Tag: secretarial training

the new secretary

The “New” Secretary

Making a Living 4 comments

The New Secretary
How to Handle People As Well as You Handle Paper
Booher
1985

The “new” secretary is now kind of old. It even seems a bit old for 1985. I believe that now they are administrative assistants. I haven’t heard the word secretary unless it is in reference to a presidential cabinet post.

The advice presented is so outdated it’s laughable. Boss making the move on you? Just say no! It’s cute how they just assume that a no and a professional demeanor is all that is required to keep a predatory boss in check.

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Pitman shorthand

A Forgotten Skill

Making a Living 23 comments

A New Review of Pitman Shorthand
Coombs
1970 (reprint 1975)

I took shorthand a century ago and nearly failed. The scratches never looked like anything sensible and I never got near to the speed classmates seemed to manage. I dropped the course. I can’t think of the last time I remember anyone talking about or using shorthand. Even when I was doing office work in the 1980s, it was starting to fade as a required skill for administrative or secretarial jobs. This book seems to be more about refreshing skills for a dictation test rather than hard core instruction. I remember when every woman was given a typing test, regardless of the position. Shorthand was also always around as well.  Anyone out there still able to take dictation with shorthand?

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Applied Secretarial Practice cover

Dictate this!

Working 9-5

Applied Secretarial Practice
Gregg
1968

Typewriters?  Dictation?  “The Scrubbed and Shining Look”?  I can see certain university libraries hanging on to a copy of this for historical purposes.  Gregg is, after all, the guru of all things secretarial.  I can see in WorldCat that several public libraries also own this book.  Why on earth would your basic, community library need this book?  I guess it does have some pretty groovy pictures, so there is that…

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