世纪商务英语阅读教程第四版基础篇2Unit 6 课件.pptVIP

Since the Renaissance until the late 19th century, men involved in the daily correspondence and the activities of the mighty had assumed the title of secretary (or in other cases,“clerk”). With time, like many titles, the term was applied to more and varied functions, leading to compound titles to specify various secretarial work, like general secretary, financial secretary or Secretary of State. Just “secretary” remained in use, either as an abbreviation when clear in the context or for relatively modest positions, such as administrative assistant of the officer(s) in charge, either individually or as member of a secretariat. As such, less influential posts became more feminine and common with the multiplication of bureaucracies in the public and private sectors, new words were also coined to describe them, such as personal assistant. Modern Developments In an effort to promote professionalism amongst United States secretaries, the National Secretaries Association was created in 1942. Today, this organization is known as the International Association of Administrative Professionals (IAAP). The organization developed the first standardized test for office workers called the Certified Professional Secretaries Examination (CPS). It was first administered in 1951. Contemporary Employment The executive assistant is required to be able to interact extensively with the general public, vendors, customers, and any other person or group that the executive is responsible to interact with. As the level that the executive interacts with increases，so does the level of skill required in the executive assistant that works with the executive. Those executive assistants that work with corporate officers must be capable of emulating the style, corporate philosophy, and corporate persona of the executive for which they work. In the modern workplace, the advancement of the executive assistant is co-dependent on the success of the executive and the abilit