According to studies conducted by various recruiting agencies, the profession of “secretary” is one of those associated with the largest number of refineries and the need to adapt to the work schedule of the management. This group also includes drivers and representatives of some other specialties.
What is a secretary?
This term comes from the Latin "secret", so called proxies in ancient Rome. And then, and later (at the royal courts) they were exclusively men, sometimes managing to get to power very deftly.
This profession gained a female appearance already at the end of the First World War, with the advent of a typewriter and the emergence of such a position as secretary-referent. Nowadays, with their advanced technologies, there are even virtual assistant secretaries. This is the name of companies or individuals providing online services for writing emails or receiving phone calls (translated) without the physical presence of a secretary in the office.
What is he doing?
Among the people, the personal secretary of the director has a stereotypical image - a long-legged beauty who can mainly type on a computer, make coffee and answer calls. Sometimes this is reflected in jokes of not too decent content. In fact, the profession of “secretary”, as well as the position of referent in a large company, presupposes the presence of a very serious baggage of skills, knowledge, and also certain working qualities. A true representative of this profession can not do without organization, diligence, punctuality and diplomacy.
The duties of the secretary (secretary-referent) include knowledge of all normative documents related to office work, document management, organization of office work, management structure, basic principles of office equipment, labor protection rules. All of his many rights, duties and types of work performed are regulated by job descriptions. She is the main legal document concerning the activities of such an employee. To compile it in each case is required with all responsibility.
Let's look at the main sections of this document.
What does the instruction for the assistant secretary read?
Its general provisions contain the name of the organization, indicate the immediate superiors and call the one who will replace the secretary in case of his absence. There you will find the requirements for seniority and qualifications of the employee, and a list of all the documents necessary for the work (rules, GOSTs, codes and regulations).
The functions assigned to the secretary are given in the second (same) section. This includes the obligation to prepare the necessary documents according to the instructions of the leadership, register, receive and send correspondence, organize and control the work of the reception, conduct documentary paperwork and much more.
In more detail, his activities are described in the next section - "The duties of the secretary." We are talking about the safety and accounting of correspondence, issuing certificates regarding various registered documents, organizing and preparing official meetings, copying and printing, recording messages for superiors left in his absence and informing him about them, providing the company office with the necessary stationery.
In each organization, the duties of the secretary may have their own characteristics depending on the specifics of the work. His position may sound like a “secretary-clerk,” which means expanding the range of core responsibilities.
About Secretary's Rights
What is the secretary entitled to? According to the instructions, he is allowed to request the materials that will be required in the work in various departments of the company, to determine the procedure for their use.
Another thing is to transfer the scanned documents directly to the executors directly to the executives, establish the sequence of visitors in the reception room and distribute phone calls according to their importance, and require employees to explain in case of disciplinary violations.
Like any other employee, the personal secretary of the head has the right to work in suitable conditions, which must comply labor protection requirements and safety standards.
What is the assistant secretary responsible for?
It bears responsibility for non-disclosure of confidential information, for the quality of documentation and timely submission to its management, responsible attitude to document management, preservation of property and documents of the organization, tactful relations with management and employees.
The next section of the job description indicates what are the job relationships and functional relationships that exist between the assistant secretary and various company structures. As a rule, in a medium-sized organization, the secretary has to interact on material and technical issues (providing the office with office supplies) with the administrative and economic department, on document management issues - with other units and, of course, directly with the management.
The performance of the secretary is assessed according to the main selected criteria, which is also regulated by the corresponding section of the instruction. In the vast majority of cases, such criteria are efficiency and diligence. There are also situations in which the instruction is subject to revision. This can happen when changing its functions or organization structure.
To summarize
When hiring a person, the person appointed to this position gets acquainted with the service instruction, which lists all the duties of the secretary. Recall briefly them again.
- Reception of phone calls for the head.
- All work with documentation - sorting by importance, design, preparation, receipt and distribution, storage and systematization.
- Organization of the reception of visitors.
- Assistance to the boss in planning the work schedule; if necessary, booking tickets and booking a hotel.
- Preparation and organization of business negotiations.
- Ordering office supplies and other necessary trifles, sometimes products.
Having familiarized with the list of duties, the employee signs under the instruction, the signature of the head is also put. Note that each organization has its own version of the instruction, but not one of them should contradict the current legislation or accepted labor standards.
Court Secretary
The specifics of work in each institution, as you know, is different. What, for example, does a court clerk do? What are his job responsibilities? There are a lot of them:
- design of covers of current affairs;
- receipt of claims from judicial assistants;
- filing documents and materials into cases;
- compilation of inventories of new cases;
- pagination
- distribution of copies of court rulings to case participants (parties);
- sending copies of court rulings to specific individuals on behalf of the judge;
- informing the parties about the dates and dates of court hearings.
