How to become Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive in 2024

Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive Perform routine administrative functions such as drafting correspondence, scheduling appointments, organizing and maintaining paper and electronic files, or providing information to callers.

Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive is Also Know as

In different settings, Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive is titled as

  • Administrative Assistant (Admin Assistant)
  • Administrative Clerk
  • Administrative Secretary (Admin Secretary)
  • Administrative Specialist (Admin Specialist)
  • Administrative Support Assistant (ASA)
  • Administrative Technician
  • Department Secretary
  • Office Assistant
  • Secretary
  • Staff Assistant

Education and Training of Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive

Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive is categorized in Job Zone Two: Some Preparation Needed

Experience Required for Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive

Some previous work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is usually needed. For example, a teller would benefit from experience working directly with the public.

Education Required for Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive

These occupations usually require a high school diploma.

Degrees Related to Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive

Training Required for Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive

Employees in these occupations need anywhere from a few months to one year of working with experienced employees. A recognized apprenticeship program may be associated with these occupations.

Related Ocuupations

Some Ocuupations related to Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive in different industries are

What Do Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive do?

  • Answer telephones and give information to callers, take messages, or transfer calls to appropriate individuals.
  • Greet visitors or callers and handle their inquiries or direct them to the appropriate persons according to their needs.
  • Locate and attach appropriate files to incoming correspondence requiring replies.
  • Open, read, route, and distribute incoming mail or other materials and answer routine letters.
  • Complete forms in accordance with company procedures.
  • Make copies of correspondence or other printed material.
  • Review work done by others to check for correct spelling and grammar, ensure that company format policies are followed, and recommend revisions.
  • Learn to operate new office technologies as they are developed and implemented.
  • Maintain scheduling and event calendars.
  • Schedule and confirm appointments for clients, customers, or supervisors.
  • Manage projects or contribute to committee or team work.
  • Mail newsletters, promotional material, or other information.
  • Order and dispense supplies.
  • Conduct searches to find needed information, using such sources as the Internet.
  • Provide services to customers, such as order placement or account information.
  • Prepare and mail checks.
  • Establish work procedures or schedules and keep track of the daily work of clerical staff.
  • Take dictation in shorthand or by machine and transcribe information.
  • Arrange conference, meeting, or travel reservations for office personnel.
  • Operate electronic mail systems and coordinate the flow of information, internally or with other organizations.
  • Supervise other clerical staff and provide training and orientation to new staff.
  • Use computers for various applications, such as database management or word processing.
  • Create, maintain, and enter information into databases.
  • Set up and manage paper or electronic filing systems, recording information, updating paperwork, or maintaining documents, such as attendance records, correspondence, or other material.
  • Operate office equipment, such as fax machines, copiers, or phone systems and arrange for repairs when equipment malfunctions.
  • Compose, type, and distribute meeting notes, routine correspondence, or reports, such as presentations or expense, statistical, or monthly reports.
  • Perform payroll functions, such as maintaining timekeeping information and processing and submitting payroll.
  • Collect and deposit money into accounts, disburse funds from cash accounts to pay bills or invoices, keep records of collections and disbursements, and ensure accounts are balanced.
  • Coordinate conferences, meetings, or special events, such as luncheons or graduation ceremonies.
  • Develop or maintain internal or external company Web sites.
  • Train and assist staff with computer usage.
  • Prepare conference or event materials, such as flyers or invitations.

