This is a job mostly intended for girls or women, but in some very rare cases, there are guys hired for the position as well. The secretary (sometimes referred as personal assistant) has a pretty important job inside the company: she is usually the right hand of the general manger of the firm, but if we deal with a really big company, other managers will have secretaries as well.
Also, in the case of a really large company, the person with the highest position will even have two secretaries, or even more, who knows. Each of them would perform different tasks, but they need to make sure to coordinate their tasks in order to ease up the work of their direct boss - after all, this is their mission in the office.
It is very important for the secretary to keep a professional appearance: clean clothes, office type, neat nails, hair and makeup, for she represents the image of the company. She is the first person inside the company with whom visitors (clients or business partners) come in contact with.
The tasks that she is supposed to do during the working hours are business and office related, and include: answering phone calls, taking messages if the people of interest aren't there, taking notes, writing emails or letters, taking care of the incoming mail and e-mail, filing and managing documents, making sure the working place is clean (and if needed asking the appropriate personnel to clean), operating the machines in the office and making sure they are functioning.
She must make sure not to let strangers go in her boss' office while he's away or if they are not welcomed or invited. She has to make sure that the people coming to see the boss or anyone else have an appointment, and she is in charge of the boss' agenda: meetings, calls he or she needs to perform that day, events that need to be attended and others.
Also, one of her duties is to bring refreshments to the meeting, regardless of the purpose of the meetings, or to the guests of her boss. In some countries, she could lose her job is she doesn't take care of these things, like in Japan.
The secretary's loyalty has to be with her direct boss firstly and then with the company. She must not disclose information about her boss or any employee to anyone without an authorization.
Her working time is spent in the office, so in the case in which she shares it with other people, she needs to make sure there is a pleasant working atmosphere. Usually, the working hours are eight per day, and there is also a lunch break (lasting one hour), and she works five days a week.
As education, a high school diploma is enough for this occupation, but she needs to have really good knowledge of how to use a computer and the office suite programs, which she has to use daily.
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