What education do you need to be a secretary?

Answer 1

To be a secretary, you need an understanding of English grammar and spelling, you need to know how to efficiently use a computer (word processor, and spreadsheet at minimum) and printer, and you need to understand business procedures and records management. It can be helpful to be able to understand people who speak with strong foreign accents, and the ability to speak and write in at least one other language can be very valuable.

There are also specialised secretarial positions (Medical Secretary, Legal Secretary, etc.) for which you also need a basic familiarity with technical terms of the field and an ability to spell them correctly when someone pronounces them to you.

In a few secretarial positions, it may still be necessary to be able to use Shorthand.

Answer 2

In order to obtain a secretary job, one should have experience in an office setting. Knowledge of computers as well as answering phones and typing would be beneficial.