Secretarial soft skills: confidence

At Pitman Training Hammersmith, candidates often know that they need to do a secretarial course to get a job as a secretary or PA. However, like every career, there are other skills required too. Often, these are termed ‘soft skills’ mainly because they concern the emotions and personal traits required to do the job. Although difficult to measure, they are crucial to the position of secretary.  

One such ‘soft skill’ which is often overlooked is confidence. Without a degree of confidence, an aspiring secretary will find it difficult to reach the pinnacle of their profession.

Therefore, how does the aspiring secretary develop the required confidence? Confidence is often based on a belief that you are competent to do the task required. Often the more the person believes that they have the relevant skills, the more confidence the person acquires.

Whilst learning the skills is a necessary part of confidence building for the aspiring secretary, often more is required to really become confident. During the secretarial course, work experience is often encouraged because the more the candidate uses the skills they have learned during the secretarial course, the more confident they will feel. This experience is invaluable for creating confidence.

All secretarial course providers need to encourage the candidate to get their CV finished and start searching for work. Work experience in their chosen field can have as much impact on their confidence levels as secretarial courses.

Some aspiring secretaries are often worried about finding a job and do not have the confidence to sit interviews. If this is the case, the candidate must confide in their  secretarial course provider about their difficulties with interviews. In response, the secretarial course provider will gladly go through role plays with the candidate so that the candidate is competent to sit an interview. It is surprising how many people have very little confidence at interviews.

Mike Connolly has written many articles on secretarial courses and the skills required to be taught as part of a secretarial course. For further details on the skills required to become a secretary look at the course outlines on the Pitman Training Hammersmith website.

Interviews made easy for the aspiring secretary?

Interview skills are one of those areas which people often worry about a great deal. Those undertaking secretary courses often ask their secretary course provider to help them with interview skills.

The aspiring secretary needs to have confidence in their abilities and, in particular, their ability to do the job for which they have applied. If a candidate has undertaken a good secretary course they should have the required skills so should feel confident that: (a) they can do the job; and (b) believe that they can do the job better than anyone else!

Secretarial candidates often ask Pitman Training Hammersmith whether it is possible to guarantee them a job: the answer is the same, no secretarial course provider can sit the interview for the candidate. Each candidate must acquire the skills necessary to sit interviews and achieve at interviews.

The starting point is confidence. This comes with experience and a sense of inner belief that they can do what is required. This is often tied into the successful completion of a secretarial course.

The next stage is preparation. The candidate needs to investigate the company. What does it do? Where does it operate? Who are its customers? What specialist areas does it work in? All this information needs to be ascertained and looked through. The aspiring secretary will need to demonstrate that they have a particular interest and ability which is particularly relevant to that organisation.

For example, take a candidate who is applying for a job in an online marketing company. The candidate will need to understand the nature of the business before the interview. What is online marketing? What is the jargon linked to online marketing? Who are the clients of the online marketing company? Are they successful? All this information will have to be found and understood.

HR professionals will always tell you that a secretary with relevant background knowledge of the area they are going to work in will always be more valuable than someone with little background knowledge about the company. The main reason is that the skills learned during their secretary courses are far more easily applied and effectively used when the person already has knowledge of the sector in which they are working.

Far too often candidates come to secretarial interviews assuming that their current skill set, such as IT and keyboard skills, is sufficient. Although it helps, far more is required. 

Mike Connolly has written many articles on secretarial courses and the skills required to be taught as part of a secretarial course. For further details on the skills required to become a secretary look at the course outlines on the Pitman Training Hammersmith website.

Interview skills in a minute for the aspiring secretary.

When a secretary comes to the end of their secretarial course, some struggle to find a job whilst others seem to get loads of interviews and offers. The question the aspiring secretary often asks themselves is why on earth are these people who have the same qualifications as me getting all these job interviews whilst I am not?

Can it be confidence? Possibly. But the candidate will have the necessary qualifications from their secretarial course so they should have the confidence that they can do the job. In such a situation the secretary needs to approach their secretarial course provider for help.

The first question the secretary course provider will ask is what preparation the candidate did for the interview. Did they do all their background research about the company?

The second question will focus on the person specification the candidate received and whether the candidate made sure that they had prepared answers for each of the skills outlined in the person specification.  

The person specification is often overlooked by candidates or inadequately addressed by them at interview.

The person specification states the skills the person needs to do the job. When the candidate is submitting their application form for an interview, the candidate will often look at each part of the person specification to ensure they have the necessary skills required to do the job advertised.

During the interview, some of the questions will usually seek to examine the extent to which the candidate satisfies the person specification. The interviewer may describe a particular situation and ask what the candidate would do in that situation. The purpose behind the question is usually the same: to test to see whether the candidates secretarial course has provided them with the skills the organisation is looking for.

Therefore, it is essential that the candidate prepares thoroughly for each element of the person specification so that they are fully prepared for the interview. If the candidate is worried they can ask their secretarial course provider for assistance. The secretary course provider will have enormous experience of person specifications and how to address and deal with the full range of questions posed.

Mike Connolly has written many articles on secretarial courses and the skills required to be taught as part of a secretarial course. For further details on the skills required to become a secretary look at the course outlines on the Pitman Training Hammersmith website.

Interviews made easy: what is unique about the aspiring secretary/PA?

A number of aspiring secretaries and PAs talk about the problems they face at interviews and often do not fully understand why they did not get a job. Employers are often looking for candidates with a particular skill set but also something extra; something which makes the applicant ‘stand out’ from the crowd.

It is true that a number of candidates will have undertaken the required secretarial or PA course but still not achieve at interview. Why is this? One reason is because the aspiring secretary or PA has not thought about why they, as opposed to someone with similar secretary or PA qualifications, should come first and get the job.

