What Should I Look for in a Secretary?

Considering a secretary is literally your company’s first impression on the client, it’s crucial to have someone that’s apt for the job.

When it comes to finding a great secretary, there are some traits and other qualities that need to be taken into consideration. Besides, if you choose a secretary that’s about as helpful as an empty chair, that just means more work for you and the rest of the company.

Here are a few things to look for while hiring a secretary:

Phone Etiquette

Since a secretary’s first responsibility and call of duty is answering phone calls, their telephone manners should be top notch. Your company surely has a system for greeting the caller and transferring the call, but positive voice inflection must be a part of the system as well.

If your secretary isn’t well spoken or speaks in a labored voice, the person on the other end of the line will probably be offended. So, make sure your secretary is helpful, lively, and most importantly, polite at all times.

Organizational Skills

Organization is one thing, but organizational skills are in a different class all together. Sure, a secretary can get the office in order, but keeping it in order requires a set of skills that aren’t necessarily inherent.

Continuously arranging files, paperwork, and office supplies by nature are all part of organizational skills that every secretary should have. Great secretaries have a knack for being orderly and consider it an essential part of the job.

Reliability

As with any employee, being reliable is just as important as being skilled. This is especially true with secretaries because, if a secretary is constantly late or always calls in sick, it can turn the office upside down.

When choosing a secretary, make sure punctuality and timeliness are part of the candidate’s work ethic.

Flexibility

In some cases, a 9 to 5 schedule is non-existent in a secretary’s world. Not only should long hours be considered an expectation, your secretary should have the right attitude when it comes to working overtime.

Schedule flexibility also means working on holidays and weekends. Secretaries are a crucial part of any business, so their presence is especially necessary during certain times of the year when your business might be overly busy.

Initiative

A secretary that doesn’t wait to do something until they’re told and is proactive about their duties is an asset to any business. In other words, the right kind of secretary has the perfect amount of drive and initiative.

For example, if it’s a particularly slow day call wise, a motivated secretary should find papers that need filing, organize their workspace, or see if they can lighten the workload of other employees.

A Secretary in Context

At the end of the workday, your company should base its decision on one basic question: will the secretary treat your business like it’s their own?

Anything short of a yes will result in lackluster secretarial services for your business, which will negatively affect the way in which business is done.