How To Become An Engineering Secretary: What It Is and Career Path

What is an engineering secretary and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

Quoted expert

Anne McConnell Ph.D.

The average engineering secretary salary is $34,452. The most common degree is a bachelor's degree degree with an business major. It usually takes 1-2 years of experience to become an engineering secretary. Engineering secretaries with a Word 2010 Certification certification earn more money. Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow -8% and produce -286,900 job opportunities across the U.S.

What general advice would you give to an engineering secretary?

Anne McConnell Ph.D.

Professor, West Virginia State University

I would say it's important to be very attentive to the way you communicate with your employers, managers, and co-workers. Even sending an e-mail can be an opportunity to demonstrate your professionalism and communication skills. Some people think that no one knows how to write anymore, or how to communicate in a professional way. I don't think that's true. But we don't always think about how our writing can be a tool to communicate our competence and seriousness. If you know how to write and communicate professionally-which college grads do-then make sure to demonstrate that in the workplace.

ScoreEngineering SecretaryUS Average

Salary

2.7

Avg. Salary $34,452

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

6.0

Growth rate -8%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

3.1

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.73%

Asian 3.84%

Black or African American 9.36%

Hispanic or Latino 16.37%

Unknown 3.87%

White 65.83%

Gender

female 93.68%

male 6.32%

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 an engineering secretary

Explore engineering secretary education requirements

Most common engineering secretary degrees

Bachelor's

36.0 %

Associate

31.0 %

High School Diploma

20.9 %

Start to develop specific engineering secretary skills

Skills	Percentages
Purchase Orders	14.20%
Travel Arrangements	9.37%
Payroll	7.68%
Technical Manuals	5.49%
Word Processing	5.05%

Complete relevant engineering secretary training and internships

Accountants spend an average of Less than 1 month on post-employment, on-the-job training. New engineering 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 an engineering secretary based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real engineering secretary resumes.

Research engineering secretary duties and responsibilities

Manage fireworks inventory through QuickBooks and process customer wholesale orders.
Handle and process payroll for all 12 staff members, hand writing checks and calculating hours.
Prepare shipping documentation for all plant shipments, maintain records of daily shipments to payroll for job closing.
Prepare documents, PowerPoint presentations, PDF files, charts, graphs with test results for engineer meetings.

Prepare your engineering secretary resume

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

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on an engineering secretary resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable engineering secretary resume templates

Build a professional engineering secretary resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your engineering secretary resume.