Careers as a secretary in Australia: what the job is now and where it leads

Careers as a secretary: what the job is now and where it leads

About 22,100 people worked as secretaries at the 2021 Census (ABS, 2021 Census, OSCA Experimental Estimates). The title is less common in job ads than it used to be. The work is not. It now turns up as office administrator, executive assistant, team assistant or office coordinator.

If you are a secretary and wondering what comes next, start with the free Career Change Check. It shows the Australian roles people from your kind of work moved into, and the skills you already have for each one.

This page covers what a secretary does now, what the government data says about the job, and where secretaries tend to go next.

What a secretary does now

The job covers a wide range. At one end it is phones, room bookings and typing. At the other end it is running a manager's diary, preparing papers for meetings and keeping several teams on the same page.

Most days include some of this:

Managing a diary and booking meetings
Answering phones and email, and passing on messages
Typing, formatting and filing documents
Taking minutes and following up actions
Ordering supplies and dealing with suppliers
Handling private letters and records

If you prepare board papers, run a manager's week or chase actions across teams, you are already doing work that has a bigger title in a bigger office.

What the job pays

The ABS publishes pay for a family of related jobs, not for one job title. For the family that secretaries belong to, median weekly earnings for full-time adult employees were A$1,626 before tax (ABS Survey of Employee Earnings and Hours, May 2025).

That is a median, so half earn more and half earn less. Your award or enterprise agreement sets your minimum. You can check it with the Fair Work Ombudsman.

How exposed the job is to AI

Jobs and Skills Australia (JSA) gives each family of jobs an automation exposure score. Secretaries score 67 out of 100 (Jobs and Skills Australia, Our Gen AI Transition, 2025). Executive assistants score 63 and receptionists score 66.

A high score does not mean the job disappears next year. It means many of its tasks are the kind software can already do, or help with. For a secretary, that is mostly typing, formatting, booking meetings and sorting email.

The parts that are harder to hand over look different:

Knowing what your manager needs before they ask
Dealing with an upset caller or visitor
Handling something private with care
Getting people in different teams to agree and follow through

If a fair share of your week is the second list, you already have skills that other jobs ask for. For more on the warning signs, read five signs your admin role is being automated.

Where secretaries go next

Most moves keep the organising and the people contact, and lose some of the typing. Here are four directions, with the JSA exposure score for each.

Executive assistant. This is the most common step up. You support a senior leader and take on more of their planning and follow-up. Executive assistants score 63 out of 100 (JSA, 2025). Read our guide to career change for executive assistants to see where that path leads after.

Operations coordination. An operations coordinator runs a process from start to finish: schedules, suppliers, paperwork and follow-up. The closest family in the ABS data is program or project administrator, which scores 53 out of 100 (JSA, 2025). Read what an operations coordinator does all day and see the operations coordination pathway.

Office manager. If you already keep the office running, this is a short step. Office managers score 46 out of 100 (JSA, 2025). Some roles ask for budget or team experience.

Health administration. Hospitals and clinics need people who handle records, bookings and patients with care. Health practice managers score 42 out of 100 (JSA, 2025). See health admin roles: who does what and the health admin pathway.

None of these is a sure step. Each one asks for some new knowledge about the role or the sector. None asks you to start from zero.

Do you need a qualification?

Not always. Many people move on the strength of what they have already done. Where a course helps, a Certificate III or IV in Business, or a Certificate III in Health Administration for health roles, is a common choice.

Some courses are free or low cost through state Free TAFE places. Check what is on offer and whether you are eligible at dewr.gov.au/skills-reform/free-tafe, and compare courses at yourcareer.gov.au. Training costs money and time, and a course on its own may not lead to a job, so read the job ads in your target area before you enrol.

A plan you can start this month

Write down your real tasks. Not your job title. A skills audit takes about an hour.
Pick one direction. The free Career Change Check shows which roles your skills point to.
Find the gap. Read five job ads for that role and list what you do not have yet.
Close one gap at work. Offer to own a process, such as supplier orders or the meeting papers.
Write a targeted resume for that role. Lead with what you ran and fixed, not what you typed. Our guide to a career change resume shows how.

If you want help with steps 3 to 5, the twelve-week Sprint is A$299. You get a resume, a cover letter and a LinkedIn line for every real job ad you bring in, interview practice out loud with AI feedback after every answer, and an Australian career coach who reviews a targeted resume or an application up to three times and answers your messages in writing.

Frequently asked questions

Is secretary still a job in Australia?

Yes. About 22,100 people worked as secretaries at the 2021 Census (ABS). The title is less common in job ads, where the same work is often called office administrator, executive assistant, team assistant or office coordinator.

What does a secretary earn in Australia?

The ABS publishes pay for a family of related jobs. For the family that secretaries belong to, median weekly earnings for full-time adult employees were A$1,626 before tax (ABS Survey of Employee Earnings and Hours, May 2025). Your award or enterprise agreement sets your minimum.

Is the secretary job at risk from AI?

Jobs and Skills Australia gives secretaries an automation exposure score of 67 out of 100 (Our Gen AI Transition, 2025). Typing, formatting, booking meetings and sorting email are the most exposed tasks. Handling people and private matters with care is harder to hand over.

What jobs can a secretary move into?

Common moves include executive assistant, operations coordination, office manager and health administration. Each keeps the organising and people contact of secretary work. The free Career Change Check shows which roles your own skills point to.

This is general information, not professional career, financial, or legal advice. For tailored advice, consult a qualified career counsellor, financial adviser, or relevant Australian professional service.