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■What does a secretary do? Summary of the secretary's role and specific duties!
People in positions such as presidents and company executives may have secretaries. Even if they know that there is a job called a secretary, there are probably not only job seekers but also managers who use secretaries who do not know what kind of work they do specifically. In this article, we will explain in detail the role and specific duties of secretaries, which are not well known.
1. What is a secretary?
A secretary plays the role of supporting people in positions such as company presidents and executives, university professors, politicians, lawyers and doctors so that they can carry out their work smoothly. Since bosses who work in these positions often have a huge amount of work to do, secretaries can manage their schedules and other tasks so that they can concentrate on their original work. It can be said that the quality required of a secretary is to create an environment where their boss can work easily. Although the duties vary depending on the boss's job, when working as a secretary, you may come into contact with confidential information or meet important people that you would not normally meet.
2. Secretarial duties
What kind of support does a secretary provide for their superiors' work? From here, we will introduce the specific duties that secretaries actually perform.
2-1. Schedule management
Managing the superiors' schedule is one of the most important parts of a secretary's job. In addition to internal meetings, secretaries coordinate schedules for external meetings and conferences in cooperation with internal and external personnel. For example, they make reservations for reception rooms and conference rooms for internal meetings and conferences, and respond to inquiries from within the company about the superiors' schedules. One of the secretaries' jobs is to make reservations and arrangements for airline tickets, bullet trains, hotels, etc. when the superiors go on business trips. If the schedule changes, it is necessary to adjust the schedule while taking into account the importance and urgency.
2-2. Phone calls, emails, and visitors
Secretaries' jobs include receiving and responding to phone calls and emails from both inside and outside the company. They sort through phone calls and emails, and pass on the necessary ones to the superiors, but in some cases the secretary may reply. They must process them accurately according to prior arrangements and instructions from the superiors. They also take appointments for visitors who wish to visit and provide customer service. Since the impression of visitors will change depending on how you greet them, it is necessary to have business etiquette. Secretaries at foreign companies are also responsible for entertaining foreigners who visit Japan and guiding them around.
2-3. Information management
They also play a role in selecting topics that are directly related to the boss's work or that are likely to be useful from the various information available in the world and conveying them. Another important task of a secretary is to organize a huge amount of documents and file them so that the necessary documents can be retrieved immediately. They separate necessary documents from unneeded documents, keep only the necessary ones, and discard unnecessary documents one by one. In addition, secretaries are responsible for creating documents to be used in meetings.
2-4. Management of office equipment and supplies
It is also important to regularly check whether there is a surplus or shortage of supplies necessary for the boss to be able to work smoothly, and if there is a shortage, to replenish them as appropriate. They also clean the boss's desk, office, and other personal belongings, and keep the computer environment ready so that they can provide anything they need immediately if they are instructed or requested to do so.
2-5. Assisting the boss
As an assistant to the boss, the secretary is also responsible for creating various documents. It is the secretary's job to create documents and materials necessary for meetings, conferences, and business negotiations, and to create documents to circulate within the company in the boss's name. On the other hand, thank-you letters for midyear and year-end gifts, and letters related to celebrations and condolences, are handwritten. It is also the secretary's job to input the manuscripts handwritten by the boss into a computer and to format the documents. These documents created at the boss's instructions are often released as official documents, so accuracy is required in the work.
Having a secretary can improve work efficiency!
Secretaries provide support from various angles to help their bosses carry out their work smoothly. Have you gained a deeper understanding of the specific work that secretaries are responsible for through the explanation so far? Having a secretary will help you complete your work smoothly. Therefore, if you are a management team that is undecided about whether or not to hire a secretary, why not give it a positive thought?
【 TransACT Group 】
