The Top 7 Duties Of A Secretary That Everyone Should Know

Posted on Feb 20, 2023 at 08:02 PM

The secretary's duties depend on various functional skills ranging from soft to solid skills. Secretaries often have a lot of managerial responsibilities, such as managing an office or an executive section of a company and reviewing clerical duties related to the functioning of crucial working systems.

The executive or administrative Secretary's duties must often be viewed or visible to the public. Yet, the vital role that depends entirely on the Secretary's functions and responsibilities must be allowed, as his role in helping companies of any size succeed and stay on track.

This article highlights the concept of secretarial duties and the most critical roles and responsibilities that everyone who wants to work in this area must recognise.

First, let's answer the simple question:

Who is the Secretary?

The Executive Secretary can be defined as a person or administrative officer who performs a lot of functions in the Company's offices, including providing support and assistance to most of the Company's departments, as well as maintaining mainly the work of the Administrative Department, as well as taking and managing essential additional responsibilities and duties depending on the nature and size of the Company's position and functions.

For example, the secretary's functions within government bodies may differ from those of secretaries in private sectors.

What are the Secretary's top 7 joint duties?

The functions of the Career Secretary require the assistance and support of the Company's Director to ensure that the organisational critical success factors are generally achieved. In particular, as mentioned above, the functions and responsibilities of the Secretariat post vary according to the workplace, but they share a set of tasks. Here is a list of the most prominent ones:

1- Answering phone calls and text messages:

Secretarial is the executive link between the company and various third parties, such as partners, customers, or people who inquire about the company's products.

Correspondence methods vary, and communication with the company is daily. They may be phone calls, text messages, or emails.

The Secretary must therefore be able to process the call, either by answering it or directing it to the responsible department in case he cannot answer the queries raised.

For example, a secretary may receive a complaint about a product, turning it into a complaints section that, in turn, addresses this problem. As a secretary, you may need the expertise to identify the difference between urgent and regular communications.

2- Management of company files and documents:

Interest in organising and arranging documents, files, and documents for the company is crucial. This is part of the secretary's functions, in addition to receiving and sending documents to and from clients.

For example, the legal secretary is responsible for preserving legal documents and records that concern the company's work.

So in job openings, secretaries are often required to have some necessary technical skills, most notably Microsoft Offices' popular software, such as Excel and Word, to prepare files, documents, and spreadsheets. The secretary must remember to check all files at the end.

3- Receive new employees or guests:

In addition to the administrative functions of the secretary, it may be his duty to receive guests that come to the company within fixed dates; for example, the secretary may receive clients and guide them for what they want from the company, may receive new employees in their early days and help them settle down and find their way within the company.

It should be noted that because of the great importance of a good reception in preserving the brand image, attracting new customers and maintaining existing customers, today most companies employ a secretary who only works in the reception.

4- Organization and scheduling of meetings:

The Secretary's functions in the meetings are divided into two sections; The first is to organise and schedule the dates and inform the persons concerned to attend the meeting in all detail.

The second section is organising what happens within the meeting, such as introducing the axes of the meeting, taking essential observations of the company, and producing a comprehensive report explaining the meeting outcome.

For example, a meeting may take place between the head of the company's legal division and a group of lawyers in another country to open a new branch of the company. The meeting will take place on legal matters that should not be infringed. Here is the role of an effective secretary to write down the notes, prepare a final report, and send it to the senior management and CEOs of the company.

5- Ordering and maintaining supplies:

Sometimes, the secretary's functions may require senior management to perform office equipment maintenance or purchase new supplies and equipment.

For example, as a secretary in an office within the company, you may need many office supplies such as paper, pens, ink, reception seats, and other necessary supplies.

Although this is one of the secretary's tasks, most companies now employ a person responsible for following up on all supplies and equipment within the company and paying attention to their maintenance or renovation.

6- Forming professional relationships with other companies:

Professional relationships between enterprises are a pillar of success for any enterprise or company, and establishing relationships with other organisations is one of the secretary's functions.

For example, within a given supply chain, the company may need a food expert, and there is no one with this expertise; here, the secretary's duty is to seek help from a friendly company, which may often be matched materially.

7- Assistance in small project tasks:

Sometimes, a company's project executive may need the help of a secretary to perform small tasks that he needs more time to complete because he is engaged in larger projects, so for executives, this assistance is invaluable.

For example, an executive in the production department may need to organise their agenda, prepare reports and documents in word or PDF, or print some transactions and papers. It is the general executive secretary's responsibility to assist it.

What are the requirements of the secretarial profession?

Anyone who wants to work as a secretary in the office can learn this profession in a period not exceeding three months, provided they possess basic computer skills and some other skills, as well as a high school certificate.

So recently, many people employed in the secretarial field have a university degree because most university students are under pressure similar to work pressure, have good computer skills, and can acquire any new skill they may be required to do.

That is, without having a particular scientific background, it becomes tough to serve as secretary in some areas, such as the medical or legal field, given the need to preserve a lot of accurate information and scientific terminology.

In conclusion, 

it is assumed that you are now more familiar with the performance of the secretary's qualities and functions. The secretary's successful work is an excellent job in terms of income compared to the effort.

But of course, like any other profession, it has a set of challenges you may face as you go to professionalise it. To overcome them and master all the secretarial tasks, we advise you to attend the office management course in Istanbul.