Employing a Secretary… Any tips?!?

[John Harding]

ohh get one like this – sorry 😳

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[Hugh Potter]

you beat me to it John!!

one word of caution…. well, a few…. if you search google images for secretary, be sure to have safe search ON if the mrs is around!! 😉

[James Martin]

I’m going to do that right now Hugh

[Neil Davey]

Did you say tip’s or t*ts?

[Gary Birch]

I get the impression you folk aren’t taking this seriously :lol1: :lol1:

[Warren Beard]

I thought it said "Enjoying" a secretary 🙄

[Martin Pearson]

Having looked at google images I have come to the conclusion that you definitely need a Secretary that is flexible, after all they might have to perform all sorts of different tasks :lol1:

Not really got a clue what you should be asking about the sign industry though unless you have specifically advertised for someone with some sort of prior knowledge or experience.
Wouldn’t have thought many of the prospective candidates would have to much of an idea about the industry so you might be better off employing someone who can use the software you have for letters, quotes etc etc and is willing to learn what they need to know about the industry once they have started.

[Hugh Potter]

quote Martin:

Having looked at google images I have come to the conclusion that you definitely need a Secretary that is flexible, after all they might have to perform all sorts of different tasks :lol1:

you found that one too? lol!!!

[David Rowland]

oh that reminds me of marcella, she got some photos like that 😀

[Peter Normington]

Naughty Naughty Mr Rowland,

(can you post them) 😀

Peter

[Robert Lambie]

quote Dave Rowland:

oh that reminds me of marcella, she got some photos like that 😀

but peter, he didn’t say they were of herself! :lol1:

[Robert Lambie]

find out if they require any time off due to medical reasons?

we had a girl with us 7 years. she was going on maternity leave so we needed a temp office junior to cover for her whilst off. if they were good enough, we would consider keeping them on when the original secretary came back.
so we contacted various places with this as the reason for the job. i.e. filling the post whilst our secretary was on maternity leave.

various interviews…
one seemed really nice. young girl about 17, well dressed, clever, polite spoken and good phone manner etc as much as you can expect from a school leaver and a bit more.
she started on a Thursday to get as much training in as possible alongside the current receptionist…
4.30pm on Friday… i said to them both, well that the week nearly finished. could go a pint… whats yous both upto tonight, yous going to the pub/clubs? the girl said to me… "wish i could, but im nearly 4 months pregnant!"

WTF? 😮

just be clear on what you are advertising for and the jobs expected of them. make sure you are aware of ANY sort of time required off in the next 12 months… blah blah blah…

two days in the door on a trial basis… if it wasn’t for the general office banter, we would not have found out for some time. things could have turned out much more difficult further down the line.

[Gill Harrison]

Well so far youve all said pretty much what I’d expect but no ones mentioned "tea making"…….surly its a pretty important quality :lol1: :lol1:

[Peter Normington]

quote Robert Lambie:

find out if they require any time off due to medical reasons?

we had a girl with us 7 years. she was going on maternity leave so we needed a temp office junior to cover for her whilst off. if they were good enough, we would consider keeping them on when the original secretary came back.
so we contacted various places with this as the reason for the job. i.e. filling the post whilst our secretary was on maternity leave.

various interviews…
one seemed really nice. young girl about 17, well dressed, clever, polite spoken and good phone manner etc as much as you can expect from a school leaver and a bit more.
she started on a Thursday to get as much training in as possible alongside the current receptionist…
4.30pm on Friday… i said to them both, well that the week nearly finished. could go a pint… whats yous both upto tonight, yous going to the pub/clubs? the girl said to me… “wish i could, but im nearly 4 months pregnant!”

WTF? 😮

just be clear on what you are advertising for and the jobs expected of them. make sure you are aware of ANY sort of time required off in the next 12 months… blah blah blah…

two days in the door on a trial basis… if it wasn’t for the general office banter, we would not have found out for some time. things could have turned out much more difficult further down the line.

