Secretarial and Office Jobs

Liberalisation and globalisation have accelerated business activity. Personnel who manage office routine are secretaries, stenographers, and office assistants. Secretarial work is the backbone of efficient office functioning. Office work is handled by the office secretary who works either for a senior manager, for a department, or in an organisation office be it school, business/corporate, firm or institution.

The job is of handling information - receiving, storing, retrieving, passing on, mailing, sending out etc. In a modern office the latest equipments and system of electronically managing information has changed the work of a secretary a great deal .

Subordinate secretarial staff in government offices run the day to day operations of departments and government offices under the direction of government officials, bureaucrats and in ministries.

Nature of Work

The work of a secretary is basically of an assistant. She/He manages all office work, receives phone calls, takes messages and carries out the bosses instructions. The responsibilities vary from one organization/office to another. The traditional secretary works for one boss. Secretary could work with a team of clerical staff for an organization.

Their work is of an office superintendent who keeps track of the organizations projects/ assignments, is well informed on all matters and coordinates work through a team of clerks working on separate assignments - typist, correspondence in charge etc. In some organisations a secretary may rise to a junior management position with experience and proven ability.

Secretary’s work in an organization may involve collecting and filing documents, making meeting briefs/agenda, informing other departments, summarizing meeting reports, taking dictation and even arranging for meetings with her/his boss of clients/guests, or of the boss with other officials. Most office functioning depends on the efficiency of the secretary.

Clerical Staff in government offices are also known as lower division clerks. They carry out routine office functions such as maintenance of registers, indexing, making periodical statements, record keeping, submitting routine drafts etc.

The course in secretarial practice includes processing and transmitting information to the office staff and to other organisations, typing and shorthand, commercial practice, computer applications, business English.

Work Environment

The work environment is very variable . In government offices the traditional file keeping procedures are followed. The documentation processes require handling files, documents, retrieving old files and hence the work can be tedious and time consuming. Modern offices, however, have largely replaced the traditional systems. Electronically operated equipments and computerisation has added significant glamour and convenience to the work environment . Modern offices are generally air conditioned, and well designed for efficient working.

Personal Characteristics

If you find routine office work interesting and like a blend of administrative and clerical functioning. secretarial training will provide a good beginning. Good communication skills - verbal and written, organizing ability, confidence, responsibility, PR acumen, willingness to learn, obey, and take orders are required. Secretarial staff are expected to be pleasant, helpful and patient.

Employment Avenues

Secretaries work in a variety of situations. Medical, legal, office, social and administrative work segments all require secretarial staff. An intensive course should give you a good beginning.

Employment opportunities are both with the government and with private firms, schools, institutions, NGOs, multinational firms, international organizations, etc.

Entry

In the Government

The recruitment for middle and subordinate level posts of all the departments of the government of India all over the country is made by Staff Selection Commissions. The posts include that of clerks, assistants, inspectors of income-tax, excise, customs, sub- inspector of police, CBI and a host of other posts. The number of vacancies vary from year to year.

Assistant Grade Examination - This examination fills up posts of Grade 4 (Assistant) of General cadre of Indian Foreign Service, Grade 4 (Assistant) Railway Board Secretariat Service , Assistant Grade of the Armed Forces Headquarters Civil Service , Assistant Grade of the Central Secretariat Service, Assistants in other departmental organisations , Government institutions and attached offices.

Eligibility - Graduation. Age - 20-25 Years

Selection examination - 3 attempts are allowed. Written exam has 2 parts- Preliminary and Mains-The prelim exam is objective and has is a screening test. It has Reasoning, Maths, Language( Hindi& English) and General Knowledge. The main exam is of the conventional type in English and Maths.

Stenographers Examination - Stenographers in Grade ‘C’ are selected for the above mentioned departments. The eligibility is Class X. Age must be 18-20 years . The examination has a paper of the objective type in General English, General Awareness and in Essay, Shorthand test in Hindi/ English.

Stenographers in Grade ‘D’ are appointed to Ministries and attached offices of the Government and to subordinate offices of the Government in various states/ union territories, etc and Delhi administration. The age limit for this exam is 25 years and the other eligibility is same as in the Grade ‘C’. The test format also remains the same.

