Secretaries handle an organization's routine administrative and clerical tasks. A secretary’s duties may include organizing files, drafting messages, and scheduling appointments.
The median salary for secretaries was $31,890 in 2013. The highest-paid secretaries made approximately $46,420, while the lowest earners took home $22,150.
Secretarial Career Options
You have a choice of different types of secretarial career paths, such as:
Executive Secretaries
These professionals provide secretarial services for higher-ranking executives within an organization. Their role may come with a greater degree of responsibility and may include the supervision of clerical staff. These secretaries are the highest paid as their median annual wage amounted to $49,290 in 2012.
Medical Secretaries
Their job involves the transcription of dictation and the preparation of reports or articles for medical doctors or medical scientists. They may handle clerical duties such as taking a patient's medical history or arranging for their hospitalization. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median annual wage for medical secretaries in 2012 was $31,350.
Legal Secretaries
These secretaries may prepare legal documents such as messages, complaints, and motions. They will prepare these documents under an attorney's supervision. They may also assist attorneys with legal research. Legal secretaries are the paid second-highest, with a median annual wage of $39,860 in 2012.
Note that these salaries vary based on the secretary's geographic location, years of experience, and their level of education.
Training and Education for Secretaries
A high school diploma, along with basic training in office work and the use of a computer, is often sufficient to qualify you for a job as a secretary. In most cases, secretaries will learn the rest of the required skills on the job. This on-the-job education may last for a few weeks and may consist of training in the use of software as well as in the preparation of office documents.
If you want to become a medical or legal secretary, you can learn the terminology and practices specific to those industries by taking courses available at technical schools and community colleges.
Increasingly, employers are requiring bachelor's degrees for executive secretary and administrative assistant positions. At a minimum, they will have a preference for applicants who have taken college courses.
Job Outlook for Secretaries
It is projected that the demand for the different types of secretaries (except for medical secretaries) will increase by 12% in the years between 2012 and 2022. The projected growth in employment for medical secretaries is far higher, at 36%. This is due to both the larger number of people who now have access to medical care as well as to the fact that the American population is aging.
