There are millions of secretaries in the U.K. and the U.S. In 2020 the average (median) pay for a secretary in the U.S. was approximately $41,000 or $19.71 per hour. Secretaries work across many industries and public sectors, including schools, hospitals and within legal offices.
The duties of a secretary vary quite significantly, especially across industries. For example, legal secretaries will usually have to learn how to use specific legal databases & software. They may even need to know how to write legal drafts and some paralegal duties.
Secretarial duties that tend to remain consistent across industries and sectors include:
- Answering phone calls.
- Taking messages.
- Handling correspondence.
- Managing appointments.
- Members of staff.
A secretary may also be expected to manage a filing system or a database with client data and help directors and CEOs to organize workloads.
