Automatically apply for jobs with Zippia

Upload your resume to get started.

Senior secretary skills for your resume and career

Updated January 8, 2025

4 min read

Quoted experts

Allison White,

Allison White

Below we've compiled a list of the most critical senior secretary skills. We ranked the top skills for senior secretaries based on the percentage of resumes they appeared on. For example, 11.8% of senior secretary resumes contained patients as a skill. Continue reading to find out what skills a senior secretary needs to be successful in the workplace.

15 senior secretary skills for your resume and career

1. Patients

Here's how senior secretaries use patients:

Coordinated interdepartmental scheduling, communication, and medical information exchange among patients, the Physician Line nurses and insurance companies.
Managed high volume of requests and correspondence from executives and colleagues, pharmaceutical representatives, patients and outside physicians.

2. Routine Correspondence

Routine Correspondence refers to communications made on a daily basis. These can be simple tasks, basic instructions, reminders, or questions often sent through a form of electronic communication like instant messaging or email. These conversations are also commonly informal and internal, such as between coworkers or managers within the same department.

Here's how senior secretaries use routine correspondence:

Responded to routine inquiries for information and composed routine correspondence for supervisor's signature.
Created routine correspondence, compiling organization summaries and reports.

3. Data Entry

Data entry means entering data into a company's system with the help of a keyboard. A person responsible for entering data may also be asked to verify the authenticity of the data being entered. A person doing data entry must pay great attention to tiny details.

Here's how senior secretaries use data entry:

Reformatted supplemental materials, updated client files, and assisted with data entry/analysis.
Provided calculations from data entry regarding sales into required reports for all managers.

4. Telephone Calls

Telephone calls are a communication means through which a caller is connected to the called party. The call is done through a telecommunications device called a telephone. The caller can use a landline, mobile phone, or satellite phone to make the call.

Here's how senior secretaries use telephone calls:

Managed daily telephone calls and visitors ascertaining the purpose and referred to the proper staff member or personally furnished desired information.
Received telephone calls and visitors; handled routine matters personally and routed non-routine business to proper staff for consideration.

5. Office Equipment

Here's how senior secretaries use office equipment:

Maintained inventory of office supplies and marketing materials for department and scheduled maintenance of office equipment.
Manage office functions including record keeping, monitoring meeting arrangements and maintenance of office equipment.

6. Payroll

Payroll is the sum of all the compensation that an organization has to pay to employees at a specified time. Payroll is managed by the finance or HR department while small business owners may handle it themselves. Payroll isn't fixed as it varies every month due to sick leaves, overtime, etc.

Here's how senior secretaries use payroll:

Constructed inter-office memorandums, generated payroll for the engineering department 45 people.
Compiled and distributed customer updates for payroll software programs and telecommunications networks.

Choose from 10+ customizable senior secretary resume templates

Build a professional senior secretary resume in minutes. Our AI resume writing assistant will guide you through every step of the process, and you can choose from 10+ resume templates to create your senior secretary resume.

7. Word Processing

Here's how senior secretaries use word processing:

Executed word processing, spreadsheet and database applications to further investigative findings and efficiency of office operations.
Perform basic clerical computer operations using word processing, spreadsheet, database management, and other applications.

8. Purchase Orders

Here's how senior secretaries use purchase orders:

Work also included interoffice communication, public relations, purchase orders, organizing meetings.
Maintained and analyzed departmental expenses trackers, including Accruals/Invoicing/Purchase Orders.

9. Scheduling Appointments

Scheduling appointments is the practice of finding a free slot with the person(s) you want to meet. The process of scheduling appointments involves finding mutually free time, negotiating follow-ups, sending reminders, and creating new appointments. Scheduling appointments is important to ensure that the timings of consecutive meetings do not clash with each other.

Here's how senior secretaries use scheduling appointments:

Perform routine clerical ans administrative functions such as scheduling appointments, organizing and maintaining paper and electronic files.
Maintained a detailed calendar for coordinating schedules, arranging consultations, and scheduling appointments for executives.

10. PowerPoint

Here's how senior secretaries use powerpoint:

Prepared for General Manager Meetings; prepared PowerPoint Presentations for marketing presentations; gathered information for Weekly and Monthly Reports.
Maintained databases, prepared PowerPoint presentations, maintained inventory and requisitioned supplies for the department.

11. Expense Reports

Here's how senior secretaries use expense reports:

Reconciled cost center expense reports, trained engineered on procedures to place service calls, eliminated outdated equipment from depreciation reports.
Created/processed expense reports for manager and all personnel in department who needed help, submitting electronically for their approval and signature.

12. Secretarial Support

Here's how senior secretaries use secretarial support:

Provided administrative and secretarial support to team of ten consultants, as well as personalized assistance to individual consultants.
Provided secretarial support to Excess Claims Manager, inclusive of heavy typing of correspondence maintained diary and filing systems

13. Provides Administrative Support

Here's how senior secretaries use provides administrative support:

Assist in provides administrative support in the preparation of correspondence, reports, schedules, confidential materials and various employee issues.

14. Meeting Minutes

Here's how senior secretaries use meeting minutes:

Transcribed meeting minutes and typed confidential medical information.
Attend department meetings and record/distribute meeting minutes.