Clerk Grade Examination - Clerks for the ministries and attached offices, subordinate offices of the Government of India located in various states and posts in Delhi administration, MCD, NDMC are appointed through an examination conducted by the Staff Selection Commission. The eligibility for this grade is matriculation and age specified is 18-25 years. The examination has 2 parts: Part I is a written test of 2 hours which has 4 parts - General Intelligence, English Language, Numerical Aptitude, General Awareness. Passing in all the 4 parts is essential. The second test of typewriting in both English and Hindi. The speed should be 30 wpm in English and 25 wpm in Hindi.

In the Private sector

Secretarial training is conducted by a number of local vocational training institutes. Students may opt to graduate and with the degree programme may pursue computer courses related to office work. There are Graduate degree courses in Secretarial Practice and Office Management offered by some Universities. Foreign languages add to the prospects of employ ability.

Jobs with Airlines

Cabin Crew

While Pilots are vital for the operation of an airline on scheduled routes, the in flight cabin crew is responsible for ensuring the comfort and care of passengers on board. The opinion of passengers is based on the quality of service an airline provides. Establishing and maintaining the reputation of an airline for quality service is the responsibility of the cabin crew. Flight supervisors, air hostesses, flight pursers and flight attendants are in the true sense public relations officers on board an aircraft, communicating the message of goodwill through care and hospitality. People in these jobs have a happy blend of personality, intelligence, enthusiasm and imagination and have an intense and abiding interest in people as well as travel destinations.

Nature of Work

Air hostesses and flight pursers under the supervision of senior flight supervisors offer in flight passenger services. They look after the welfare, comfort and safety of passengers travelling in the aircraft. While the job appears to be glamorous it’s demands are remorselessly stressful both physically as well as mentally. The responsibilities begin much before the passengers embark.

They carry out a pre flight check of emergency equipments, first aid kits, and check that the aircraft and toilets are tidy and seat pocket information is in place. They have to check that sufficient quantities of meals and beverages have been provided on board by catering in charge of the flight kitchen. Greeting passengers on the aircraft, managing their seating and storage of hand baggage, giving instructions/demonstrations for the use of emergency equipment and serving food and beverages during the flight are routine duties.

They are trained in dealing with ill health of passengers as also flight emergencies which is in fact the real test of their courage and responsibility. After each flight the cabin crew submit a report on medication administered, cabin equipment and stocks, account of duty free items sold etc.

Duty hours often extend into the night, holidays and weekends as flights operate round the clock. The in flight working hours are approximately 75-85 hours per month and ground duty hours spent in preparing for the flight or waiting for delayed flights, may vary but could be almost the same. The crew may be away from their home bases during long distance flights. During this period, the airlines provides them with hotel accommodation and airport allowances to cover meal and miscellaneous expenses. Crew members get off days based on variations in flight schedules.

There is no doubt that the job of crew members is interesting, but it is also extremely demanding, both physically and emotionally. Duties are long and work pressure immense. There may be passengers on board whose demands need to be handled with professional tact and integrity. For those with the right personality and acumen the work is satisfying as well as rewarding. They get lucrative professional benefits.

The job offers them the opportunity to become a regular visitor to some of the region’s and the world’s most exciting cities. They also get discounted travel benefits for themselves and their family members.

Personal Characteristics

An ideal cabin attendant is sociable with a naturally warm and pleasant personality and someone who can meet passengers’ needs through sincere yet professional service. Agility, stamina and good health are vital to attend to the stressful duties for long hours. The job demands accountability hence people who are responsible, calm and hardworking will find work rewarding.

Crew members are expected to have a polite, tactful and confident disposition. The work on board an aircraft demands an ability to work as part of a team. Clear speech, good conversational skills and fluency in English, Hindi, a regional language and a foreign language are required.

Educational eligibility

The national air carriers recruit graduates from all subject streams in the 19-25 years age group for training as air hostesses and flight pursers. Preference is given to degree or diploma holders in hotel management/tourism. Female candidates from the Home science background, fulfilling other requirements, are also preferred. Some private airlines, however, have selected applicants after class XII from the age group of 18-21 years.

