How to promote?

[dayemyat]

Hi all
The office professionals in our country are not regarded as professionals but like general workers in the office.  Especially working as a secretary-assistant in an international organisation is a diaster for me.  Most of the people are thinking that secretary should only be femenine gender whereas in my case is not.

I have faced lots of problems for all these years working as a secretary.  I love my job which is very interesting.  Not only organising events, but having to take turns in staff management really make me enthusiastic in my works and make me motivated.

Could you please share with me your opinion on "male secretary".  I started working as a secretary while I was 19 years old.  I am now 23.  And I just saw this forum today.  It is very interesting.  Then I made this post.

Thanks for all your reply in advance

[countrigal]

Welcome Dayemyat!  Hope you find DD as interesting and exciting a place as we all do!

To respond to your question... I do think there is a stereotype still out there that sees secretarial positions as a female role, but that is starting to change.  You are even starting to see some Assistants and Secretaries in the movies and on tv as males, though they are still rarer than we'd like.  I'm very up front in saying that anyone can be anything... and that includes secretaries.  If your skills are in that arena and you enjoy it, why not do it?  And that goes the same for women who want to be in a predominately male role.  So I say, don't give up, keep your chin up and press onward and upward.  Hopefully society as a whole will start catching up and you'll find yourself with the same opportunities for advancement that any other secretary will/would have and not find yourself passed over just because you're male.  Of course, we still have those managers out there who see their secretaries as pretty accessories who fetch coffee and answer phones, without much thoughts in their pretty little heads -- and those managers won't be wanting to hire you any more than they would most of us who actually think for ourselves and are more productive than a painting.  What I'm seeing is that most of the newer/younger managers (and this is just my opinion!) are stepping away from that stereotype more and relying on someone who can be their right-hand person and will be more willing to see that person as a male or female, as long as they are qualified and professional.  The business world as a whole seems to be shifting towards that, since all companies are having to do more with less, so that they  need more qualified and adaptable people at all levels.  And that is when the stereotype of the admins/secretaries/PA's will finally change.  I personally have worked with males in admin/secretarial positions and didn't think anything of it.  If the person can do the job, why not be in that position?

Once more, Welcome to DD.  Hope to see you here a lot!

CountriGal
Peer Moderator