A secretary, personal assistant, or
administrative assistant is a person whose work consists of supporting
management, including executives, using a variety of project management,
communication, or organizational skills. These functions may be entirely
carried out to assist one other employee or may be for the benefit of more than
one. In other situations a secretary is an officer of a society or organization
who deals with correspondence, admits new members, and organizes official
meetings and events.
A secretary has many administrative duties.
Traditionally, these duties were mostly related to correspondence, such as the
typing out of letters, maintaining files of paper documents, etc. The advent of
word
processing has significantly reduced the time that such duties require,
with the result that many new tasks have come under the purview of the
secretary. These might include managing budgets and doing bookkeeping,
maintaining websites, and making travel arrangements. Secretaries might manage
all the administrative details of running a high-level conference or arrange
the catering for a typical lunch meeting. Often executives will ask their
assistant to take the minutes at meetings and prepare meeting documents for
review.
