews.
The following are the duties and responsibilities of an administrative secretary;
- Provides advanced-level support to an assigned director, executive, or manager
- Compiles requested data from different sources such as emails and other conferences, meeting minutes, and records, and another document prepares summaries of findings and other related documented correspondence as requested
- Prepares agenda and schedules for meetings, conferences, and other assigned events, writes and distributes minutes or other notes as mandated
- Conducts research in some scenarios to aid with projects or inquiries based on his or her skills and expertise
- Coordinates and schedules travel, meetings, and appointments
- Welcomes and directs visitors and clients
- Answer phone calls, emails, and text messages from clients or business partners
- Resolves and responds to administrative inquiries and questions from client
- Performs other general clerical and secretarial duties as requested, which may include record keeping, managing petty cash, maintaining office supplies, handling packages, and correspondence, and maintaining equipment
- Handles media and interviews effectively
- Assess and evaluate inter-departmental functions and activities
- Troubleshoots difficulties arising internally
- Incorporates best practices and standards in an administrative function
- Organize and update databases effectively and files document
- Prepares facilities and arranges refreshments for events, if necessary
- Monitors office supplies and ordering replacement
- Observes the best business practices and etiquette
- Liaises with the internal department and communicates with the public
- Serves as a bridge between the organization and the public
Qualifications
- A bachelor’s degree in Public Administration, Business Administration, English language, Mass Communication, or a related field
- At least 1-2 years of demonstrated experience as a secretary or a similar role
- Progressive mastery in managing documents, spreadsheets, and databases
- Proficiency in appointment scheduling and call forwarding systems
- Ability to liaise internally and externally on administrative matters
- Exceptional filing, recordkeeping, and organizational skills
- Working knowledge of printers, copiers, scanners, and fax machines
- Exceptional interpersonal skills
- Proficiency with Microsoft Office Suite
- Basic knowledge and comprehension of office equipment
- Ability to organize and prioritize tasks including delegation of tasks when appropriate
- Ability to sit down for prolong hours and work on the computer
- Ability to lift 15 pounds at a time
Essential Skills
Administrative secretary skills are narrowed down to those skills needed in organizing and managing a workplace. The skills may vary based on the organization they work but the following are the most important skills they need to develop:
- Written Communication
Communication is a core skill in this field and almost every field. Written communication involves drafting reports, memos, emails, official letters, and speeches for an executive. Strong written communication skills will enhance the quality of official correspondence. You must ensure you master the art of writing to write the appropriate English tenses and grammatical accurate sentences. Recollect that most of the documents you will inaugurate are official documents and errors in those documents will give the organization a bad reputation. You must also be very professional with your writing tone in order not to be misinterpreted.
- Verbal Communication: The proficiency to write is not just enough you must also know how to communicate verbally as appropriate. As an administrative secretary, you are the spokesman of the executive manager or director; you must be able to get information from him and pass it across suitably without altering the message. Verbal skills are also important when having conversations on the phone with a person, when participating in meetings and when conversing with clients or colleagues at work. Examples of verbal skills are; listening and responding appropriately and also using the right professional tone for that situation.
- Time-management: time management is the ability to be punctual and schedule so that you can complete your assigned task at the appointed time. Administrative assistant or secretaries in big corporations usually drafts the schedule of the executive or director; they usually inform him or her about all his schedules for the day and also remind him or them regularly about them. Administrative assistants with powerful time-management skills are timely, meet deadlines and readjust priorities when an unexpected situation spring up and they also plan their days for productivity. Administrative secretaries must be proactive and not reactive when performing their duties.
- Organizational Skills; this is very crucial in the workplace, especially for people who perform administrative responsibilities. Administrative secretaries mostly are saddled with the responsibility to keep records of information, manage tasks and perform other responsibilities at the same time. They should be able to manage tasks and observe their calendar plan as expected. Many administrative secretaries also perform other tasks such as storing the company’s database records on a computer and retrieving files. Examples of organizational skills are office management, planning, and delegation of responsibilities.
- Independence: You must be able to work independently without any supervision from your superior. You must build the capacity to carry out tasks on your own.