15. Clerical Support

Clerical support performs activities that must be done in every workplace in order to support the company going forward. These duties, which come within the category of clerical support, are typically delegated to entry-level employees since they are simple and easy to learn. Even though clerical duties like printing and filing are easy, they require time and in many instances, other workers are preoccupied with other activities and unable to keep up with all that needs to be accomplished. As a result, many businesses employ clerical support staff who are solely responsible for these duties.

Here's how senior secretaries use clerical support:

Performed general secretarial duties for the Quality review Department and assisted Medical Staff Committees with additional clerical support.
Performed secretarial and high-level clerical support functions to staff managers and executive director.

5 Senior Secretary resume examples

Build a professional senior secretary resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 5+ resume templates to create your senior secretary resume.

Create my resume

Build a professional resume in minutes using this template.

What skills help Senior Secretaries find jobs?

Tell us what job you are looking for, we’ll show you what skills employers want.

What skills stand out on senior secretary resumes?

Allison White

Associate Professor, Ohio University

Knowledge of spreadsheets software such as MS Excel is a commonly sought-after skill. Employers want word processing and spreadsheet skills but often say they want high school graduates and pay accordingly. These skills aren't always taught in high school. Those in the field should seek these skills. Additionally, medical and legal assistants have highly sought after. Terminology courses for these specialized areas are sometimes offered at the vocational schools but are usually offered at the post-secondary level.

What soft skills should all senior secretarys possess?

Allison White

Associate Professor, Ohio University

Employers have told me repeatedly that soft skills are often the most important. They will ask for my reference after I've gotten to know a student and been able to identify their communication, problem-solving, and interpersonal skills. They want someone to take the initiative yet know when to ask questions. Customer service skills and confidentiality were also voiced by our internship supervisors. Verbal and non-verbal communication is a must. The applicant must be able to write well!!

What hard/technical skills are most important for senior secretarys?

Allison White

Associate Professor, Ohio University

In addition to production software skills, including MS Outlook, Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, we often taught database skills using MS Access. Every employer has an employee database and a customer/client database that requires input and sometimes maintenance by office personnel. Keyboarding (65+ wpm), basic bookkeeping/accounting, and filing skills are a must.

What type of skills will young senior secretarys need?

Angela Robbins Ph.D.

Associate Professor of History, Meredith College

History majors are in high demand in government, business, and non-profits because of the knowledge and skills they gain in the classroom. History majors, in particular, are especially good at contextualizing-that is, explaining how an event or discussion fits within the big picture. This includes how things that are going on today-such as the Capitol riot on January 6-connects to the Constitution, the balance of powers, the way democracy works, and related issues such as the implications of propaganda and misinformation. This goes well beyond merely expressing an opinion or debating two sides of an issue. Students of history do their research and practice skills of analysis, collecting and scrutinizing evidence rather than taking something at face value or only relying on a single source. We take sources apart to evaluate the credentials of their creators and search for bias. We examine sources from various creators so we take into account multiple experiences and points of view. Then we synthesize-or bring the sources together-in order to communicate what it all means. These skills are desired by employers and translate well into many careers and work environments. Seeking good evidence to answer questions and solve problems, whether that's in the classroom today or working with clients later, is a skill that employers highly value.

Students are practicing other skills that are necessary to success in the workplace, whether that will be in person or online. Time management, seeing a project through from start to finish, hosting and contributing to meetings, working on a team-whether it's two people or ten-and creating appropriate types of presentations to communicate ideas are all things our students can tell their employers they will come in with so they can hit the ground running. In addition, our majors develop self-awareness, empathy, and an appreciation of diverse opinions and approaches to problems through investigation of the life experiences of historical figures and their classroom discussions with classmates. Certainly, every employer wants you to learn the specifics within their sector, but these skills are fairly universal and will benefit majors as they move from the classroom to career.

Do you want to know more?

List of senior secretary skills to add to your resume

The most important skills for a senior secretary resume and required skills for a senior secretary to have include:

Patients
Routine Correspondence
Data Entry
Telephone Calls
Office Equipment
Payroll
Word Processing
Purchase Orders
Scheduling Appointments
PowerPoint
Expense Reports
Secretarial Support
Provides Administrative Support
Meeting Minutes
Clerical Support

Financial Reports
Front Desk
Office Procedures
Event Planning
Administrative Tasks
Hotel Reservations
Office Management
Patient Appointments
Office Operations
Conference Calls
Statistical Reports
Kronos
Administrative Functions
Computer System
Travel Itineraries

PeopleSoft
Administrative Assistance
International Travel Arrangements
Dictaphone
Travel Reimbursements
Subpoenas
Conference Room
Travel Vouchers
Defense Travel System
Taking Dictation
Multi-Line Phone System
Phone Coverage
Office Correspondence
Mass Mailings
Word Processors

Updated January 8, 2025

Zippia Team

Editorial Staff

The Zippia Research Team has spent countless hours reviewing resumes, job postings, and government data to determine what goes into getting a job in each phase of life. Professional writers and data scientists comprise the Zippia Research Team.

Updated January 8, 2025

Browse office and administrative jobs