International airlines recruit air hostesses from the age group of 18-35 years. Good language ability and proficiency in English, Hindi, a regional language and at least one foreign language are essential requirements for in flight crew members working for national or international carriers. Some foreign airlines give weightage to previous customer service experience. They also give preference to candidates who are fluent in the language of the region for which they are making recruitment's e.g. an airline operating in the South East Asian region would give preference to a candidate with some knowledge of a language of the region.

Physical requirements

For air hostesses a minimum height of 157.5 cm and for Flight pursers a minimum height of 163 cm has been laid down. Proportionate weight is also desirable. Normal eyesight without glasses or a minimum of uncorrected distant vision of 6.4 is acceptable.

Selection/Training

While most airlines maintain data banks of prospective candidates suitable for recruitment as cabin crew, the vacancies are generally advertised from time to time. The process of selection followed by national carriers is slightly different from that of international carriers. The former, after careful scrutiny of applications, call candidates for a written test comprising of general knowledge, mental ability and verbal ability. This is followed by an interview and group discussion.

International airlines on the other hand conduct a preliminary interview during which the measurement of height and weight of the applicants is also checked. Candidates have to then take a written test which is a test of general knowledge, mental ability, language ability (including vocabulary, listening, reading, speaking tests for Hindi and English). This is followed by the main interview. During this the candidate’s language fluency, diction, voice, communication skill, personality and reaction to adverse situations is assessed.

Candidates are expected to have good knowledge of the aviation industry. Selected candidates are trained by the airline. Each airline has a training schedule for the freshly recruited in flight staff and this is carried out at their exclusive training centres or by agencies appointed by them. Air India trains its cabin crew at Mumbai while Indian Airlines has its training centre at Hyderabad. International airlines send the recruited candidates to their headquarters where the training is carried out over a span of a few weeks.

During the training, recruits are taught technical, safety and interpersonal skills. They are familiarised with the aviation technicalities as well as about the destinations they are expected to be flying on. Food and beverage service, emergency management and first aid comprise the practical part of training. Most of the practical training including flight safety exercises are carried out in mock aircraft cabins. The training generally lasts for six to seven weeks after which flight trainees are assigned to work in the economy class during which time they also participate in progressive training and development to enhance their in flight skills.

Cabin crew of national carriers serve the airlines till the age of fifty eight years and in the in flight division can become deputy general managers. With experience they become supervisors and assign and oversee the work of junior cabin crew members. Most airlines allow crew members to opt for training and supervisory positions after they have the required experience.

What lures young people to this profession is most evidently the glamour of air travel as also the lifestyle. It is true that the pay scales are attractive and the perks and allowances alluring. International carriers pay almost three times as much as national airlines. Besides attractive perks you get free air tickets for yourself and your family for travelling on the routes your airline covers.

With international airlines you get the opportunity to see the world both at leisure and on duty. But to remind the aspirant all this comes along with tremendous toil. The long flights will keep you on your toes for hours on end, short journeys will demand brisk service, some passengers may demand constant care and of course you will face the challenge of making the journey comfortable for some irate passengers too. It is certainly going to be a challenge to be polite, gentle and gracious on every flight you serve. There is no place for self pity or praise for it is your duty to make the journey memorable for guests on board and each day offers fresh challenge.

Jobs at Airports

Civil aviation is commonly related to the work of pilots and in flight crew while other services that go to make an airplane airborne remain rather in the background to a casual onlooker.

The airports

A great amount of coordinated activity by trained personnel and hi-tech equipment guided by administrative mechanisms has made international and national air travel safe and efficient. Airports play an important role in the smooth operation of flights within the country as also those operating to and from the country.

In our country Airport Authority of India (AAI) is responsible for the management and development of international airports, domestic aerodromes, civil air terminals as well as civil enclaves at Defence aerodromes. It controls and manages the entire Indian Air space as accepted by the International Civil Aviation Organisation. The Airport Authority is responsible for the construction and maintenance of runways, aircraft movement areas and passenger terminals. Communication and security systems, air traffic services, cargo complexes and warehouses, ground aids and safety services are taken care of by the AAI. Ensuring efficiency of these services as well as acquiring the latest facilities is the endeavour of the organisation. The AAI has centers for training of fire fighting squads and for aerodrome and communication personnel. Job opportunities with the Airport Authority of India are good and remunerative.

