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

What is a private secretary and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

2 min read

Quoted expert

Anne McConnell Ph.D.

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a private secretary. For example, did you know that they make an average of $16.07 an hour? That's $33,422 a year! 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 a private 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.

ScorePrivate SecretaryUS Average

Salary

2.6

Avg. Salary $33,422

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 3.82%

Black or African American 9.22%

Hispanic or Latino 16.14%

Unknown 3.87%

White 66.22%

Gender

female 82.97%

male 17.03%

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 private secretary

Explore private secretary education requirements

Most common private secretary degrees

Bachelor's

37.3 %

Associate

24.5 %

High School Diploma

16.7 %

Start to develop specific private secretary skills

Skills	Percentages
Scheduling Appointments	43.87%
Routine Correspondence	21.12%
City Officials	17.74%
Payroll	6.75%
Telephone Calls	5.20%

Complete relevant private secretary training and internships

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

Research private secretary duties and responsibilities

Manage fireworks inventory through QuickBooks and process customer wholesale orders.
Reconcile payroll records on staff members.
Administer office staff's payroll time sheets.
Prepare discharges, enter all updates into OASAS system and review patient information to verify patients eligibility to receive transportation reimbursement.

Prepare your private secretary resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your private 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 a private 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 private secretary resume templates

Build a professional private 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 private secretary resume.

Apply for private secretary jobs

Now it's time to start searching for a private secretary job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

Browse job boards for relevant postings
Consult your professional network
Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
Watch out for job scams

How do private secretaries rate their job?

-/5

5 stars

4 stars

3 stars

2 stars

1 star

Private secretary reviews

A zippia user wrote a review on Dec 2022

Cons

Failure to comply with working hours, theft and fraud,

A zippia user wrote a review on Jun 2019

Pros

Interaction with clients and or customers is what I mainly liked, especially when confidentiality was needed! I also liked multitasking for different. departments.