- Paying Attention to Details: An administrative assistant is the spokesman of the executive manager or director. He or she must be able to pay keen attention to articles; most of the time an administrative secretary is asked to draft some legal or official document for the organization. He or she must be very much concentrated to ensure that there are no grammatical errors, or spelling errors and must also ensure he or uses a polite tone. For instance, when sending an email, he must pay key attention to the addresses in order not to make any mistakes. When working on the data- entry of the organization; he or she must be much focused because mistakes are very common when entering data.
- Problem-solving: No organization does not face challenges; the ability to counterfeit this challenge is very important. An administrative secretary is a busy fellow and so he or she may encounter some problems in the course of discharging his duties. He must be able to think very fast to come up with the solution to the problem; he must always be proactive and not reactive. One of the ways to solve a challenge is to be a good team player; he should open up about his challenge to other team members or coworkers. They may have a solution to the problem.
- Computer and Technological Skills: an administrative assistant must be proficient in computer and technological skills. He must be very proficient with applications such as MS Word and MS Excel and other spreadsheets for publication. One of the crucial responsibilities of an administrative secretary involves typing documents and data entry which is done on the computer. The need to know how to use spreadsheets is highly crucial.
In addition, they also need to scan documents, send emails and regulate customer relationships. They must be very comfortable with using software, browsing applications, and operating systems that will help to ease their work and make it very convenient for them.
- Teamwork: an administrative secretary does not work alone; he sometimes has to work with other professionals to accomplish a responsibility. He or she needs to be able to collaborate with other team members and be a good team player. He must also learn to work closely with the managing director or the executive of the company.
How to Become An Administrative Secretary
- Acquire an Education
To become an administrative secretary acquiring an education is very crucial; some employers can hire a candidate with a high school diploma but most employers prefer a bachelor’s degree holder for the role. You can acquire a bachelor’s degree in Public Administration, Business Administration, English Language, Mass Communication, or any related field. This degree usually takes four years to complete. In course of this degree, you can harness some exceptional skills that will make you a proficient administrative secretary. For instance, a degree in the English Language will help you to be able to draft official documents free from any errors or clichés.
- Earn a Certification In Computer
Most organizations will love to hire a candidate that has computer literacy because most of the responsibility of an administrative secretary is done on the computer. You can enroll for a diploma in computers which usually lasts for six months to be proficient with the use of computer applications and spreadsheets with the computer will make you very marketable in the job scene.
- Decide on the Industry You want to work
This is highly crucial because there are different types of administrative secretaries. You need to decide on the type of secretary you want to be whether it is a legal, medical, or general business administrative secretary. Making this decision is highly crucial so that you can start preparing yourself beforehand for the role. This is also crucial to help you channel your passion to the right place. Before you make this decision make sure you research the industry and then ponder your skills and expertise.
- Gain Relevant Experience
The necessity for experience cannot be minimized; you need to gain relevant job experience and it is a voluntary or paid internship. After you have decided on the kind of industry you will love to work in; you can proceed to start working as an administrative assistant in such an industry to get the requisite experience.
The job position of an administrative secretary in cadres; there are administrative secretary jobs for fresh graduates and there are administrative secretary jobs for experienced candidates. For fresh graduates, the experience required can be 1-3 years while for experienced candidates, it can be 6 experience. You need to gain experience to impress possible employers.
- Establish a marketable Resume and Apply for Open Positions
Create a marketable resume and highlight the skills, experience, and educational qualifications you have. Focus mostly on technical skills and the following are the technical skills you can highlight; M.S Word, PowerPoint, Word Press, and Search engine optimization.
Apply for open positions and you can use human contacts or connections to know about the positions available in your locality. You can look out for open positions on job sites online and then apply.
Where can an Administrative Secretary Work?
Most organizations today globally the services of an administrative secretary based on their organizational structure. This job placement is highly lucrative. Administrative secretaries or assistants can work in companies, legal departments, businesses, educational institutions, government, institutions, corporate companies, and medical departments.
Administrative Secretary Salary Scale
- In the United States, an administrative assistant earns $36,987 per year and $18.97 per hour. Experienced administrative secretaries more than entry-level administrative secretaries.
- In Nigeria, an administrative secretary earns 176,000 NGN per month.