Nature of Work

Managers

The airports have managers to take care of its various departments. These are personnel manager, legal manager, cargo manager, economic planning manager, commercial manager, housekeeping manager, stores and purchase manager, airport manager and electronics and technical manager. Managers look after the functioning of the airport in each of these departments.

Airlines staff on ground duty

The Commercial Operations Division of airlines takes care of passenger services at the airport. They carry out duties such as checking in passengers for the flight, issuing/checking boarding passes, directing passengers, providing information, preparing passenger lists, completing luggage and cargo documentation etc. They are the first people to welcome the passengers, check them in for the flight, guide them through immigration terminals, custom checks and security clearances and attend to passenger needs till they are on the flight. Traffic assistants over see the loading and unloading of passengers’ luggage issuing instructions to passengers while deplaning and arranging for trolleys for passenger luggage.

Selection/Entry

Airline Ground staff

Passenger services personnel are recruited by almost all airlines, public and private, from young graduates/postgraduates who have excellent communication skills and the ability to work as a team. Fluency in English and Hindi are required and knowledge of a foreign language is an asset for recruitment. Foreign airlines also recruit ground duty passenger service staff, reservation staff from India to work in passenger service at our country’s air terminals. Reservation staff too are recruited for making bookings for travel on the airline and for editing of messages from the global reservation system of the airline.

Airport managers

The requirements for managers are as follows :

Legal manager must have a degree in law. Personnel managers must have a degree/diploma in personnel management/labour welfare/law/social science and 5 years experience in personnel management. Economic planning managers are postgraduates in economics/statistics/maths with a background of transport economics and some experience. Commercial managers require a graduate degree and some experience in handling commercial/revenue matters. Cargo managers must be graduates/MBA degree holders with experience in handling cargo at supervisory level in airlines/seaport/Air force/IATA approved cargo agencies and must have knowledge of computers and EDP systems. The Housekeeping manager must be a graduate with a diploma in hotel management and 3 years experience in an executive capacity in a hotel. Stores and Purchase managers must be graduates trained in materials management and with 5 years experience of managing stores.

Going Back to your Future Top Jobs for History Graduates

'What's the use of that? What sort of job will it get you? Couldn't you do something more useful?' How often has someone said, or implied, something to that effect when you told them you intend to study history at university? What follows will give you the ammunition to answer them. For, not only do history graduates enter an extremely wide range of careers, many rise to the very top. As Ali G, just one of many such successful history graduates, might say, 'For real'.

Within a few months of leaving university, all but 6% of history graduates have some form of employment, broadly in line with the average across all degree subjects. These are often temporary jobs that do not require a degree qualification. The main areas of employment six months after graduation are, in descending order:

Clerical and secretarial Commercial,
Retail assistants,
Business and finance,
Marketing/sales PR and advertising,
Clerks and cashiers,
Nursing,
IT,
Armed forces/public profession services,
Industrial public sector,
Catering, waiting and bar staff,
Other professional and technical,
Creative/design/ports professionals,
Health and childcare,
Teaching,
Engineering.

However, a history degree is a sound basis for further career development and 30% of its graduates pursue a postgraduate qualification (well ahead of the average of 19% across all subjects) in vocational subjects such as law, accountancy, journalism, librarianship, teaching and IT.

By three years after graduation most history graduates are in more settled employment, in jobs that require their degree and in which they are using skills acquired in the course of their studies. Those who took a postgraduate qualification will be joining the professions for which they have trained. Only 2% will still be unemployed. Hence, although a history degree is not job specific, its graduates have the skills that enable them to pursue a multiplicity of careers demanding a wide range of talents, and they do so extremely successfully in an open and competitive jobs market. This success can be illustrated with examples of those who have achieved fame in their chosen careers.

Key positions in the media have been colonised by historians. They have a penchant for sports journalism - practitioners include the BBC TV correspondents, Jonathan Legard, Martin Tyler and John Inverdale and the Radio 5 Live presenters Alan Green and Simon Mayo, previously a Radio 1 DJ. In addition, there are several history graduates in the entertainment media, such as Louis Theroux and Jonathan Ross, and the children's TV presenters Simon Thomas and Timmy Mallett. There are also many academic historians who front or appear in programmes that popularise history, such as The History Hunters and Time Team. Among the best known are Michael Wood, David Starkey and Simon Schama. Keeping a watchful eye on much of this activity is Suzanne Warner, Deputy Chair of the Broadcasting Standards Commission.

