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."