What Computer Skills Is It Reasonable For a Secretary To Have?

In My Humble Opinion
21

My mom’s an administrative assistant to a school district’s superintendent. She started off with the district 20 years ago as a “lunch lady” - she had no office skills and no college degree.

How did she become a good secretary? She has the ability to learn. If she’s told “I need you to take this printed document and retype it in Word, and make it look exactly the same” she’ll figure it out. Either by admitting she doesn’t know and asking, and then PAYING ATTENTION or knowing where to seek out answers (books, help files, online, etc.)

I’m always amazed when my mom calls me up and asks me an Access question. Not because I think she’s stupid that she doesn’t know the answer - more like I’m amazed she uses Access in the first place, and she’s gotten to the point where even I have to search for the answer. I’ve shown her how to do things in Office apps since she’s become an officeworker…and I’ve only ever shown her things once. I totally admire her for that.

Seems like some of the secretaries you guys are mentioning that are bad at their jobs have some sort of mental block about the importance of retaining information, or knowing what they need to know. Secretarial jobs can really run a wide gamut of responsibilities - the good ones are the ones who can handle anything that’s thrown at them. And they are the ones who are humble enough to know when to say “I don’t know.”

22

Just to set the record straight, demons typically live inside the CPUs. Elementals and para-elementals live inside printers. At least most of the time…

As others have said, I would expect a secretary / admin assistant to know basic skills with office-productivity software; the good ones will know more than the rock-bottom basics.

23

This all rings too true.

Here in Atlanta they did a survey and discovered that only 50% of the secretaries were proficient typists.

The other 50% were hunt’n peckers.

:smiley:

24

Your list of the common extent of accomplishments,'' said Darcy, has too much truth. The word is applied to many a woman who deserves it no otherwise than by netting a purse, or covering a skreen. But I am very far from agreeing with you in your estimation of ladies in general. I cannot boast of knowing more than half a dozen, in the whole range of my acquaintance, that are really accomplished.’’

``Nor I, I am sure,’’ said Miss Bingley.

Then,'' observed Elizabeth, you must comprehend a great deal in your idea of an accomplished women.’’

``Yes; I do comprehend a great deal in it.’’

Oh! certainly,'' cried his faithful assistant, no one can be really esteemed accomplished, who does not greatly surpass what is usually met with. A woman must have a thorough knowledge of music, singing, drawing, dancing, and the modern languages, to deserve the word; and besides all this, she must possess a certain something in her air and manner of walking, the tone of her voice, her address and expressions, or the word will be but half deserved.’’

All this she must possess,'' added Darcy, and to all this she must yet add something more substantial, in the improvement of her mind by extensive reading.’’

``I am no longer surprised at your knowing only six accomplished women. I rather wonder now at your knowing any.’’
When I did secretarial, I found the computer skills truly necessary to be minimal (I don’t consider being able to add sound to a Powerpoint a high level skill), but the real skills requried were “time travel, the ability to read minds, and the ability to babysit a man making $400,000 plus options and bonuses without being patronizing - all for $20,000 a year.” Its a hellish job.

25

I’m pretty surprised by some of the requirements. I have only the vaguest notion of what SMTP and POP mean (I know they apply to email, but that’s it), I can do only the most basic printer repairs, my Powerpoint sucks, and my cellphone knowledge is extremely rudimentary. But I’m the tech person around our office, and for years I’ve been the techie in administrative positions. (At the same time, I’m a pretty decent designer of Access databases, can code in SQL, have headed up complex web projects, and am freakin’ awesome in Word). I agree with folks saying that a propensity to learn is most important: administrative folks need to be able to adapt to the circumstances of their job and learn the necessary technical skills.

Daniel

26

I was an assistant for years; most of my positions involved heavy typing. I really didn’t have a need to learn Excel or Powerpoint to the expert level. It all depends on what the position demands.

I had a guy who fired me from a temp spot because I didn’t put his mail in the correct order. He had folders and I was supposed to figure out what he wanted to read first, and put that folder on the top of the stack.

See ya, Anal Boy! There’s someone who wants to wipe your butt for you, but it ain’t me.

27

I didn’t know so many of my office people were posting in this thread.