Besides
The duties performed by the court clerk include, but are not limited to:
- posting lists of court cases for a week;
- checking the appearance of the parties to the meeting;
- court record keeping;
- control of receipt and sending of all documents involved in the case.
The secretaries should familiarize the parties with the case materials, control the notifications received by mail, hand in receipts, notices, copies of acts and other important papers. They enter information into magazines and cards, into the computer system, print out handwritten acts, hand over the cases to the judges for verification and take them after it, issue and file the writ of execution and do many other things on behalf of the judges.
Requirements for the Registrar
- Documents should be numbered, hemmed.
- A list of cases and other documents is compiled separately.
- Photos and envelopes are numbered, in case of a failure, the numbering starts anew, old numbers are to be crossed out (not corrected!).
- All corrections are certified in accordance with the accepted form.
- Covers of cases are made out indicating the name of the court, the number and title of the case, the names of the parties, the dates of start and end, the number of sheets and the shelf life.
- Inventories are performed manually or on a computer.
What must a school secretary do?
Sometimes there are ads "I need a secretary to school." What is this position, and what should be done there? Let's find out.
The school secretary is the first and most important assistant to the director. He has to fulfill all the instructions and instructions of his superiors related to the functioning of the educational institution.
His main responsibilities include conducting business on personnel changes (dismissal, admission) of employees, enrollment and expulsion of students. His task is to draw up a document that the director will have to assure with his own signature. If necessary, the secretary has to collect and deliver the signed documents at the right time for consideration to higher authorities.
Other responsibilities of the school secretary include receiving and delivering information to students and staff. In the absence of a director in place, the secretary is required to record the total number and content of calls, complaints and appeals of visitors, including primary school students.
Additionally
The mark, which contains the instruction of the school secretary, states: it is also the responsibility of the latter to fulfill additional (other) instructions. What does it mean?
It is deciphered as follows: the secretary of the school principal must follow any instructions, except for personal requests. This can be, for example, a call for a conversation between a student or teacher, sending mail, making a money transfer, buying the equipment necessary for the school. This list is practically inexhaustible, that is, the duties of the secretary at school are very, very extensive.
If the school does not provide for the position of an accountant, financial affairs are also assigned to the secretary. His task is to send salary information, fill out a time sheet, make the necessary adjustments.
The help of the secretary may be required not only by the director, but also by any visitor to the reception. They turn to him to print the text, copy the document and clarify a huge number of questions.
If you work as an assistant secretary to the CEO
In this case, you are one of the specialists, and the director will accept and dismiss you, and you will directly obey him. To get to this position, you must have a higher (or at least special secondary) education, experience in the position of 1 year. If there is no experience, a certificate of attendance of secretary-referent courses.
You must be competent in matters of the economic and financial activities of the enterprise, the prospects for its development, the organization of document management and work management, computer skills and office equipment, translation into a foreign language of production documentation, business ethics.
Functions and Responsibilities
You have to take on all the reference and information services related to the documentation of the enterprise. As well as the organization and control of office work in the branches and individual divisions of the company. No wonder - you are not an ordinary secretary-clerk. They should be able to document and quickly organize the activities of its management and advisory bodies. If there is no personnel inspector, keep all personnel records and records.
The assistant secretary of the general director needs to prepare the documents necessary to ensure the financial and economic activities of the entire enterprise, organize their reception, registration, accounting, storage. It controls the correctness of the preparation, approval and approval of all documentation submitted for signature to the management of the enterprise. Takes measures for the quality timely execution of orders from superiors, brings information directly to the performers, conducts analysis and issues opinions on reports and certificates sent to management.
In addition, the functions of the secretary include maintaining operational communication on issues of the company’s activities with citizens - individuals and individual organizations (both state and commercial). He accepts visitors, he can conduct personnel activities - fill out personal files, orders, labor books, contracts (contracts), travel documents and certificates of incapacity for work, keep a time sheet and issue certificates of salary.
And again about the rights
This position implies not only the extended duties of the secretary, but also the rights corresponding to them. In addition to the generally accepted, they include the right to request the necessary materials and information from any functional services of the enterprise and the requirement to explain the reasons for delays in the performance of management tasks. Then: it is possible to demand the completion of documents prepared by contractors in violation of the accepted rules in accordance with GOST 6.38-90 or ISO - international standards for documentation.
He has the right to sight, within the framework of his own official competence, of documents related to enterprise management activities, submitting to the management for consideration personal proposals on improving the organization's work in the field of document management, and the use of the latest computer technologies.
He has access to documents marked "Confidential" and can interact with any employees and services of the enterprise in order to monitor the implementation of management decisions and provide that information.
