What are the best personal assistant courses?
There is no single starting point on a personal assistant career path, and successful PAs can find their way into the role in very diverse ways. However, for those people…
If you are a real people person, love organisation and enjoy a fast-paced environment then perhaps a role as a team secretary is for you. But what can you expect from this role, and what will be expected from you? Here are some points you will need to think about:
Have a ‘can do’ attitude
Having the right attitude is crucial in many jobs, but especially when being a team secretary. You will be in charge of ensuring the team of professionals you’re supporting have what they need, when they need it. If you are looking after a team of four demanding directors and their teams, all with extremely hectic schedules, you need to be prepared to be rushed off your feet without any complaints and remain calm under pressure. If one person asks you to scan something at the same time as another person asks you to book them a table for lunch, you need to be able to do it all – you need to be a multi-tasking marvel!
Be organised
As with all PA and secretarial jobs, you need to be organised, but as a team secretary, you have to be ultra-organised. You need to be able to manage multiple diaries, several travel itineraries at any one time, and take messages from different clients for different people. You need to know exactly what you are doing and what your team are doing. If one director has a meeting at 9am, and another has one at 10am, you need to make sure both have what they need before they go, and that they have been briefed on who they are seeing, where and when. Lists, lists and more lists, of course organised ones, are your best friend. Colour co-ordination is also a helpful tool – perhaps each team member is a different colour in Outlook? Finally, spending 10 minutes with each team member at the beginning of the day to go through their diaries will make for a productive day.
Have good computer skills
As a team secretary you will be expected to have good PowerPoint, Word, Excel and Outlook skills, and a good typing speed. You will have to manage people’s diaries on Outlook, prepare PowerPoint presentations for meetings, and you might be in charge of holiday or sickness charts in Excel. These tasks will need to be managed properly efficiently so they’re ready when anyone needs them. If your skills aren’t up to scratch, it might be worth looking into doing a computer or secretarial course.
Be a good team player
This goes in hand with having the right attitude, but an office environment with good team spirit makes a better office! You need to have good energy and enthusiasm and keep morale up; you need to have a positive attitude and let it rub off on everyone else in the office. Be the person who everyone can rely on and trust implicitly, and you will be indispensable.
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