Annie, the copy machine/fax/printer/computer/phone isn’t working. Fix it.
What did you do to it? (Like I don’t know the answer).
NOTHING!

It’s amazing how many machines in this office mess up themselves.

28

Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Fair or not, a secretary is often more or less expected to be an office jack-of-all-trades who can unjam a copier, set up a business trip itinerary, prepare a PowerPoint presentation, write a report (with only three hours notice, no less), deal with difficult or impossible customers, job applicants, etc., maintain a huge set of files, keep the coffee pot full, acquire a technical vocabulary, and settle fights among the engineers over who’s got the use of the meeting area today.

And smile the whole time.

Sometimes I actually manage to do it.

Sometimes.

29

I guess I should say that I wouldn’t expect someone off the street to know what they are, but once I explain for the 5 millionth time how to set up an email program with the pop and smtp server information? I would expect you to at least be able to follow the written instructions.

Ignorance doesn’t bother me. Remaining ignorant and just traipsing into other people’s offices to get directions for tasks that have written instructions and you’ve done before? That bothers me. Having someone tell me the instructions don’t work when they haven’t even tried? That bothers me. Being used as a shortcut rather than doing the research? Bothers me.

Of course, this is the same woman who multi-tasks by shopping online and doing word search puzzles while talking on the phone, so let’s just say that I’m a little less forgiving than I might be of someone else.

30

Fair enough, but what is expected of you is not industry standard. Like I said earlier, I’ve been a secretary/accounting assistant for nine years now, and I don’t know (for example) what POP and SMTP are, either, and in my un-biased opinion, I am a very good AA.

I will agree with those who say that one of the traits of successful AAs is the ability and willingness to learn. I love computers, and I love learning to do stuff on them, and I always try to figure stuff out for myself before asking someone (and there often isn’t anyone in the office who knows more than I do about Word or Excel).

31

Ah, that makes sense, and I agree. Just like I don’t expect someone to come to the office knowing how to use a digital camera, upload the pictures, attach them to the database, and then transfer them to a CD for archival purposes–but I do expect them to be able to learn the process and follow my written instructions :mad:. I’m not sure whether I’d want to have supervisory powers, but sometimes it’d be nice.

Daniel

32

Basic computer knowledge, slightly above basic knowledge of MSOffice products (especially Word & Outlook, to a lesser extent PowerPoint and Excel), basic familiarity with common office machinery (he may not know how this fax machine works, but does know how a fax machine works and can make reasonable guesses when confronted with a new one or is capable of reading the manual to figure it out), organizational skills, telephone skills (not how to repair one, but how to answer one and take messages or forward calls), and the ability to figure stuff out or ask questions and to realize which will be the better course of action when he or she doesn’t know the answer.

So, in the OP’s case, she should realize that the computer needs to be turned on without outside assistance. But how to do sections in Word? Not necessarily, but I would expect that she knows how to use Help and has at least searched for “header” there (however, realizing that it will take longer for her to work through it if her co-worker already knows the answer and it’s a quick answer is also valid If it ended up taking both of you a lot of time, that’s not ok.)

Still, good AAs are wonderful people who are very much appreciated.

33

WOULD YOU SHUT UP?!

If this gets out I won’t be able to make my living copy-editing for these doofi anymore!

Seriously, though, unreasonable secretary requirement 1: that they be able to translate. You cannot translate just because you speak both English and French. “Hey, Marie-Ève, type this in English, would you?” No. You need a translator for that. I’m not just blowing smoke: I have seen some of the things non-translators put out. Hell, I’m a trained translator and you should see what I put out in French (I was trained to translate into English, my first language). It is not pretty. You wouldn’t ask your secretary to be a trained technical writer, so don’t ask him/her to translate.

34

As these responses show, it all depends on the requirements of the office and the requirements of the manager and AA.

I know a lot more than my secretary about all this computer stuff, but she keeps the wolves at bay and is always pleasant, so I’m happy.

Being a ready student is a good quality, but if there’s a technical issue to be solved, I would never expect her to go beyond her skill level, or fault her for not doing so.

If I hired the wrong skill set that’s MY fault.

35

I have been giggling about this since yesterday.

36

Oh sure! Mock my pain! :smiley:

37

I have to ask - can’t you hire someone new?

