A secretary is one of the essential components of an establishment bent on keeping records, answering phone calls, and replying to messages.
Secretaries may also require certain skills to assist the organization in succeeding in its operations. This article will explain the various types of secretary, their functions and how to be a good secretary.
Who is the secretary?
A secretary is a person who does administrative work such as making appointments, admitting new members, and organizing official seminars and events.
A secretary can be an administrative professional that plays a crucial role in business and other organizational settings.
On the other hand, secretaries are usually the individuals who retain and arrange office jobs, implement protocols and accomplish additional administrative duties, depending on the status of their job description.
However, a secretary may be responsible for various common duties that can include:
- Answering phone calls and taking messages.
- Coordinating files, documents and maintaining a filing strategy.
- Coordinating company’s projects and tasks.
Functions of a Secretary
Organization of Meeting:
A secretary works hand in hand with the chairman or boss to plan meetings, obtain agendas from committee members, disseminate agendas and reports, and take minutes. Also, the secretary makes sure that the decisions made are executed.
Meetings and Presentations:
A secretary must ensure that meetings follow a specific method, observing the company’s rules & regulations, and following it to the end.
Communication and correspondence:
Secretaries should ensure communications and correspondence (getting feedback from other boards).
Record Keeping
The secretary keeps up-to-date contact details, documenting minutes and reports, compiling records of names and addresses that are useful to the organization, and reporting the organization’s activities.
Types of Secretary
School Secretary
A school secretary plays a key role in communicating with community members and fogeys about what’s happening at college. A faculty secretary requires to supply administrative support in class.
Administrative Secretary
An administrative secretary works hand in hand with the organization officer or Chairman to coordinate meetings, plan events and distribute information via email, telephone, and the internet. He/she also control and arrange travel for the organization’s officer or Chairman.
Executive secretary
An executive secretary handles information that flows through different sections of an organization and ensures the information gets to the valid person; sometimes, they represent the company’s officials at events or meetings.
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Office Secretary
An office secretary is one of the types of secretary that uses several office equipment like photo duplicators, scanners, and telephone systems. Additionally, they also use computers to perform certain tasks that managers previously handled.
An office secretary does the following;
- Managing databases,
- Writing correspondence,
- Creating spreadsheets, reports, documents, and presentations with digital illustrations.
- Reviewing software,
- Conserving leased equipment,
- Retrieving data from various sources,
- Purchasing supplies,
- Negotiating with agents,
- Managing areas such as corporate libraries or stockrooms.
Types of Secretary
Medical Secretary
A medical secretary generally works in a health facility/medical office or hospital and is suitable for highly specialized secretarial responsibilities like billing patients, scheduling appointments, handling correspondence, and compiling medical charts and reports.
Also, they assist doctors in writing speeches, reports, articles, insurance company billings, arraigning for patients’ hospitalization, and ordering supplies.
Thus, to function as a medical secretary, you ought to have skills that includes; talent for detailed work, and honest communication skill.
Litigation Secretary
A litigation secretary works in various office environments like government agents, formal firms, land companies, courts, and authorized aid divisions.
As a litigation secretary, you’ll speak with judges, court administrators, clients, judicial workers, firm partners, and other firm staff.
The secretary of litigation must be eloquent, organized, and a maven of time management. The duties performed by the litigation secretary include; responding to phone calls, typing of documents, filing/fixing appointments, motions, and pleadings.
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Land Secretary
A land secretary’s responsibilities include processing expense reports, scheduling meetings, coordinating travel itineraries, drafting, and editing various land documents such as sales documents, purchase and sale contracts, letters of intent, leases, exhibits, and closings.
Before applying for the position of land secretary, inspect whether you possess all the soft skills required for this position. The soft skills required include; speaking well, being organized, and having an eye fixed for detail.
This is one of the types of secretary that is not prominent in most countries.
Characteristics of an honest Secretary:
A good Management Committee Secretary should:
- Be systematic.
- Bring observed facts to the proceedings.
- Deal promptly with an expected outcome.
- Be ready to take accurate notes of meetings.
- Work hand in hand with the chairperson.
- Be in charge of maintaining the company’s schedule,
- Make sure members receive all the specified materials.
- Have knowledge or experience of board meetings.
- Must be well organized.
Rules and Regulations
Notwithstanding all the types of secretary, a good Secretary should not:
- Ignore correspondence.
- Be loquacious.
- Be late for meetings.
- Throw away important papers.
- Write down insignificant details of all conversations at every meeting.
- Rely on his/her memory.
- Repeat confidential discussions.
- Organize meetings at the dying minutes.
Types of Secretary
Conclusion
A secretary improves the quality of services rendered by the government or establishment, making recommendations on how to make the establishment effective and efficient.
At the same time, a secretary also evaluate duties in relation to proper and efficient management of an organization.
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