Roles expanding

Tuesday, 25 May, 1999 - 22:00
MORE secretaries are being drawn into the management side of the business a survey by business support personnel firm Alectus has found.

The survey of 1,000 organisations found less than half of the companies surveyed employed traditional secretaries.

Alectus’ Leanne Warner said the secretarial role had advanced to often include taking on additional management responsibilities such as hiring and supervising personnel, controlling budgets, special project work, research, client liaison, organising client functions, mentoring and maintaining and monitoring office equipment.

“The survey also revealed most secretaries today – 70 per cent – do not use shorthand,” Ms Warner said.

“However, those that use this skill work directly for CEOs, managing directors and general managers.

“Secretaries or personal assistants today are highly computer literate, have exceptional organisational skills and enter the secretarial role as a professional career choice,” she said.