As to what is required of a secretary - back when I was one I was the office go-to person for all things computer - I was expected to learn the new programs and teach them to the rest of the office. I was expected to help trouble shoot all sorts of confuter problems, in fact.

Now that I’m no longer a secretary my computer skills have really lapsed. Someone asked me what verson of windows I was running and I couldn’t remember how to find out. doh!@ Also, my typing skills have lapsed - I can probably manage about 70 or 80 WPM now, but when I used to do transcription, I was at 110 - 120 easily.

Anyhow - beyond that, what everyone else in this thread has said.

38

We expect admins to come in with a near expert level knowlege of PowerPoint, Word, and Outlook. They also need to have an intermediate level understanding of Excell (they don’t need to know how to do complicated calculations, but they’d better be able to manage pivot tables and formatting).

They should also have a good understanding of how printers/faxes/phones work. As mentioned, maybe not our particular models, but a general understanding helps them get up to speed quickly. They don’t have to fix software or network related glitches with our printers, but they do need to know how to replace cartridges, clear jams, etc. They’re also the ones who do triage on our equipment and decide when we need to call IT or a repair person.

Once they’re on the job, they need to learn what department handles what and the best contacts for getting things done: where invoices go if they need to be paid quickly, who sets up new hires, who to call when the toilets explode (yes, that happened), who makes travel arrangements, where office supplies come from, etc.

They also need to learn how to do things like set up a video/phone conference and the quirks of individual managers (who likes early morning flights, who stays in smoking rooms, who needs a vegetarian meal, etc.)

I wouldn’t say that at my company the top managers’ admins have any less need to be skilled in those areas. From what I’ve seen, they have all the same skills plus they’re extremely good at making things run smoothly for their manager. The reason they’re the big dog’s admin is because you can give them just about anything and they’ll find a way to get it done (if they can’t do it themselves, they’ll find someone who can).

I want to know where you guys are finding admins for $20k! I don’t know what we pay these day, but even several years ago we paid way more than that!

39

Having been in the clerical/secretarial/administrative assistant field for almost 29 years, there are tons of things I would have to comment on – and just not enough time (or energy!) for me to do so. However …

There are so many systems that have been computerized, the latest trend being to make programs accessible online. Timecards are online (have been for over 10 years); the financial system is all online, travel is online. Each system is different; they all have user names and passwords to access them. Do you see where this is going?! I have to laugh, because that’s just the start!

The financial system just switched from one provider to another, as did the travel and small purchases credit card system (oops, that’s another one that went online). Now honestly – none of these systems is very user friendly; in fact, I would call them user UNfriendly, sometimes in the extreme. The only plus since the changeover is that the Help desks are actually very helpful (not so in the last system, unfortunately).

Travel is supposed to be done by everyone on their own, except for the manager, which I do. Everyone has to access the system and set up their own preferences – all travel arrangements are made through the system and if you go outside of the system, extra charges will apply. They even have to use this system for miscellaneous reimbursements (local travel). Many in my office are going to be traveling this summer; I’m helping them as much as I can, but when they call me and ask me a question about the system out of the blue … my standard reply has become, “call the help desk [and give them the number] and let them walk you through it. I can’t really tell you what to do right now because I have to be in the system to see what you’re talking about.” Yes, that’s how complicated these systems are!

Sorry … the tip of the iceberg and all. Today was the last day for our Administrative Officer (she left for a better paying job …:(), so the iceberg just grew another acre or two beneath the surface. :smiley:

40

God, I wish. But my boss likes her, thinks any issues the rest of us have with her are just snotty and that we should make more of an attempt to “train” her and be more generous.

I gave her a tast once like this: “Please print four copies of this and have me and boss sign three. The other is just for our files.”

Her: But I’ve never done that.
Me: What?
Her: What do you mean?
Me: Print four copies. Three will be going to X. The other is just for our files.
Her: I’ve never had to make four copies before. Boss should have told me.
Me: ???

Or

Me: I can’t read this email you sent me at all.
Her: rolleyes It’s fine.
Me: shoving email in her face Tell me what it says.
Her: It must have gotten messed up when you printed it.
Me: ???

And then there are the times she has listened at my door and told my boss what I was saying when I was on the telephone.

Or my favorite: Payday