Rob as much as I agree with you
you cant be sexist, and you certainly should not be inviteing your female staff out for a drink, and could end up paying out for discrimination if you dont employ a female, if she fits the job requirements, pregnant or not
Peter

[Harry Cleary]

quote Peter Normington:

you cant be sexist, and you certainly should not be inviteing your female staff out for a drink, and could end up paying out for discrimination if you dont employ a female, if she fits the job requirements, pregnant or not
Peter

Will you make the tea Peter? No sugar…splash of cow. 😀

[Peter Normington]

dont drink tea, Harry
but happy to brew up for those that do,

Peter

[Harry Cleary]

😀 I never drink anything the maker wouldn’t! 😀

[Phill Fenton]

quote Gill Harrison:

Well so far youve all said pretty much what I’d expect but no ones mentioned “tea making”…….surly its a pretty important quality :lol1: :lol1:

Well if the secretary is going to be "surly" about a simple job like making tea then I reckon she’s gonna be trouble – find someone more affable (and hopefully not pregnant) wiv big t1ts 😕

[Robert Lambie]

quote Peter Normington:

Rob as much as I agree with you
you cant be sexist, and you certainly should not be inviteing your female staff out for a drink, and could end up paying out for discrimination if you dont employ a female, if she fits the job requirements, pregnant or not
Peter

ha ha ha… who says i was inviting them out for a drink peter? 🙄
yep, that’s just my style mate… asking one heavily pregnant receptionist and a 17 year old wee lassie 2 days in the door, out for a pint!!!

Now saying that, it does have it’s plus sides of things… The pregnant receptionist will be on fruit shoots, so she can help me carry the p1ssed wee lassie home to her mum…
"There you go Mrs Smith, thats yer daughter home safe and sound after her first friday at work, don’t wake her up, just tell her we will see her 9am sharp on monday morning… cheerio now!"

in 20 years as a sign maker, i have "never" went for a drink after work with any members of staff. male or female! in fact, i tell a lie… ive had a few beers with some lads after work when we do our signage tours out on the road around the UK, england, wales etc. but thats down to we feed and water them as part of their expences being on the road for days on end.

as for your comment:-

quote :

paying out for discrimination if you dont employ a female, if she fits the job requirements, pregnant or not

Please peter… your more than welcome to your opinion mate. but it is nonesense like that that has this country in the state it is in now.

just for your information, the incident i mentioned above was an open and shut case… before we even spoke to the girl. we contacted several places to get legal advice on how to deal with this. in the end we did not need to, it came down to a misunderstandings…

[Peter Normington]

Sorry Rob
read it the wrong way,
but you are still a sexist bar steward,
If you interview a female she is under no obligation to tell you if she is pregnant, and you have no right to ask if she is.
are you are saying not to employ a female because they could be pregnant?
Peter

[Phill Fenton]

quote Robert Lambie:

Please peter… your more than welcome to your opinion mate. but it is nonsense like that that has this country in the state it is in now.

Couldn’t agree more – and Peter, you really should know better than to pander to the PC brigade. This country is in a mess precisely because too many people have idealistic views that cannot be sustained in the real world.

[Robert Lambie]

Peter…

I will employ who i feel best for the job in hand, end of. I will not employ who the government dictates i should.

.

[David Rowland]

Tbh we have had "younger" female secretary/office admins in the past but now on our second "older" female secretary/office admins and they have been extremely reliable, but they do need some computer experience.

edited

[Peter Normington]

I think maybe we are all being a bit sexist, just by assuming that a secretary has to be female 😀

Peter

[Robert Lambie]

quote Peter Normington:

I think maybe we are all being a bit sexist, just by assuming that a secretary has to be female 😀

Peter

Nop, we employed a man who was filling in for both females we have in the office when they were on holiday just recently.

It is all very well throwing your "oh you cant do that" and… "oh that’s discriminant" and… "oh that’s sexist" at all our "experienced" views and opinion’s peter. It is not a difficult thing to do… maybe you should consider work with citizens advice… (yawn)

[David Rowland]

quote Robert Lambie:

Nop, we employed a man who was filling in for both females we have in the office when they were on holiday just recently.

lucky man 😮 😮 og i read that wrong

[David-Foster-]

quote Phill Fenton:

quote Robert Lambie:

Please peter… your more than welcome to your opinion mate. but it is nonsense like that that has this country in the state it is in now.