"Although a history degree is not job specific, its graduates have the skills that enable them to pursue a multiplicity of careers demanding a wide range of talents, and they do so extremely successfully in an open and competitive jobs market."

Many historians have attained distinction in politics and at least four historians have become bishops (Blackburn, Guildford, London and Norwich). There are also a significant number of lawyers whose first degree is in history, including several barristers.

Some occupations have a more organic connection to a history education. Many history graduates become teachers, and some go on to become headteachers. The number of historians who have become university vice-chancellors is considerably larger than would be produced by a proportionate distribution across all disciplines. While it would be absurd to claim that the managerial skills required for these positions were inculcated through first-degree education, nevertheless the capacity of historians to attain such high positions in statistically significant ways says something about their all-round abilities.

A history degree has also been a natural passport to service in the museums, libraries and arts. Three names are especially well-known here: Sir Roy Strong, former Director of the Victoria and Albert; John Tusa, formerly of the BBC but now Managing Director at the Barbican Centre; and Sarah Tyacke, Keeper at the Public Records Office.

Many history graduates have attained distinction in the arts, notably as writers. Good writing is a quality highly prized by historians. I am not concerned with the many authors of academic history, nor with its popularisers, though Andrew Morton, the biographer of royalty, should perhaps be mentioned if only to show that it is possible to make a good living in this way. Rather, the focus here is on creative writing where there are some 'big names' - the novelists Penelope Lively, Salman Rushdie and the late Anthony Powell, the playwright Howard Barker and the poet Wendy Cope. There are, predictably, fewer historians in the creative field of music. Nevertheless, and covering the range from classical to popular, we have the tenor Ian Bostridge, and Neil Tennant, lead singer of the Pet Shop Boys and perhaps the most famous of history's 'popstars'.

This facility to reach the top through the application of diverse skills is reaffirmed by the success of historians in business and finance. They have in significant numbers become company directors, chief executives and managing directors, e-commerce millionaires, chief accountants, directors of strategic development, heads of personnel and of human resources, fund managers, management consultants, chief financial officers, presidents and vice-presidents, directors of sales and marketing, company secretaries and so forth. Many work for large and long-established companies; others are managing directors or partners in companies that they established. A few examples will have to suffice.

• Gerald Corbett is chairman of Woolworths.
  
  
• Anthony Hudson is a former chairman of ICI.
  
  
• Sir Bob Reid, deputy governor of the Bank of Scotland.
  
  
• Lord Sainsbury is president of the family supermarket business.
  
  
• Professor Sir Roland Smith has held many directorships and consultancies,
  including director of the Bank of England, and is currently Chancellor of UMIST and chairman of Manchester United plc.
  
  
• Anita Roddick, the Body Shop entrepreneur;
  
  
• Isabel Maxwell, daughter of the late newspaper baron.
  
  

This is just a small sample. It may surprise you to learn that historians do, in fact, provide more directors of Britain's leading companies in proportion to the number of graduates than any other subject, outperforming law, science and engineering.

Historians have always made a virtue of the importance of reaching objective judgements based upon wide reading and an understanding of a multiplicity of oft-conflicting sources, together with the ability to write clear, literate, synoptic, analytical prose that represents a balanced assessment of the evidence but which does not fight shy of drawing conclusions. A history training therefore imparts vital transferable skills, extremely useful in many jobs.

A history degree undoubtedly provides an opening to a wide range of careers and its graduates have risen to the very top of many professions and to key positions in civil society. A truly remarkable number have gone on to become the movers-and-shakers of modern-day Britain. Many important jobs are within the grasp of historians. With a history degree you can aspire to be prime minister, press baron and media mogul, overlord of the BBC, famous lawyer, archbishop of Canterbury, top diplomat, Oxbridge vice-chancellor, England footballer (Steve Coppell) or chairman of the richest football club in the world, famous comedian or celebrated pop musician, best-selling novelist, trade union boss, business millionaire, and perhaps even, one day, monarch of the realm, for Prince Charles too is a history graduate. For real!