I was curious about secretary skills in today’s high-tech offices. This is one occupation which has changed quite a bit over the years to the point where the position is no longer called secretary but administrative assistant, scheduling coordinator, or receptionist, etc.
Secretarial Skills in the Office?
What is a Typewriter?
Some children today have never seen a typewriter and do not know what they were used for. Computers or lap tops rule the office world now.
I remember taking typing class to learn the keyboard. You also had to switch over or change out typewriter ribbons. If you made a typing error, you could try to carefully erase it out. Later they used white out where you painted over the error, waited for it to dry, and then retyped the correct letter over it. Very time consuming. White out came in different colors if your office used stationery other than white.
Computers Lead the Way
When computers came out, offices still kept a typewriter to address envelopes. However, with today’s options of window envelopes and stick on labels, typewriters are no longer needed. It is so much faster and easier and faster to use a computer for all office work.
What is a Dark Room?
I never developed films but remember taking them in to get developed. It usually took about a week to get them back.
Now with phone/camera options, photos are taken and edited within a few seconds.
Rolodex File System
Secretaries always had a rolodex file on their desk. It was made of 3 x 5-inch cards which one wrote out names, addresses and phone numbers. It was made in a circular form and flipped around easily so you could find the numbers. The boss would call out to the desk and say,” get so and so on the line”. Yes, we used those files to get the phone numbers. We also used a phone directory of all the different departments.
Now phone numbers are stored on your phone or computer. You press a button, and the phone calls the number for you; no middle person needed.
Dictation and Secretary Skills
Those dictation devices are all but gone. In our office the boss would toss all the charts and the tapes in this one pick up box. The secretary would go in and pick up the charts and tapes. Everything she needed was on the tapes.
How the Dictaphone Worked
She sat at her desk and inserted the tape in the machine on her desk. Using headphones, she would listen to the tape and type out the material as she went. If the tape went too fast, she could stop it or back it up with her right foot. I always listened to each tape twice to check for any errors in my typing. The work had to be perfect.
Letter Writing and Secretary Skills
The secretary also had to write all the letters to update others. When completed, the letters were placed on the boss’s desk where he signed everything and tossed the letters back into the pickup box. From there the letters were folded and inserted in the envelopes and mailed. The boss in our office rarely dictated any letters and we used a lot of form letters. Computers with Email had not been invented yet.
Today executives write and send out their own letters via email, no secretarial assistance needed.
Steno Pad
Secretaries always had a couple of steno pads at their desks. These were notebooks which opened at the top. This way you could quickly flip up the page and continue on with your shorthand.
The steno pads were used in dictation and other things. Secretary skills often included knowing shorthand or speedwriting. Oh boy, I went to day school and night school to learn shorthand and still never got it. I think I can write “Dear Sir” with it now. However, I’m glad my job didn’t depend on knowing of or using shorthand.
True Secretarial Experience and Secretary Skills
Once, I remember a secretary telling me of a fill in job where she worked for the CEO of the company. He called her into his office and quickly dictated four or five letters. She said she “pretended” to get the letters, but it was way too fast for her, and she got nothing. Another secretary told her she had to go back and tell the CEO this. I’m not sure what she did as the story would end there.
Letters and Other Correspondence
AI writes great letters. I guess we are going to see more about this one.
The below desk is where all the “Farmhouse Magic” happens. I also keep track of all my various volunteer activities with my bulletin board. I always have a bunch of notes on my desk about what I’m putting into the two-volunteer online news reports I edit.
But that’s getting away from the secretarial skills, we’re blogging about today.
Ending Blog of Secretary Skills
Boy, this blog really takes me back some thinking of all the secretary skills that are no longer needed.
It seems bosses no longer need secretarial assistance to keep the office running smoothly.
If I learned nothing else on the job, a secretary’s job is to make her boss look good. I think that is still a good “skill” to aim for in today’s office environment.
Now, moving ahead with the future and into new office skills.