What does an Executive Secretary Do and How to Become One?

Do you want to become an executive secretary? The word secretary is often used as an umbrella term but within that term, the actual job role of the individual hired for the position will differ somewhat, according to the discretion of the company. But if you want to become an Executive Secretary you will need to have all the right executive secretary skills and knowledge. So here’s a quick and simple guide to get you there.

What is the job role of an Executive Secretary?

In addition to basic office functions like documentation, filing, and administrative duties, the executive secretary is also responsible for writing or preparing reports, organizing and scheduling meetings, reviewing incoming messages to determine their significance, preparing agendas for board meetings, making travel arrangements, compiling meeting minutes, conducting research, preparing correspondence, and supervising and training junior level office staff.

What are the core executive secretary skills needed?

The core set of job skills essential to your respective roles include exceptional organisational skills, excellent written and oral communication abilities as well as paying meticulous attention to detail and professionalism. You must possess technical proficiency with office automation tools such as software essentials like Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, as well as bookkeeping tools such as QuickBooks. 

What are the benefits of becoming an executive secretary?

There are actually quite a few benefits involved with this job such as;

• Getting to work with everybody in the company
• Never having monotony because each day will be different
• You will get to experience a bit of everything in the processes at work
• You will be a big part of making plans
• You will be responsible to a great extent for the strategic direction of the organisation
• You will find growth within the same role
• You will always know what is happening before anybody else and that lets you be in the know
• You will enjoy solving both problems and puzzles daily
• If you like to keep busy and keep your daily calendar diverse, this is the right job for you
• You can learn a lot and earn a lot too (Roughly around £30,693 per year to start with according to Payscale)
• You will be able to motivate people

What are the qualifications that you need?

To start with, you must complete your high school education. After that, you should definitely be working on collecting the qualifications needed professionally. You may need to polish your executive secretary skills with the help of an accredited programme that can get you completely ready for the challenges that a real-life workplace presents. You should also work towards either interning or volunteering so that you can gain some hands-on experience before you take on a very critical role if you are a fresher. We can help you get the right qualifications needed for an executive secretary. Contact us at [email protected] for more information.