Couldn’t agree more – and Peter, you really should know better than to pander to the PC brigade. This country is in a mess precisely because too many people have idealistic views that cannot be sustained in the real world.

While I agree with you both, and my feeling is, it is your money you are paying the wages with so you can pay who you like for what you like. It isn’t as simple as that now, it is not Political Correctness, it is THE LAW. And it just got tighter yesterday.

Not knowing details of how you employed the ‘wee lassie’ (she could have had you for calling her that :lol1: ) in a similar situation she could have sued her ex-employer. I know, the world is mad!

Apparently now, even if you make a joke in the workplace and someone takes offence they can take you to the cleaners even if you didn’t hear the joke 😛

[Robert Lambie]

my reply was "advice"… you must be careful when employing anyone these days, take everything into consideration and word your job description and list of expected tasks carefully, thats over and above the expected daily duties of the job title. nobody is advising anyone to do anything underhand or illegal here, far from it…
so i don’t know why folk feel the need to pipe in and recite The Ten Commandments…

The "wee lassie" is just that… The "little girl"… or is it now a crime to speak scottish?

.

[Bob Clarkson]

All jokes aside, it really is best to employ someone not too attractive. I don’t mean employ a moose, just someone who is pleasant and willing to work. I’ve employed a number of woman over the years, and I’ve rented houses to quite a lot off girls too. If their a Little "homely" they tend to be a lot less hassle.

Basically is she’s rather nice go out with her, if she’s rather plain, give her a job. You can’t of course put that criteria in the listing at the job centre, and under no circumstances tell them why you chose them for the job…

:lol1:

[Harry Cleary]

quote Bob Clarkson:

All jokes aside, it really is best to employ someone not too attractive. I don’t mean employ a moose, just someone who is pleasant and willing to work. I’ve employed a number of woman over the years, and I’ve rented houses to quite a lot off girls too. If their a Little “homely” they tend to be a lot less hassle.

Basically is she’s rather nice go out with her, if she’s rather plain, give her a job. You can’t of course put that criteria in the listing at the job centre, and under no circumstances tell them why you chose them for the job…

:lol1:

😮 😮 😮 did you cut and paste that from the 17th Century Bob? 😀

[Chris.Sullivan]

Personally, i don`t see what the PC fuss is all about.

The OP wants to employ someone to cover for their existing receptionist who is pregnant.

Common sense dictates you do not want to employ someone who themselves will be off work within months due to being pregnant.

As for being PC……..the government can fuck off. Banter is banter.

[Richard Martin]

Its your business and you can decide who to hire or in this case who not to hire. The only thing you can’t do is give the reason as to why your not hiring them and just tell them they aren’t suitable for the position its that simply. The real reason could be because of anything but common sense tells you to use a standard reason as above.

This country has gone way beyond PC where employers have very little rights and employees can basically do what they like. The sooner the PC brigade realise that employees wouldn’t be employees without employers the better it’ll be, but it’ll probably be too late.

As for tips, decide what you want them to do and write a decent set of questions to ask for the interview stage so you are consistent with the questions. Get a 2nd member of staff you trust to sit in with you on the interviews so you can ask their opinion after, they may pick up on something you may have missed during the interview. If you gut tells you it isn’t going to work likelyhood means it won’t work so try looking again.

[Bob Clarkson]

quote :

😮 😮 😮 did you cut and paste that from the 17th Century Bob? 😀

So I’m guessing the fact I’m a qualified manager, proficient in everything from team-building to to staff selection, then through to supervisions and appraisals may surprise you…And no, I’m not joking. What I said is still fundamentally right thought….

[Helen Boden]

quote Bob Clarkson:

So I’m guessing the fact I’m a qualified manager, proficient in everything from team-building to to staff selection, then through to supervisions and appraisals may surprise you…And no, I’m not joking. What I said is still fundamentally right thought….

You missed out ‘sexist’ 😀

[Bob Clarkson]

Ok, Helen, fair point. Was it an observation, or have you been talking to my Mrs. 😳

[TonyMoore]

Depending on how busy you are, a great solution is to employ a young mum who has young kids at school, and let them do hours to suit. this keeps budgets down and you will be spoilt for choice with professional workers in this position.