I am thinking of becoming a Company Secretary. Does anyone know what qualifications & experience are required

Question

Is this profession mostly female dominated? What are the career prospects and chances for promotion in a career like this?

What is the salary for such a postion?

Where can I get more information about such a job?

By the way, I am a mid 30s male graduate and living in the Midlands, England.

Many Thanks

Answer 1

Technically, yes, anyone can be the company secretary of a private company. However, I think the question in referring to a professional company secretary, that is the company secretary of a larger private company or a public company. A company secretary is a legal and financial advisor to the board of directors. To be the secretary of a public company, you HAVE to be qualified with the Institute of Chartered Secretaries, or be a lawyer or accountant. To be the secretary of a larger private company, no specific qualification is required but you will need knowledge of company law, accounting and general business practice. The Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators (ICSA) provides a qualification in which you take 16 financial, legal and business management exams in order to qualify. If you have a degree in any subject, you are exempt from many of the exams. If you have a law or accounting degree you are exempt from more exams. Have a look at www.icsa.org.uk for more information. The salary for a trainee is around £20-25K and a company secretary of a large plc can earn anything up to a six figure salary. Prospects of promotion are good, there are clear "ranks" starting at trainee, assistant, assistant secretary and then company secretary. Then of course the bigger the company you work for, the more status each of these ranks provides. There is also the benefit that it is a niche market, so possible candidates for each job are limited - in other words it's an employee's market. The profession is NOT female dominated. I don't know the statistics, but from experience I would say it's roughly half and half, or if anything, there are more males, particularly in the higher ranking positions. I hope that helps!

Answer 2

A company secretary manages the processes that ensure their organisation complies with company legislation. It's not necessarily a free-standing "job" as such that you can just apply for, it's an appointment; an executive role that is given to Directors of companies. It's another kind of executive directorship, like Managing Director or Finance Director. UK limited companies are required by law to have a compay secretary.

To get to be a company secretary, you have to get into business in a big way. You'll need a degree in law, economics, business management, or accountancy. It's a very high up position; there's not really anywhere to be promoted to from there, except possibly CEO or something similar. If you don't even know what a company secretary is (and it doesn't sound like you do) then you're nowhere near being able to do the job.

Answer 3

Pursuing a career as a lawyer may be a bad idea in your situation. It is a demanding and highly competitive field if you want to be a successful lawyer and mastery of the English language is essential regardless of what area of law you practice. Merely being able to obtain a law degree and pass a state bar exam will not ensure you a successful career, it's de minimis and lawyers that can meet that criterion are a dime a dozen. Even if you are not a trial lawyer, you will be doing lots of legal drafting and counseling clients on the law. Both require exceptional English skills. A miscommunication with a client or poor drafting due to deficiency in English skills can result in a malpractice lawsuit against you. Also if you cannot get into a top law school and graduate with good grades then it is unlikely that you will be able to secure a job as a lawyer that pays well and you may not even be able to get a job at all. It is that competitive. If you still want to pursue a career as a lawyer here are some milestones you should achieve first and if you do not, then you should not pursue a career in law. 1. Get good grades in college. A GPA of at least 3.4. 2. Get a high LSAT score (law school entrance exam required for all people applying to law school). A score above 165 whould be considered high. 3. Get into one of the top 30 law schools. Top 14 is desireable but you may still have good career options in the top 30 if you are ranked high in your class. If you cannot meet these milestones I would say forget about a career as a lawyer. Otherwise there is a significant risk that you will end up with an unsatisfying career as a lawyer employed in a low salary position.

Answer 4

If I had to guess, I would say that secreteries are mostly female dominated. However, nowadays men can do what women do and vice versa. Some qualifications would be previous secreterial experience, phone experience, data entry, great typing speed and accuracy, payroll knowledge (? depending on the company), computer and internet skills, email knowledge, you get the picture. I would say that you being a graduate, that you have a great shot

Answer 5

the pay for secretaries depending on the level of education u hav and type of company u r a secretary for can range from anywhere to 35,000-55,000 or litl more maybe, so if u mean u r a college graduate i wud reccomend going for something slightly higher, im not to sure over how much prospectthere is for promotion but i dont know mebbe its different over there in the uk

im not sure if ur talkin about the actual company secretary or a secretary of the company though

Answer 6

Company secretaries are pretty high up in the company pecking order. They need knowledge of law, accounting, personell work, negotiating with unions. The list is quite long.
There is a Chartered Institute of Company Secretaries membership of which requires you to attend courses and othe special training.No it is not femail dominated. Don't confuse this job with a secretaries that does typing and keeps the bosses diary.

Answer 7

WHAT A LOAD OF CRAP EVERYONE IS TRYING TO FEED YOU!!!!

Anyone can be a Company Secretary, just register any company name you want with companies house, they will send you out a form and you put your name where it says Company Secretary.!!

It isnt a role, so much as a title-a legality, something that every company has to have.

Answer 8

This profession is mostly female dominated but I don't think you should let that stop you going for that sort of position in this day and age.

Answer 9

big important job, a major decision maker in the company, and unfortunately,like any other important job, not female dominated

Answer 10

very short skirt and a big grin