Secretary (General)
A secretary provides administrative and clerical support to managers, teams, or departments in Australian organisations. They manage correspondence, scheduling, records, and office systems to ensure smooth day-to-day operations.
What this job is
A secretary provides administrative and clerical support to managers, teams, or departments in Australian organisations. They manage correspondence, scheduling, records, and office systems to ensure smooth day-to-day operations. This role requires proficiency with office technology, strong organisational skills, and the ability to handle sensitive information and multiple priorities.
Are employers advertising this role?
Falling, down 10.5% over 5 years
Counted across a group of similar roles. These are three-month rolling averages of online job advertisements, not filled positions.
Source: Jobs and Skills Australia, Internet Vacancy Index.
Day-to-day
Schedule and coordinate meetings, appointments, and events using calendar systems and booking tools. Prepare and format business correspondence, reports, and documents in accordance with organisational style guides. Maintain and file physical and digital records using document management systems and compliance standards. Transcribe meeting minutes, take notes during conferences, and distribute summaries to relevant stakeholders. Process invoices, expense claims, and reimbursement requests using accounting software and organisational procedures. Screen telephone calls and emails, prioritise messages, and direct communications to appropriate recipients. Arrange travel bookings including flights, accommodation, and ground transport using travel management systems. Maintain office supplies inventory, order stock, and manage equipment maintenance schedules.
Who does this now
About 22,100 people worked in this occupation across Australia at the 2021 Census.
Is it steady
Calendar, travel and inbox management are partly automated. Strategic support and stakeholder management tend to stay human-led.
What this role asks for
Certificate IV or Certificate III with at least two years of on-the-job training (ABS skill level 3)
Can employers fill these jobs
Employers hiring for this occupation were generally able to find suitable applicants in 2025. This measures how hard employers found it to fill jobs. It is not a count of jobs, and it does not say whether the occupation is growing.
Source: Jobs and Skills Australia, Training Occupation Pathways dataset, March 2026, version 1.0
Jobs and Skills Australia defines an occupation-ready qualification as:
Completing this qualification will provide the skills and knowledge to undertake this occupation. Further training and experience may be required to meet specific industry requirements including licensing and registration.
Jobs and Skills Australia, Training Occupation Pathways dataset, March 2026, version 1.0
Requirements
The standard entry pathway requires a Certificate IV or Certificate III with at least two years of on-the-job training (ABS skill level 3). Specific qualification requirements vary by employer and state. Some employers may accept equivalent experience. Check yourcareer.gov.au for available courses and dewr.gov.au/skills-reform/free-tafe for subsidised training options.
The honest hard part
The work is repetitive and easily outsourced. You'll spend years managing other people's schedules and emails rather than making strategic decisions. Pay growth is often limited unless you move into office management or HR. Automation is chipping away at routine tasks like scheduling and document filing, which means fewer entry-level secretary roles exist now than five years ago.
Where the jobs are
Practically speaking, most jobs are in city CBDs where organisations have large centralised teams. Regional roles exist mainly in government offices and hospitals. Remote work is growing but still limited for general secretaries compared to other admin roles.
Pay
Published for ANZSCO unit group 5212, the wider group this job sits in, not for this job on its own.
This is the median for full-time employees who are not managers and are paid at the adult rate, before tax and salary sacrifice. It is a guide to what the work pays, not a wage rate.
Source: ABS Survey of Employee Earnings and Hours, May 2025, customised report.
Coming from one of these jobs?
Skills
- Appointment Schedulingcore
- Attention to Detailcore
- Confidentiality and Privacy Compliancecore
- Electronic Document Managementcore
- Email Managementcore
- Microsoft Office Suite Proficiencycore
- Multitaskingcore
- Professional Boundaries Maintenancecore
- Record Managementcore
- Report Writingcore
- Stakeholder Communicationcore
- Time Management and Prioritisationcore
- Verbal Communicationcore
- Workload Self-Managementcore
- Written Communicationcore
- Adaptability and Flexibility
- Data Entry and Accuracy
- Docusign Electronic Signature Platform
- Invoicing and Billing Administration
- Microsoft Excel Data Management
- Microsoft Teams Collaboration
- Process Documentation
- Zoom Video Conferencing
Which of these do you have?
Tick the ones you haveCommon questions
Sources
- ABS OSCA 2024, occupation definition and task statements
- ABS Survey of Employee Earnings and Hours, May 2025, customised report.
- ABS, 2021 Census of Population and Housing based on usual place of residence (Custom Report). OSCA Experimental Estimates.
Role data is drawn from official Australian Government sources, and each figure names where it comes from. Where a role is not in the ABS classification, the page shows no government figures for it. Data may not reflect every local variation.
What Secretary (General) workers move into, from ten years of tax records.
Last updated: 30 October 2026
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