The word "secretary" refers to someone who keeps professional, private, business confidences, etc. that should not be known to anyone. Its original name "secretarii" derives from the Latin "secretum" and is related to the confidential information they handled.
A secretary fulfills a vitally important role in the work of the company, so it is not only suggested to display knowledge, capacities and skills that ensure that her performance contributes to the development of a successful day in functional terms. Their bustle is much more than just administrative and operational issues. It consists of helping, offering guidance and cooperation in the office's role and, by the way, maintaining discretion as an inalienable virtue.
Apart from her constant updating and training - typical of every competent expert who aspires to occupy better job locations - a secretary will possess satisfactory communication skills, pleasant manners, courtesy skills, solid principles, personal safety and tact, among other favorable elements of contemplate.
Frieda Holler in her suggestive book “That little finger at work” states: “… The secretariat raises issues such as responsibilities, morality and ethics, and also demands to bear in mind a series of aspects of your life: being elegant but simple, nice but demure, modern but feminine, communicative but discreet… In fact, with your efficient and honest work, you contribute to the general well-being and infuse life and beauty in your office ”. Nothing more successful and timely.
The profile of a secretary includes an adequate presence; excellent treatment, friendly and serious; excellent writing and spelling; ease of verbal and written expression; with the ability to interact in groups; bright, enthusiastic and dynamic interpersonal relationships; potential to work in teams and under pressure, etc. This is a small list of factors that should be noted.
Do not consider what is mentioned in the previous paragraph if you intend to have a young “secretary”, with a beautiful figure and without the slightest academic conditions. There are bosses looking for these "unique" secretaries who easily expose their true intentions. You will motivate sharp comments around you, have no doubt. Remember that everything is known in a company and, therefore, it is convenient for its employees to assume a correct, exemplary and decent behavior. This will avoid speculation about your behavior.
Let's not detract from the influence of your optimal appearance. Their clothing will be sober, hair collected, small earrings, discreet accessories, a tailored outfit, closed shoes, perfume and soft makeup, ironed clothes, among other characteristics inherent to their position. A first-rate secretary does not finish “getting ready” in the morning when she arrives at her work center, nor does she come with wet hair or wear shiny, tight and daring clothes, among other “pearls” that I frequently perceive, even in entities educational. Well says a well-known phrase: "At the blacksmith's house, wooden knife."
Regarding what is outlined in these lines, I want to share a recent experience. I attended an institution where I was greeted by a teenage secretary in a low-cut suit who, while eating breakfast, talked on the phone, looked at her email and listened to salsa. Her office looked like a child's bedroom (because of its inappropriate decoration), her computer was adorned with stuffed animals and under the glass of her desk there were a variety of photos and postcards. When she saw me, she became uncomfortable, offered me quick attention and continued to enjoy the food, the conversation and the striking musical background.
On several occasions I have observed secretaries at their work tables eat, chew gum, touch up, make private calls, laugh like in a "rock", among other visible and objectionable deficiencies that are allowed by the "patronage" they have with the boss or owner of the organization. A procedure absent from the elementary guidelines of its responsibility. But, I also notice these incredible anomalies in prestigious companies that, apparently, do not give greater meaning to the image of their collaborators.
Finally, a professional expresses with his actions a set of values that distinguish him. The management of a secretary is not alien to this reflection and, of course, take into account the statement of the famous German philosopher of the Enlightenment, Immanuel Kant (1724 - 1804), one of the most influential and prestigious thinkers of modern Europe: "Always act in such a way that your conduct could serve as the principle of a universal law."
(*) Teacher, lecturer, journalist, consultant in event organization, protocol, professional image and social etiquette.
