How To Become A Corporate Secretary: What It Is and Career Path

What is a corporate secretary and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

4 min read

A corporate secretary performs clerical duties for a business or corporation that help their employer follow the law. They take care of regular organizational duties such as scheduling meetings, but also have far more important responsibilities. They make sure that an organization's records are in order by taking notes during meetings and documenting the corporation's activities in order to ensure compliance with state and local financial laws. They make sure that their corporation is following the law by ensuring compliance during the bidding process for contracts or other sensitive times. Sometimes, corporate secretaries train other workers in compliance and provide advice to the board.

Corporate secretaries need to know a lot about local financial laws and the world of business in order to do their jobs. Many have a bachelor's degree in business. However, it is possible to do this job with only an associate's degree or a high school diploma.

Corporate secretaries usually need some administrative experience before taking on this important role. They can earn an average salary of $90,456 a year once they earn this role.

ScoreCorporate SecretaryUS Average

Salary

6.9

Avg. Salary $88,550

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

6.0

Growth rate -8%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

3.0

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.73%

Asian 3.80%

Black or African American 9.09%

Hispanic or Latino 15.93%

Unknown 3.87%

White 66.59%

Gender

female 75.45%

male 24.55%

Age - 52

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 52

Stress level

6.0

Stress level is manageable

7.1 - high

Complexity level

4.4

Complexity level is basic

7 - challenging

Work life balance

7.6

Work life balance is good

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a corporate secretary

Explore corporate secretary education requirements

Most common corporate secretary degrees

Bachelor's

52.7 %

Associate

18.3 %

High School Diploma

9.2 %

Start to develop specific corporate secretary skills

Skills	Percentages
Corporate Governance	10.45%
Proxy	9.78%
Meeting Minutes	7.95%
Litigation	7.44%
Travel Arrangements	6.75%

Complete relevant corporate secretary training and internships

Accountants spend an average of Less than 1 month on post-employment, on-the-job training. New corporate secretaries learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a corporate secretary based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real corporate secretary resumes.

Research corporate secretary duties and responsibilities

Manage all mutual fund complex proxy solicitation matters and coordinate related shareholder meetings.
Purchase and manage investment portfolio, and supervise selling funds and investment securities.
Prepare annual proxy statement and other public disclosure statements require by federal securities laws.
Draft responses to subpoenas, interrogatories and other document requests.

Prepare your corporate secretary resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your corporate secretary resume.

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Choose from 10+ customizable corporate secretary resume templates

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