Salaries
Since special training is required for most of the positions referred to in this connection salaries are proportionately high. Clerks and other office men earn from $1,600 to $2,400 a year. Those who qualify as junior clerks and senior clerks may hope to rise to assistant managers of departments and general export managers. Advancement should be rapid in view of the present shortage of men and the expected expansion of business. In large export departments there are export managers who receive from $5,000 to $10,000 a year. Even the latter amount is by no means the limit for men of unusual executive ability.
The positions referred to in connection with the actual operation of the merchant marine pay from $120 to $275 per month with subsistence. It is possible that these amounts may be somewhat reduced after the war demand for such service ceases, and yet it is certain that the financial returns for this kind of work will be above those for similar service on shore.
PLAN No. 1094. SECRETARIAL WORK
Executives in responsible positions are finding it necessary more and more to rely upon efficient secretarial help. Such an executive must generally have some assistant who is thoroughly familiar with every detail of his activities, and able to assume responsibility for innumerable details connected with the day’s work. The comparatively small number of available secretarial workers and the hazy conception that has heretofore existed regarding the real distinction between a stenographer and a secretary have forced many executives to be satisfied with stenographic help in the positions where secretarial help is essential. Just now much attention is being given to this vocation by colleges and schools, and there are many opportunities for securing the kind of training needed for secretarial service.
Nature of the Work
There is a wide gap between secretarial and stenographic duties. Skill in writing shorthand and in typewriting is now recognized as desirable for the secretary, but the possession of this skill does not insure secretarial efficiency. Since no training has been available for this vocation in the past secretarial workers have been recruited from the stenographic staff, and it is quite likely that a period of apprenticeship as a stenographer will continue to be a very desirable part of one’s training for the higher duties of a secretarial position.
The trained secretary relieves the executive of all detail by keeping him informed as to important happenings in the business world that may be of particular interest; by making notes of appointments and calling attention to them at the proper time; by gathering data for the preparation of papers and speeches; by standing between him and the public, when the demands upon his time make it necessary to deny requests for interviews without in any way offending those who are refused; by attending conferences, and making notes on important points; by arranging for transportation and hotel accommodations in connection with traveling, and, in every way, by keeping the executive’s time free for the more important managerial responsibilities devolving upon him.
Qualifications Required
Men who possess a good general education, sufficient maturity, tact, judgment, business sense, and knowledge of people may hope to succeed in this vocation providing they have the right kind of training and preliminary experience. Integrity, alertness, ambition to advance, initiative, courtesy, and loyalty are prime essential characteristics. Soldiers who have been attached to headquarters’ division in the capacity of aides and secretarial workers will find in this field opportunities to make their war experience count for the most.