Qualities of Good Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive

  • Written Comprehension: The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
  • Oral Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
  • Written Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.
  • Oral Comprehension: The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
  • Near Vision: The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
  • Speech Clarity: The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.
  • Speech Recognition: The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.
  • Information Ordering: The ability to arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).
  • Problem Sensitivity: The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing that there is a problem.
  • Inductive Reasoning: The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).
  • Category Flexibility: The ability to generate or use different sets of rules for combining or grouping things in different ways.
  • Deductive Reasoning: The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
  • Selective Attention: The ability to concentrate on a task over a period of time without being distracted.
  • Time Sharing: The ability to shift back and forth between two or more activities or sources of information (such as speech, sounds, touch, or other sources).
  • Fluency of Ideas: The ability to come up with a number of ideas about a topic (the number of ideas is important, not their quality, correctness, or creativity).
  • Perceptual Speed: The ability to quickly and accurately compare similarities and differences among sets of letters, numbers, objects, pictures, or patterns. The things to be compared may be presented at the same time or one after the other. This ability also includes comparing a presented object with a remembered object.
  • Far Vision: The ability to see details at a distance.
  • Visualization: The ability to imagine how something will look after it is moved around or when its parts are moved or rearranged.
  • Memorization: The ability to remember information such as words, numbers, pictures, and procedures.
  • Finger Dexterity: The ability to make precisely coordinated movements of the fingers of one or both hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble very small objects.
  • Number Facility: The ability to add, subtract, multiply, or divide quickly and correctly.
  • Wrist-Finger Speed: The ability to make fast, simple, repeated movements of the fingers, hands, and wrists.
  • Mathematical Reasoning: The ability to choose the right mathematical methods or formulas to solve a problem.
  • Flexibility of Closure: The ability to identify or detect a known pattern (a figure, object, word, or sound) that is hidden in other distracting material.
  • Originality: The ability to come up with unusual or clever ideas about a given topic or situation, or to develop creative ways to solve a problem.
  • Visual Color Discrimination: The ability to match or detect differences between colors, including shades of color and brightness.
  • Speed of Closure: The ability to quickly make sense of, combine, and organize information into meaningful patterns.
  • Arm-Hand Steadiness: The ability to keep your hand and arm steady while moving your arm or while holding your arm and hand in one position.
  • Manual Dexterity: The ability to quickly move your hand, your hand together with your arm, or your two hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble objects.
  • Auditory Attention: The ability to focus on a single source of sound in the presence of other distracting sounds.
  • Hearing Sensitivity: The ability to detect or tell the differences between sounds that vary in pitch and loudness.
  • Control Precision: The ability to quickly and repeatedly adjust the controls of a machine or a vehicle to exact positions.
  • Trunk Strength: The ability to use your abdominal and lower back muscles to support part of the body repeatedly or continuously over time without "giving out" or fatiguing.
  • Dynamic Strength: The ability to exert muscle force repeatedly or continuously over time. This involves muscular endurance and resistance to muscle fatigue.
  • Gross Body Equilibrium: The ability to keep or regain your body balance or stay upright when in an unstable position.
  • Spatial Orientation: The ability to know your location in relation to the environment or to know where other objects are in relation to you.
  • Sound Localization: The ability to tell the direction from which a sound originated.
  • Glare Sensitivity: The ability to see objects in the presence of a glare or bright lighting.
  • Depth Perception: The ability to judge which of several objects is closer or farther away from you, or to judge the distance between you and an object.
  • Peripheral Vision: The ability to see objects or movement of objects to one's side when the eyes are looking ahead.
  • Night Vision: The ability to see under low-light conditions.
  • Response Orientation: The ability to choose quickly between two or more movements in response to two or more different signals (lights, sounds, pictures). It includes the speed with which the correct response is started with the hand, foot, or other body part.
  • Gross Body Coordination: The ability to coordinate the movement of your arms, legs, and torso together when the whole body is in motion.
  • Dynamic Flexibility: The ability to quickly and repeatedly bend, stretch, twist, or reach out with your body, arms, and/or legs.
  • Extent Flexibility: The ability to bend, stretch, twist, or reach with your body, arms, and/or legs.
  • Stamina: The ability to exert yourself physically over long periods of time without getting winded or out of breath.
  • Explosive Strength: The ability to use short bursts of muscle force to propel oneself (as in jumping or sprinting), or to throw an object.
  • Static Strength: The ability to exert maximum muscle force to lift, push, pull, or carry objects.
  • Speed of Limb Movement: The ability to quickly move the arms and legs.
  • Multilimb Coordination: The ability to coordinate two or more limbs (for example, two arms, two legs, or one leg and one arm) while sitting, standing, or lying down. It does not involve performing the activities while the whole body is in motion.
  • Reaction Time: The ability to quickly respond (with the hand, finger, or foot) to a signal (sound, light, picture) when it appears.
  • Rate Control: The ability to time your movements or the movement of a piece of equipment in anticipation of changes in the speed and/or direction of a moving object or scene.

