When offices around the United States celebrate Administrative Professionals Day on Wednesday, they’ll be following the lead of more than six decades of businesses. According to the International Association of Administrative Professionals — formerly the National Secretaries Association — the day started as a 1952 celebration of National Secretaries Week; as of 2000, that celebration has been dubbed Administrative Professionals Week.
And in the ’50s, when the first such celebration took place, there was good reason for the American businessman (he was nearly always a man) to want to thank his secretary (nearly always a woman).
As TIME reported in a 1957 article about “The Secretary Shortage: They’re Either Too Pretty or Too Old,” the record number of women entering the workplace during that decade was not translating to a surplus of stenographers. The young, unmarried cohort that had traditionally served as secretaries was particularly small, due to the Depression-era birth-rate decline, and booming post-war business meant that demand was up. In addition, the opening up of a wide range of jobs to female workers meant that the women who were available for jobs were less likely to choose repetitive secretarial work. (Not that being a secretary was always boring: in a 1954 paean to the magazine’s administrative workers, TIME’s publisher praised bureau secretaries for being able to speak multiple languages, take dictation on two separate stories at once by using both hands — really! — and organize complicated international shipments for war photographers.)
Businesses tried a variety of tactics to change their minds, according to TIME:
At the time, the magazine guessed at the maturation of the Baby Boom generation would mean that, given another decade, supply and demand would sort themselves out.
And yes, by the late ’60s there were more 20-something working women than there had been a decade earlier — but that wasn’t all that had changed. In fact, TIME articles about secretaries of the 1970s are also about the work shortage, despite what was at the time a high unemployment rate. Attitudes toward secretarial work hadn’t caught up with the rise of Women’s Liberation: Secretaries were thought to get little credit for their work and few opportunities to advance. Those young, educated women who had once been lured in with the promise of “Young Execs!” were giving it a pass.
As TIME reported in 1972, under the headline “Rebel Secretaries,” things were changing:
But, one way or another, the message got through. At the time, the National Secretaries Association counted that half of its members had aspirations of using their jobs to work toward management positions; accordingly, training courses were moving beyond shorthand to include topics like accounting.
And, as computers became a regular presence at the average office, the typing and filing that had once filled a secretary’s days diminished, leaving room for much more and varied work — a change that eventually created the administrative professional role we’re familiar with today.
Read the 1972 report, from a special issue about the American woman, here in the TIME Vault: Rebel Secretaries
In the 1880s, with the invention of the typewriter, more women began to enter the field and during the upcoming years, especially since World War I, the role of secretary has been primarily associated with women. By the 1930s, fewer men were entering the field of secretaries.
At the administrative level, many job descriptions blur into each other. A secretary in one company might be called an administrative assistant in another. However, while administrative assistant is a truly generic term, secretary tends to be biased towards typing-based activities directed by a superior.
I am aware that the role of a secretary is a varied one and I pride myself on being flexible, a fast learner and having the ability to prioritise my own workload. In regard to your weaknesses, mention genuine weaknesses that you've made progress on. Top tip: don't offer up strengths as weaknesses.
It's true that “secretary” is now mostly considered an old-fashioned title and has been largely replaced by “administrative assistant” or “executive assistant.” And it does read as at least a little tinged with sexism to many people now — kind of like calling a flight attendant a stewardess.
Women quickly replaced men in secretarial positions. According to CNNMoney, the rise of the secretary began with the increased paperwork of the Industrial Revolution. “The job became popular in the 1950s, when 1.7 million women were 'stenographers, typists or secretaries. '”
Female secretaries and administrative assistants are most likely to marry male general managers. Male secretaries and administrative assistants are most likely to marry male office and administrative-support supervisors.
Office and administrative support occupations are estimated to see the largest decline in employment with over half a million jobs becoming obsolete by 2030. Data source: Bureau of Labor Statistics (2021).
In the field of secretarial work, the title with the most salary potential is typically 'Executive Secretary' or 'Executive Assistant. ' These roles support high-level executives and may involve managing critical company operations, handling confidential information, and coordinating executive communication.
Today, even the term “secretary” tends to be referred to as “assistant,” which is more politically correct and especially more in keeping with what the job truly involves. Nowadays, assistants are in fact the right hand of a team or a manager.
Highlight your adaptability, communication skills, and the positive outcome achieved, such as improved office efficiency or resolved scheduling conflicts, demonstrating your proactive and organized nature in supporting executive needs.
So there you have it. So as a recap, the four answers that you can give when being asked, what are your greatest weaknesses, are, I focus too much on the details, I've got a hard time saying no sometimes, I've had trouble asking for help in the past, and I have a hard time letting go of a project.
The role of the secretary has evolved so much that the word 'secretary' itself has become too generic and has been replaced by more specific professional titles like 'personal assistant', 'office manager', or 'management assistant'.
So many people say that it's unusual to find a male PA, and this is true, but it is far from being a traditionally female role. The PA was always a male role, during times when being at work was a male predominance.
The workforce of Secretaries & administrative assistants in 2017 was 3,229,241 people, with 94.7% woman, and 5.27% men. The age ranges that concentrated the largest workforce were 50 to 54 years (445,503 people), 55 to 59 years (443,615 people), and 45 to 49 years (381,640 people).
Until the 1880s, men were the clerks and secretaries of the United States. By the 1920s, most were women. As industry and government boomed after the Civil War, men moved from office work into construction, mining, and heavy industry.
Madeleine Jana Korbel Albright (born Marie Jana Körbelová, later Korbelová; May 15, 1937 – March 23, 2022) was an American diplomat and political scientist who served as the 64th United States secretary of state from 1997 to 2001. A member of the Democratic Party, she was the first woman to hold that post.
Introduction: My name is Geoffrey Lueilwitz, I am a zealous, encouraging, sparkling, enchanting, graceful, faithful, nice person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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