The question the aspiring secretary or PA needs to ask themselves is what is unique about them. If each candidate was to look back in their work history or their  education or leisure history, it is likely that they would find a connection with the company to which they are applying.

For example, a recent candidate who had just finished their secretarial course was applying to become a secretary for a national fitness centre. When asked why they  chose this particular fitness company as opposed to any other, the candidate could not answer. However, when asked by her secretary course provider if she knew anyone who was a member of the particular fitness company, she replied that her brother was a member. Instantly, the candidate has a connection with the company and can use that connection to give a credible answer to the all too familiar question: Why has the candidate applied to that particular company for a job.

In that example it was obvious but often a mere interest in or researched knowledge of the sector or company is sufficient to mark the candidate out from their competitors. For example, knowledge about the sector and who their competitors are or who their customers are instantly shows the interviewer that the candidate not only has the skills to do the job but also has the required level of knowledge and understanding to really make a difference to the company.

Often, those who deliver secretarial courses are very skilled at identifying how a particular candidate is unique, what is their greatest asset and what is their unique selling point to a perspective employer. It is essential that each candidate asks their secretarial course provider to help them identify this so that they can include reference to it in their responses to interview questions.   

Mike Connolly has written many articles on secretarial courses and the skills required to be taught as part of a secretarial course. For further details on the skills required to become a secretary look at the course outlines on the Pitman Training Hammersmith website.

Interview skills made simple: Why do so few secretaries and PAs ask for feedback?

Many current employers often provide in their letter to unsuccessful candidates post interview an offer to give feedback to a candidate on their interview. What is amazing is that so few secretaries rarely take the opportunity to accept this offer and request feedback.

Any secretarial course provider will always advise candidates to seek and obtain such feedback so that the candidate can learn from their mistakes going forward. Surely such an approach is sensible in the modern world and is the basis upon which human beings learn anyway?

But, candidates just seem to accept the letter stating that they have been unsuccessful without seeking in anyway and explanation of why or how they have been successful. 

The purpose of this article is to encourage candidates to not only ask for feedback but to be specific about the questions they ask so they can get maximum benefit from the experience.

So, what questions do they ask the employer? Firstly, they need to ask whether they answered any question on the job specification unsatisfactorily or unconvincingly. The interviewer often seeks to ask the candidate questions regarding the person specification to test their competence.

Secondly, the candidate needs to ask whether any of their core secretarial skills were deemed unsatisfactory. As part of the interview, candidates will often undergo a skills text and have to type or produce various documents within a particular time period in order to demonstrate their ability. If any of these skill tests were not performed to a satisfactory level the candidate needs to know. For example, sometimes candidates fail on the audio typing skills test due to lack of practice. In this case, the candidate needs to see their secretarial course provider and obtain extra exercises to increase their speed.

Thirdly, the candidate needs to ask whether any of their answers were unsatisfactory in terms of detail or the examples they gave. This is important because if candidates do not give relevant answers to questions it shows that they may have misunderstood the interviewer and could misunderstand the people in the organisation. This could suggest to the interviewer that the candidate would require considerable further explanation which is always going to deter potential employers.

Fourthly, the candidate needs to ask what additional things they could have done to turn their interview into a successful interview. This catch all question will give the employer an opportunity to elaborate on something said or done by the candidate which did not ‘reach the mark’.

What each candidate takes from an interview is up to them. However, an interview is never a waste of time. If it is a successful interview the candidate will get the job; if unsuccessful the candidate will have got experience and a chance to discuss with someone else the positive and negative aspects of their performance.
 
Mike Connolly has written many articles on secretarial courses and the skills required to be taught as part of a secretarial course. For further details on the skills required to become a secretary look at the course outlines on the Pitman Training Hammersmith website.

How do you become a secretary?

This question is asked by many candidates who aspire to become a secretary. The answer is simple: undertaking a secretarial course, dedication and a constant desire to exceed your own expectations is often a good start.

Secretarial courses offer a good grounding in key secretarial skills. For example, at Pitman Training Hammersmith there is a full and detailed secretarial course which has a number of modules aimed at teaching exceptional secretarial skills. The benchmark is whether the candidate can actually start work and add value from day one.

Kathy Connolly, Principal of Pitman Training Hammersmith , states that the principle of added value is what counts. Can the candidate add value from the first minute in the role? If they can, the secretarial course has fulfilled its role of producing a competent secretary for the work place.

In terms of skills taught, there is an extraordinary array of skills which are often taken for granted by employers. These include a range of good English skills, exceptional IT skills and possibly shorthand too. With such a combination of skills it is obvious to see why so many secretaries find work immediately after completing their secretarial course.

Some secretaries map their career in stages. For example, some start working for a charity in a voluntary capacity or undertake temping work during or immediately after their secretarial course to acquire the relevant work experience for the CV. This group then go onto employment as a secretary and upgrade to become a legal or medical secretary or even a PA.

Others are fortunate to already be in a receptionist role and wish to acquire the key secretarial skills from a secretarial course to become a secretary within their current organisation.

Another group have high aspirations to become Executive PA’s. The completion of a secretarial course is one step towards that end goal.

As with every career path, what is important is to start with some skills training by doing a secretarial course and then move steadily into the field with which you have been trained but, and it is an important but, the skills required in the work place are constantly changing. Even once your goal has been reached, secretarial training is a continuous requirement in the modern world.

Mike Connolly has written many articles on secretarial courses and the skills required to be taught as part of a secretarial course For further details on the skills required to become a secretary look at the course outlines on the Pitman Training Hammersmith website.