Administrative Professionals Then & Now

Administrative Professionals Week is celebrated in the last full week of April. Some people may be confused about who the week celebrates, thinking that "administrative professional" refers to CEOs, COOs, hospital administrators, and other miscellaneous Master's-prepared people. However the week celebrates those once known simply as secretaries or clerks – today's administrative assistants, executive assistants, office coordinators, office managers, assistant-to-the-whatevers, and, yes, secretaries and clerks (the titles are by no means obsolete).

The etymology dictionary tells us that the term "secretary" dates back to the late 1300s, and that it comes from Medieval Latin secretarius, which meant clerk, notary, confidential officer, or confidant – not "confidante," for at that time, secretaries were typically men. "Clerk" itself is from Greek via Late Latin and Old English, meaning "of the clergy" or "clergyman" – at the time, clerics (men) were often the only literate people around, thus the ones responsible for drafting and reading documents and correspondence. And "administrative" is also ultimately from the late 1300s, and is derived from Latin words meaning to minister or serve. Again, these folks were men.

So, today, while few clerks are clerics (and vice versa), but secretaries may still be secretaries, and most clerks and secretaries are women, one wonders how the two seemingly different groups, secretaries and secretaries' bosses, now share the "admin" title.

If you read the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Occupational Outlook Handbook's section on Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, the duplication may in part be explained by the fact that "…secretaries and administrative assistants often use computers to do tasks previously handled by managers and professionals, such as: create spreadsheets; compose correspondence; manage databases; and create presentations, reports, and documents using desktop publishing software and digital graphics … At the same time, managers and professionals have assumed many tasks traditionally assigned to secretaries and administrative assistants, such as keyboarding and answering the telephone."

These changes have undoubtedly resulted from the explosion of technology. Only a couple of decades ago, a book on careers urged the reader, "Imagine for a moment that you have just stepped inside the office of a major corporation – computerized work stations, desktop terminals, and electronic printers. Don't panic at the sight of all this machinery – you'll find this 1980s hardware simplifies standard office procedures and offers shortcuts which you did not think were possible. … (A) real equipment standard in the automated office is the PC, Personal Computer, which makes this communication possible. … One of the hottest areas of the new office is word processing. Have you heard this term before and wondered what it is? A word processor is an electronic typewriter with a TV-like display screen …" Indeed, even this blast from the past discusses how secretaries' duties have expanded thanks to technology: "If the word secretary is a real turnoff to you, of if you are worried about career challenge versus boredom, remember that the role of the secretary has drastically changed from past years. Office automation has enabled secretaries to perform administrative and managerial duties, unlike their secretarial sisters of yesteryear."

Of course, even though roles have somewhat blended, some things have stayed the same, if become more technologically advanced – typing is still done, but on a computer, rarely on that endangered species, the typewriter. And some administrative professionals are still called upon to perform non-work-related tasks – closer to the "minister or serve" definition – such as walking the boss's dog or picking up the boss's dry cleaning. Administrative professionals may also encounter work-related, yet unexpected duties that come under the familiar job description final line: "Other duties, as required." For example, what admin assistant would expect to be assisting a cardiologist with dragging a full-sized refrigerator from one end of a building to the other? It happened to an acquaintance of mine just the other day. Beyond this, how many administrative professionals have responsibilities that result in them branching into roles typically held by others – graphic designer, accountant, computer technical support specialist, public relations specialist, editor, professional organizer, interior designer, researcher, health and safety inspector, counselor, ambassador, travel agent, concierge, security guard, professional shopper, horticulturalist, caterer, barista. One result of the increasing variety and number of higher-end tasks performed by administrative professionals is that more employers require that applicants have degrees.

So as the historical artifact quoted above says, there's no need to "wrinkle (one's) nose at a secretarial position," and today's secretaries "do move up the corporate ladder." Administrative professionals can be proud of the varied and invaluable roles they play. But it seems to me as if they're the ones entitled to use the "admin" title – not the MBA or MHA crowd. Though some administrative professionals have those, too!

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