Careers

Secretary and administrative assistant

Welcoming, writing, organising, filing, keeping a diary that holds together: the secretary and assistant is the anchor of an entire department. A job of contact and method, present in absolutely every organisation.

The anchor of a department

Reception opens the day, on the phone as at the desk: directing, filtering, noting precisely. Then comes writing, which takes a larger share than people expect — letters, meeting minutes, internal notes, correspondence with administrations. The diary demands constant vigilance: arbitrating between two requests, booking a room, preparing documents before the meeting rather than during it. Filing, finally, decides how fast the whole department finds what it is looking for.

Handle reception in person and by phone and direct requests
Write letters, notes and meeting minutes
Keep a diary, organise a meeting and prepare its documents
File, archive and make any document findable in seconds

An occupation present everywhere

Executive offices and administrative departments of companies
Medical, legal, accounting and architectural practices
Public administrations, town halls and decentralised services
Schools, training centres and higher education institutions
International organisations, embassies and development programmes

What you know before committing

The catalogue publishes these four values for every programme, and it publishes them before any application. A candidate knows what they are buying, an employer knows what they are funding, a panel knows what it is assessing. One set of figures travels through the whole file, which makes every step predictable.

qualification level: 4
months of programme: 9
taught hours: 600 h
credits: 60
competency blocks: 5

The detail of the assessed skills

Assessment covers these blocks, one by one, and nothing else. Each has its taught hours, its exercise and its validation criterion. That transparency has a direct effect on preparation: you work on what will be assessed, in the proportions in which it will be, and you measure your progress block after block.

Reception and professional communication: 140 (23 %)
Producing and managing documents: 180 (30 %)
Organisation and diaries: 150 (25 %)
Professional office software: 90 (15 %)
Professional conduct and employability: 40 (7 %)

Total: 600 taught hours

Reception and professional communication · 140 h — In-person and telephone reception, screening, directing, taking messages
Producing and managing documents · 180 h — Letters, minutes, formatting, filing, archiving
Organisation and diaries · 150 h — Diaries, meetings, travel, deadline tracking
Professional office software · 90 h — Word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, collaborative tools
Professional conduct and employability · 40 h — Discretion, prioritising, spelling, job search

Routes into professional secretarial work

Here are the paths open to this occupation, with their real cost and duration. A long programme installs the full base; a certificate targets a precise function and can be taken while keeping your job. Both strategies work, and the table gives what you need to choose between them.

Programme	Duration	Credits	Taught hours	Fees
Advanced Excel · Short course	2 months	4	40 h	900 000 GNF in total
Business Management programme — Bac+3 level · Bachelor's degree	3 years	180	1800 h	4 800 000 GNF per year

What you want to know before choosing

Where can this role lead?

Towards executive assistance, at level 5, which adds decision preparation, confidentiality and coordination between departments. Towards administrative management for those who prefer figures, or the HR function for those who prefer people.

Can professional writing really be learned?

It is learned as a technique: the structure of a letter, the right register for the recipient, minutes that record decisions rather than conversation. The framework devotes a block to it, and it is the one employers mention most.

Does the role require several languages?

French remains the administrative working language. Professional English opens international organisations and mining groups, and national languages save considerable time at the front desk. Each one adds a door.

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