Tools Used by Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive

  • Data input scanners
  • Desktop computers
  • Dictation equipment
  • Digital cameras
  • Handheld calculators
  • Handheld computers
  • Laptop computers
  • Laser facsimile machines
  • Mobile phones
  • Multi-line telephone systems
  • Pagers
  • Personal computers
  • Personal digital assistants PDA
  • Photocopiers
  • Photocopying equipment
  • Scanners

Technology Skills required for Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive

  • 3M Post-it App
  • Adobe Acrobat
  • Adobe Creative Cloud software
  • Adobe Dreamweaver
  • Adobe Illustrator
  • Adobe InDesign
  • Adobe Photoshop
  • ADP Workforce Now
  • Airtable
  • Apache Cassandra
  • Apache Hadoop
  • Apache Hive
  • Apache HTTP Server
  • Apache Pig
  • Apache Solr
  • Apache Tomcat
  • Apple Keynote
  • Apple macOS
  • Appointment scheduling software
  • Atlassian Confluence
  • Atlassian JIRA
  • Blackbaud The Raiser's Edge
  • Blackboard software
  • Cisco Webex
  • Citrix cloud computing software
  • ClassDojo
  • Customer information control system CICS
  • Data entry software
  • Data warehouse software
  • Database software
  • Delphi Technology
  • Desktop publishing software
  • Dictation software
  • Dropbox
  • Drupal
  • Evernote
  • Facebook
  • FaceTime
  • FileMaker Pro
  • Filing system software
  • Fund accounting software
  • Google Docs
  • Google Drive
  • Google Meet
  • Google Sites
  • Google Slides
  • GroupMe
  • Handheld computer device software
  • Human resource management software HRMS
  • Hypertext markup language HTML
  • IBM Cognos Impromptu
  • IBM InfoSphere DataStage
  • IBM Maximo Asset Management
  • IBM Notes
  • IBM Power Systems software
  • IBM SPSS Statistics
  • IBM WebSphere
  • Intrado SchoolMessenger
  • Intuit QuickBooks
  • Kronos Workforce Timekeeper
  • LexisNexis
  • LinkedIn
  • Linux
  • LogMeIn GoToMeeting
  • LogMeIn GoToWebinar
  • Loom
  • McAfee
  • Medical procedure coding software
  • Microsoft Access
  • Microsoft Active Server Pages ASP
  • Microsoft Dynamics
  • Microsoft Dynamics GP
  • Microsoft Dynamics SL
  • Microsoft Excel
  • Microsoft Exchange
  • Microsoft Office software
  • Microsoft OneNote
  • Microsoft Outlook
  • Microsoft PowerPoint
  • Microsoft Project
  • Microsoft Publisher
  • Microsoft SharePoint
  • Microsoft SQL Server
  • Microsoft Teams
  • Microsoft Visio
  • Microsoft Windows
  • Microsoft Word
  • MicroStrategy
  • Minitab
  • Mozilla Firefox
  • NetSuite ERP
  • NortonLifeLock cybersecurity software
  • Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition
  • Oracle Database
  • Oracle E-Business Suite Financials
  • Oracle Fusion Applications
  • Oracle Hyperion
  • Oracle JD Edwards EnterpriseOne
  • Oracle PeopleSoft
  • Oracle PeopleSoft Financials
  • Oracle Primavera Enterprise Project Portfolio Management
  • Oracle Solaris
  • Oracle Taleo
  • people@work
  • Presentation software
  • Qlik Tech QlikView
  • Quest Erwin Data Modeler
  • Sage 50 Accounting
  • Salesforce software
  • SAP Business Objects
  • SAP Crystal Reports
  • SAP software
  • SAS
  • Schoology
  • Skype
  • Slack
  • SmugMug Flickr
  • Social media sites
  • Spreadsheet software
  • Tax software
  • Teradata Database
  • Timekeeping software
  • Veritas NetBackup
  • Web browser software
  • Web conferencing software
  • Yardi software
  • YouTube
  • Zoom