If you love working in a fast-paced environment and have top notch organisational skills, a team secretary role may be for you. What can you expect though and have you got what it takes?
Organisation
As with any secretarial role, it is important that you possess strong organisation skills. However being a team secretary is a job for the queen or king of organisation. Not only do you need to be able to manage multiple diaries and several travel itineraries at once but you will also need to be able to manage expectations and ever-changing situations too. The likelihood is that you’ll be supporting different characters with very different working styles and it’s important that you stay on top of their schedules throughout the day. You may be booking a meeting for one Director and then get a call from another who’s flight has been cancelled and needs urgent assistance. Whilst organisation cannot prepare you for every eventuality, it will definitely help!
Attitude
Being a team secretary can quite often involve making the impossible, possible whilst keeping a big smile on your face. You should be prepared to be rushed off your feet on a daily basis and for people to want things from you at short notice. It’s all about managing expectations but doing that in a positive and proactive way. As a team secretary, no job should be too big or small for you and you must be happy to ‘get your sleeves rolled up and get stuck in’.
Confidence
Being a secretarial candidate involves taking a lot of responsibility on and confidence is key. In order to work in such a fast-paced and demanding environment, you must be snappy in your communication and be able to make a decision with confidence. The more confident you are when interacting with the people you support, the more responsibility they will feel comfortable passing over to you.
Skills
As a team secretary you will be expected to have a good typing speed (usually at least 45 wpm) as well as strong PowerPoint, Outlook, Excel and Word skills. You will be expected to book meetings and travel across multiple time zones using Outlook as well as preparing PowerPoint presentations for meetings.
Being a team secretary is a challenging and incredibly rewarding job. No two days will be the same and you will learn invaluable skills both in work and life. We work with many companies who offer fantastic team secretary roles in both London and Manchester. Get in touch with our team to find out more.