- Dress smartly but not flashily.

- Be nice to everybody, because everyone's job is important. The guy in our place who fills up the coffee machine is the most important man in the place, imo. If I didn't show up, no big deal, but if the coffee machine's empty, no work would get done until it was up and running again. So don't act snooty to those lower down the pecking order, and don't suck up to the bigwigs.

- Don't be afraid to ask if you don't know something. You won't be expected to know everything.

- If you have nothing to do, see what you can do to help others out, even if it's just doing a coffee run or topping up the paper in the printer/photocopier. But at the same time, don't let others overload work onto you that they should be doing.

- Don't gossip. It's tempting, but steer clear of it. Or if you can't avoid listening, don't join in. This is especially so in a new environment where you don't know the histories of the people being talked about, or of the ones doing the gossiping.

- Try to learn as much about the company's products as you can. If there's a shop floor, ask if you can have a tour of it. Office work is office work, but it'll have more meaning for you than words on a screen if you understand a little about the products.

My first real full-time job was as a secretary for a commercial art studio, and I second all of Jan's suggestions, but especially to learn as much as possible about the products, services and work flow of the company as you can as you go along. If you have a more global understanding of how things happen, and why, and what the challenges are, you can be more valuable as someone who helps to steer the flow, identifies potential problems, spots errors, and generally helps things move along.

Within six months of getting that job, I got a raise, and a promotion to "production assistant" - a title I think they made up just for me; it was a pretty small place. :) But, it led to my next job that set me on a great career trajectory, and only because I learned so much while I was there.

(Also, I was really good with people; disgruntled clients were usually more gruntled after talking with me. I could give them specific information over the phone and fill in the spaces a bit, and soothe, obliquely, so that when my boss was able to get back to them, they didn't feel that they weren't getting the proper attention. Very valuable, if you can swing it. I wouldn't have been able to, if I didn't think that everyone there really was trying to do the very best for every client.)

I'd play with Office a bit but don't sweat it. Unless you'll need to do some Excel, in which case I'd learn basic formulas and such, if you don't know them, from a friend or an online tutorial. Just things like adding up cells A4, B4 and D4 to sum in cell F4 would be the formula typed in F4 "=A4 + B4 + D4." It's unlikely that you'll have to do, like, pivot tables or anything, unless you have some primadonna bigwig who chooses you to do his work for him/her.

I've not done "Office Secretary" work before, but I've been tossed into a position in which I had to support various people using Word and MS Office and quite a bit of Excel, and it's all so intuitive that you can basically learn as you go with no prior experience.

One tip: You might want to cultivate one or two friends who have more knowledge of Office than you do. It's typical in offices for people to shoulder-tap their cubicle-mates. Even Excel whizzes forget macros and PowerPoint gurus forget how to do intro blends, etc blahblah, and such, at which point they often just say, "Hey, does anyone remember how to do this?" It's no loss of face and everyone seems to empathize and enjoy bugging it out.

You'll be fine.
:-)

Establish whose secretary you are: answerable to one, or to many.

i'm perpetually awed by our receptionist/secretary. she makes every caller feel welcome and expertly determines thier needs and always thanks them genuinely.

I've worked as an Admin Assistant for years. If you're answering the phone, always make sure you're smiling when you answer. The other person can definitely hear it on the other end, even if you're not actually happy.

The tip above about not gossiping is very, very important, and also very, very easy to do because you want to get along with your coworkers.

It's nice to help out others in the office, but also make sure that you are able to say no when you need to. Some will see you as the new low-rung employee and may start treating you as their personal lackey. Understand who you report to and who you do not report to, like mischief above said.

A good secretary will understand the goal of the organization and how the different people/departments fit in toward that goal. S/he will also understand office politics and who is known for playing games, but will not get caught up in them. This is crucial to know, but takes time to learn, especially if you don't get pulled into listening to every gossipy thing.

Very good advice so far.

MS Office is essential in my secretarial job. I'm great in Word and okay in Excel. Anything I don't know how to do, I've learned by Googling or playing around on my own on my home computer. If you have web access, you can get answers to most questions.

Don't get behind on your filing. Always proofread your work. I have a notebook that I use every day (the paper kind) to jot down my voice mail messages, notes, and things to do. Tasks get crossed off as they're accomplished or information is transferred to where it should go. I keep the notebooks.

I will also make up cheatsheets for myself; there are many things I do only once a month or once a year and by the time 10 months have rolled around, it's easy to be fuzzy on just what I was supposed to do again. Answer email and phone messages promptly. When you write an email, write it as if it were a business letter. Seriously. Even if it's a response to someone who's inquired in a very casual manner, I email back:

Good afternoon, Ms. So-and-so:

The property you blah, blah, blah.

Regards,
Savannah

Just because people use ultra-casual email doesn't mean I do when replying *on behalf of my company*.

Don't dress like a tramp. If you think there is too much skin showing, there is. If you could work out in it, don't wear it to the office. At five o'clock, tidy your desk and put things away neatly. It makes you look organised and neat, and it's also nicer to sit at a tidy desk in the morning.

If you don't want people looking at stuff in your inbox, place your to-do paperwork in a file folder there.

Don't surf the web indiscreetly. If your boss isn't in when you arrive in the morning, check his or her appointment book. Maybe it's an early meeting, or maybe he/she is home with the 'flu and you have to cancel all appointments and juggle things around.

Try and anticipate what your boss needs, and give it to him or her.

Don't let paperwork overwhelm you. If you are in a very busy office, try and get a feel for what are priority tasks, and what can wait for a quiet afternoon. Indeed, smile with your voice on the telephone.

Don't use excessive profanity. I work with someone who uses fuck/fucking about every fourth sentence and it's unprofessional, annoying, and makes her look foolish.

Know how to fix the copier when it jams.

I actually enjoy secretarial work for the most part. Except for the filing. I hate the filing. :)

I hate the filing. :)

I'd like a day-job filing. JUST filing. Like Pekar, or like Albert working as a (never much more than junior grade) patent clerk.

PLEASE PLEASE just something mindless.

When you write an email, write it as if it were a business letter.
Absolutely.

The "clean your desk at the end of every day" policy is a good one - if nothing else, it avoids things being lost in the clutter and helps stop you forgetting tasks that get lost in the clutter.