San Antonio Express, San Antonio TX

Good quotes from IAAP member Inzia Miller and IAAP international president Shelia Brownfield...

San Antonio, Texas-Area Secretaries Serve Vital Function in Many Companies

By Bonnie Pfister, San Antonio Express-News Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News


Apr. 16 - Secretaries have come a long way in the past 30 years.

Though women still dominate the field, the job of secretary has expanded in scope and sophistication. Computer technology, the flattening of organizational hierarchies and the women's movement of the 1960s and 1970s have combined to create a position that, far from menial, often is the brain center of a business.

Call them secretaries or administrative assistants, these 4 million American office workers frequently act as communications and information hubs, said Rick Stroud, spokesman for International Association of Administrative Professionals.

They keep schedules, maintain financial records, organize work flow and prepare multimedia reports. They can be the public face of a company, replying to general questions and deciding who gets access to the boss and who does not.

"They are the gatekeepers," said Judy B. Rosener, a professor at the University of California-Irvine's Graduate School of Management. "They have always had a lot of power. I think now they are just beginning to realize that." But what administrative professionals are paid varies widely with their skills and specializations, as well as where and for whom they work.

According to the Texas Workforce Commission, the median annual salary for executive secretaries in the eight-county San Antonio area in 2002 was $28,538. Nationally, that figure is $33,410. Basic secretaries here earn about $22,000, medical secretaries get a bit more and legal secretaries top the list, with median annual salaries of $38,938.

Skills can be learned in high school, community colleges, technical schools or on the job. The IAAP since 1951 has offered professional certification. A higher-level Certified Administrative Professional exam was added three years ago.

Nationally, wages have improved, Stroud said. In 2002, 74 percent of the IAAP's members surveyed said they earned more than $30,000. That's up from 40 percent just seven years earlier.

But Stroud said the work still tends to be underpaid, in part because it's seen as women's work.

Up until the early 1900s, the job of trusted confidant and assistant to a boss was a man's job. When women began filling those roles during World War I, the status as well as the pay declined.

Those employed by big companies tend to do better. Inzia Miller, an executive secretary with insurance giant USAA since 1991, said she's very well compensated. Base pay for executive secretaries at USAA can range as high as $48,000.

The work is engaging, every day is different and she's required to think creatively to solve problems and keep communications flowing smoothly in the company's 13,000-employee campus and five branch offices.

A 29-year veteran of office administration who also has worked in Los Angeles and Kansas City, Miller said the job has evolved a lot in her lifetime.

"You took orders from the boss, with no creativity of your own. You were just a secretary," she said.

Miller said she took night classes to improve her skills and always was ready to take on new tasks, often finishing far more swiftly than her supervisors expected.

"They could see I had a lot of drive, I was willing to work," she said.

As the job became more complex, her skills expanded. Her work has included supervising other administrative assistants, and today her tasks range from conflict resolution to creating Power Point presentations.

Though some assistants still fetch coffee and are called secretary, IAAP President Sheila Brownfield said what matters is respect.

"I'll still get my boss coffee sometimes. And he'll bring me mine just as often," said Brownfield, an executive assistant at intraocular lens maker Alcon Manufacturing in West Virginia.

And if you call her secretary, there's no offense taken.

"I know what I am. I know what I do, and so does my boss. The pay's the same, so it's all the same to me." Additional information is available from IAAP at (816) 891-6600 or www.iaap-hq.org.
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