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secretary / administrative assistant

English translation: secretary / administrative assistant


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GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
English term or phrase:secretary / administrative assistant
English translation:secretary / administrative assistant
Entered by: Sheila Wilson
Options:
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- Include in personal glossary

18:27 Jun 2, 2011
English to English translations [PRO]
Human Resources
English term or phrase: secretary / administrative assistant
job name for a cv. what's the difference between them?
Monica Vidal
secretary / administrative assistant
Explanation:
I would say there's an awful lot of overlap.

A secretary can be a personal assistant or executive secretary (i.e. personally assisting a top-level manager). These are well-qualified, well-paid, often the backbone of a small company, and in the past this job involved shorthand etc - not sure that holds true today.

An admin assistant will work for a department rather than a person - gathering statistics, keeping databases up-to-date, arranging meetings etc for the department.

In the middle is the non-executive secretary - giving secretarial support to junior managers and general admin to the department.

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Note added at 41 mins (2011-06-02 19:08:34 GMT)
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I run a workshop in France to produce CVs. It seems that in France they go to extraordinary lengths to avoid the term "secrétaire". I don't actually know if the same is true in the Anglo-Saxon world but I expect it is - historically, secretaries were women and hence poorly-paid and looked down on as someone who made the coffee and sat on the (male!) boss's knee.

As an ex-secretary, I can say that I had a boss who expected just that (yuk!) and several who wanted me to do their jobs for them while they played golf. I then went on to become an admin asst - there, the whole department wanted to go and play games while I held the fort!
Selected response from:

Sheila Wilson
Spain
Local time: 02:10
Grading comment
Selected automatically based on peer agreement.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
4 +6secretary / administrative assistant
Sheila Wilson
5 +2secretary and administrative assistant are 2 separate jobs
Liz Broomfield


Discussion entries: 1





  

Answers


7 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 5/5 peer agreement (net): +2
secretary and administrative assistant are 2 separate jobs


Explanation:
A secretary works for one or more people answering their phones, taking minutes of meetings, organising their diaries, etc. Usually has secretarial qualifications (e.g. from Pitman or other qualifications)

An administrative assistant will help with the admin for a department or indeed for a secretary. They might file things, answer the phone as well, they won't usually take minutes or dictation or write letters or take the initiative and do unsupervised work. When I've been one (I've been both, and a PA), I have made tea for meetings, put things in the day file for the boss but the secretary takes them out and presents them to the boss, etc. They might have a qualification in administration but not the skills of a secretary. And they could work for a sales team, etc. too, not for individuals.

Liz Broomfield
United Kingdom
Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 8

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  YP - idiomatica: Yes.
18 mins
  -> Thanks!
agree  Yasutomo Kanazawa
18 hrs
  -> Thanks!
Login to enter a peer comment (or grade)

35 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +6
secretary / administrative assistant


Explanation:
I would say there's an awful lot of overlap.

A secretary can be a personal assistant or executive secretary (i.e. personally assisting a top-level manager). These are well-qualified, well-paid, often the backbone of a small company, and in the past this job involved shorthand etc - not sure that holds true today.

An admin assistant will work for a department rather than a person - gathering statistics, keeping databases up-to-date, arranging meetings etc for the department.

In the middle is the non-executive secretary - giving secretarial support to junior managers and general admin to the department.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 41 mins (2011-06-02 19:08:34 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

I run a workshop in France to produce CVs. It seems that in France they go to extraordinary lengths to avoid the term "secrétaire". I don't actually know if the same is true in the Anglo-Saxon world but I expect it is - historically, secretaries were women and hence poorly-paid and looked down on as someone who made the coffee and sat on the (male!) boss's knee.

As an ex-secretary, I can say that I had a boss who expected just that (yuk!) and several who wanted me to do their jobs for them while they played golf. I then went on to become an admin asst - there, the whole department wanted to go and play games while I held the fort!

Sheila Wilson
Spain
Local time: 02:10
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 20
Grading comment
Selected automatically based on peer agreement.

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  wilp: In Germany they also avoid the term secretary and use "team assistant" instead.
2 hrs
  -> Thanks. What's in a name, anyway? :-)
agree  Stephanie Ezrol
2 hrs
  -> Thanks
agree  Vesna Maširević: In Serbia also.. Secretary is almost on the same level as cleaning lady and widely being replaced with "Office Manager" (though sometimes that makes a difference only in title)
10 hrs
  -> Thanks. Yes, I've come across that one. I just hope that means they get paid more.
agree  Tina Vonhof: It really depends on the terms used in each organization. Strange how the meanings attached to a title can change over time.
19 hrs
  -> Thanks. As you say, it depends on where and when. A lot to do with the PC trend - can't call a cleaner a cleaner nowadays :-)
agree  jccantrell: In my company, and elsewhere in the USA, 'secretary' has a perjorative sense and is rarely used, except by dinosaurs like me (kind of like "stewardess"). My company uses "office administrator."
21 hrs
  -> Thanks. It's crazy that "secretary" is prejorative nowadays when an "administrator" does exactly the same. That's office politics for you
agree  Phong Le
1 day15 hrs
  -> Thanks
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Changes made by editors
Jun 16, 2011 - Changes made by Sheila Wilson:
Created KOG entryKudoZ term => KOG term


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