What does a Department Secretary do?

A department secretary is responsible for providing administrative and clerical support to a specific department, ensuring smooth operations to maintain high-quality services to the customers and business partners. Department secretaries should have excellent knowledge of office management principles, especially on data processing procedures and customer service processes. They handle the scheduling of meetings and conferences, responding to customers' inquiries and concerns, directing visitors to the appropriate personnel and department, sorting files, and submitting business transactions and financial reports. A department secretary also recommends strategic procedures to generate more revenues and increase the company's profitability.
Department secretary responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real department secretary resumes:
- Lead DoD team that assist Pakistan in gaining military capabilities to conduct counter-terrorism operations against the Taliban.
- Volunteer for ISO auditor duties to ensure ISO procedures are followed for certification.
- Perform payroll functions, including maintaining timekeeping information and processing and submitting payroll.
- Prepare materials for monthly board of directors meetings including PowerPoint presentations, agendas and minutes.
- Complete all payroll documentation, enter all payroll documentation into computer program, and submit to payroll department.
- Create PowerPoint presentations used for business development, organize files and develop spreadsheets, fax reports and scan documents.
- Ensure insurance policies are verified prior to appointment time and request authorizations for new patients to facilitate billing and reimbursement.
- Interview incoming patients, his/her relatives, or other responsible individuals to obtain identifying information with insurance and financial information.
- Implement a solution for staffing restructure that reduce overall salary expense while maintaining productivity for a rehabilitation inpatient nursing unit.
- Prepare paralegal mail FedEx and docket items.
- Initiate and monitor requisitions through PeopleSoft for office supplies, laboratory supplies including purchasing lab animals for research and travel reimbursement.
Department secretary skills and personality traits
We calculated that 22% of Department Secretaries are proficient in Patients, Customer Service, and Data Entry. They’re also known for soft skills such as Interpersonal skills, Organizational skills, and Writing skills.
We break down the percentage of Department Secretaries that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Patients, 22%
Ensured insurance policies were verified prior to appointment time and requested authorizations for new patients to facilitate billing and reimbursement.
- Customer Service, 10%
Promoted to Assistant Supervisor Promoted to Team Leader - Office of Consumer information Supervised up to thirty-plus part-time customer service representatives.
- Data Entry, 7%
Scheduled appointments for children and the psychologist data entry contacted foster parents in reference to appointments and answering phones
- Medical Terminology, 7%
Type and transcribe DRA/Appeals and Utilization Committee documentation - requires knowledge of medical terminology.
- Patient Care, 4%
Assisted Social Workers with coordination of patient care services via home or to a rehabilitation facility
- Word Processing, 4%
Assisted with word processing projects requiring extensive output of spreadsheets and presentations
Common skills that a department secretary uses to do their job include "patients," "customer service," and "data entry." You can find details on the most important department secretary responsibilities below.
Interpersonal skills. To carry out their duties, the most important skill for a department secretary to have is interpersonal skills. Their role and responsibilities require that "secretaries and administrative assistants interact with clients, customers, or staff." Department secretaries often use interpersonal skills in their day-to-day job, as shown by this real resume: "utilized adept interpersonal and communication skills, providing clients with exemplary customer service experiences. "
Organizational skills. Many department secretary duties rely on organizational skills. "secretaries and administrative assistants keep files, folders, and schedules in order so that an office runs efficiently.," so a department secretary will need this skill often in their role. This resume example is just one of many ways department secretary responsibilities rely on organizational skills: "prepared meeting minutes, edited proposals, project punch list, memorandums for organizational support. "
Writing skills. Another skill that relates to the job responsibilities of department secretaries is writing skills. This skill is critical to many everyday department secretary duties, as "secretaries and administrative assistants write memos and emails when communicating with managers, employees, and customers." This example from a resume shows how this skill is used: "position: standard line underwriting department performed routine clerical and data entry. "
The three companies that hire the most department secretarys are:
- BayCare Health System13 department secretaries jobs
- Tenet Healthcare7 department secretaries jobs
- RWJBarnabas Health6 department secretaries jobs
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Department secretary vs. Administrative clerk
An administrative clerk provides support to staff and does clerical works. These clerical duties include answering and making phone calls, typing documents, compiling and filing records, and scheduling appointments. The clerks often set up office meetings and invite reliable speakers. Also, they do research and prepare reports or presentations. Candidates for the job must be organized, detail-oriented, and can manage their time well. They must be tech-savvy and have a basic knowledge of bookkeeping. The salary depends on their experience, industry, and location of the job.
There are some key differences in the responsibilities of each position. For example, department secretary responsibilities require skills like "medical terminology," "patient care," "payroll," and "secretarial support." Meanwhile a typical administrative clerk has skills in areas such as "payroll data," "database systems," "office machines," and "background checks." This difference in skills reveals the differences in what each career does.
Administrative clerks earn the highest salaries when working in the finance industry, with an average yearly salary of $33,044. On the other hand, department secretaries are paid more in the government industry with an average salary of $36,935.The education levels that administrative clerks earn slightly differ from department secretaries. In particular, administrative clerks are 1.6% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree than a department secretary. Additionally, they're 0.2% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Department secretary vs. Administrative associate
An administrative associate is responsible for performing various tasks such as handling and processing paperwork, attending meetings and preparing minutes, responding to inquiries and other forms of correspondence, keeping accurate records, updating databases, and monitoring the company's financial activities. They also communicate with various department personnel, ensuring coordination should any important matter would arise. Furthermore, as an administrative associate, they are in charge of procuring supplies, implementing company policies, and supporting any staff members if needed.
Each career also uses different skills, according to real department secretary resumes. While department secretary responsibilities can utilize skills like "secretarial support," "hr," "emr," and "radiology," administrative associates use skills like "eagle," "phone calls," "excellent organizational," and "financial transactions."
Administrative associates earn a lower average salary than department secretaries. But administrative associates earn the highest pay in the finance industry, with an average salary of $41,923. Additionally, department secretaries earn the highest salaries in the government with average pay of $36,935 annually.administrative associates earn similar levels of education than department secretaries in general. They're 4.2% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.2% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Department secretary vs. Administrative support
Administrative support specialists provide different types of governmental assistance. They carry out varied clerical duties in almost all industries. Most of these duties revolve around supervising and distributing information within an organization. This typically includes taking memos, answering phone calls, and managing, storing, and organizing files. They are also responsible for receiving and sending correspondence and greeting customers and clients. Some administrative support may be required to have vast professional knowledge as their duties are more specialized than the others.
The required skills of the two careers differ considerably. For example, department secretaries are more likely to have skills like "medical terminology," "patient care," "secretarial support," and "hr." But a administrative support is more likely to have skills like "phone calls," "excellent organizational," "human resources," and "database management."
Administrative supports earn the highest salary when working in the technology industry, where they receive an average salary of $40,623. Comparatively, department secretaries have the highest earning potential in the government industry, with an average salary of $36,935.administrative supports typically earn similar educational levels compared to department secretaries. Specifically, they're 1.6% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 0.1% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Department secretary vs. Administrative receptionist
An administrative receptionist is responsible for performing administrative tasks, handling visitors' inquiries and concerns, verifying appointments, and leading them to the appropriate personnel and department, as well as handling and routing calls. Administrative receptionists also keep records of the staff meeting and executive conference, including company and promotional events. They receive packages and mail, sort documents, manage office supply inventories, create incident reports, and report suspicious guests within the premises. An administrative receptionist must have excellent communication and customer service skills, especially on resolving and escalating complaints.
Types of department secretary
Updated January 8, 2025