The Fundamentals and Indispensability of the Secretarial Profession in The 21st Century

Abstract

Secretaries, otherwise known as office professionals, office information managers, administrative assistants, office coordinators, executive assistants, office managers, among other nomenclatures, are becoming more and more relevant in today’s offices due to their specialty in general office administration and keeping up to date with technological advancements. This paper considers the fundamentals and indispensability of the office professional in the 21st century. The paper considered professional secretaries and modern digital skills, training and retraining of secretaries for the 21st century, indispensability of the professional secretary in the 21st century, challenges facing the profession and how to be an effective and efficient office professional in the 21st century. The paper concluded that the supportive roles of the office professional are very fundamental and cannot be dispensed with in organisations which make them indispensable in the 21st century. It was recommended, among others, that organisations should provide enabling environment for office professionals in order to get the best from them