Secretaries: Be-all, end-all of firms

Secretaries: Be-all, end-all of firms

By Lena Rosenthal

JAKARTA (JP): Painting their fingernails, making coffee or
showing off their oh-so-short miniskirt, a present from the boss,
the stereotypical secretary was never thought to belong to the
"smart crew" of any business.

However, looking at the self-confident and well-educated women
who mainly occupy these positions, one can have reasonable doubt
whether any of the biased assumptions mentioned above can to be
applied to today's secretaries.

To anticipate the answer, all of these prejudices belong to
the past and hardly any company planning to be competitive on the
market would be able to do without their support.

Jakarta's Top Key Members, celebrating this year's Secretary
Party titled The Hidden Treasure at the Hilton International
Hotel, Jakarta, on Saturday, showing off their sophistication and
the self-assurance needed for this job.

Coordinating a company's activities, taking responsibility for
schedules, finances, public relations and often combining the job
of advisor, human resources and financial department all in one
person, secretaries are equipped with a lot of power and,
therefore, deserve their companies full trust and appreciation.

Hilton International's public relations manager, Dewi Widiyanti,
told The Jakarta Post, "We organized this event to show our
appreciation for secretaries, who have been helping us a lot by
making reservations here at the Hilton Hotel,"

While men still occupy most of the top positions of companies,
and women are usually working in lesser paid positions, the
demands regarding their abilities have grown significantly. More
and more companies do not only expect their secretaries to be
fluent in one or two foreign languages but also require them to
have up-to-date software knowledge, organization skills and a lot
more.

Lita Soerjadi, a secretary at Lucent Technologies, said, "I am
working a full-time job, arranging meetings, scheduling
appointments, filing and basically taking care of all the
formalities which are important to keep the business running.
However, the work I am doing is indeed appreciated at the
company."

The secretaries not uncommonly hold university degrees, as
Lita does, who has studied Dutch Literature at the University of
Indonesia, or have undergone extensive secretarial training.

Dinna C., executive secretary at Nova Gas International, said:
"I have had proper secretarial training, although I sometimes do
not know whether to call myself a secretary as my field of work
has extended into so many other sectors of the company."

Laying more and more responsibility into the hands of the
secretaries, companies have strengthened their secretaries
position drastically.

"I have been working in this job for 10 years now, and I
probably have more responsibility than anyone else in the
company," Dinna said, adding: "It's a tough and challenging job,
which requires a thorough understanding of the business as well
as self-assured manners."

As the backbone of every company, secretaries are well aware
of their power. "It depends on yourself to show how capable you
are. And if you do, your work will surely be appreciated by the
company," she said.

"The secretarial job," Lita summed up the subject, "is not
that easy after all."