Every office needs an excellent secretary. Different types of offices have different requirements when it comes to what makes the perfect secretary, but there are a few aspects that are universal. This includes excellent organization, fantastic attention to details, a strong work ethic, and teamwork skills. Another skill that is needed by all secretaries is the ability to work well with the public. Other skills are generally business specific.

For example, a secretary in a publishing house needs to have skills involving the publishing industry such as sorting books, sending manuscripts to printers, and emailing with authors. A secretary in a dental office, on the other hand, will need to be familiar with making appointments, ordering dental supplies, and conversing with scared patients. Here, we are going to be talking about hiring a secretary for a psychiatric office. We will be discussing what to look for in a potential secretary as well as how to find excellent candidates.

The first thing you must do is prepare for the application process. This sounds like a redundant tip, but there are many ways that you can make the entire process easier by preparing properly. The first step to take is creating a place for all applications to be stored and sorted.

To begin, create an email address specifically for receiving applications. This way you will not risk the applications getting lost among daily emails. The email address should have a title that is similar to the office’s regular email address with the addition of a reference to applications or employment.

Next, it is an excellent idea to create a spreadsheet to keep track of all applications. Within the spreadsheet, you can create sections to indicate whether or not you have called the applicant’s references, whether or not the applicant meets certain criteria and anything else you want to add.

You can also create sections to indicate if the applicant can move on to the next stage or if they are automatically eliminated. You can also include areas for contact information. Once you have all of this set, you can make decisions about any additional preparations. This often involves setting up a file dedicated to storing every application as well as your spreadsheet and any other relevant information.

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Once you have all of your preparations in place, it is time to begin advertising for the position. There are several ways to do this and to get the best results, it is best to utilize as many methods as you are able. The first method is to place an ad in local newspapers. If you are operating within an area the has more than one newspaper regularly delivered, place an ad in each one. This way, you can reach more people.

Not everyone will read the same paper and therefore it is important to utilize all local papers. Next, if you have an established office, place a flyer on the door or in the window. This may seem like an antiquated method, but it is still incredibly effective. Next, you will want to place an ad on job sites. A job site is a website that is dedicated to allowing companies to post job openings and candidates to apply for said jobs. There are a great many said sites, which means that it is not possible to post your ad to every single one. With this being said, it is vital to choose the ones that will get the most attention.

To determine which ones to use, there are two ways to decide. First, search for job boards and choose the first few on the list. The higher they appear on the search results page, the higher they are ranked with the search engine which in turn means that they get them the most attention. Use these first. Second, look for job boards that are dedicated to your location. Not every area will have their own job board, but many do. For example, a situation including large cities such as a therapist Dallas looking to expand their business will undoubtedly have more options than a therapist in Topeka. Along with this same vein, look into Facebook groups as well as their fairly new job board.  

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Facebook, as well as other social media platforms, have created an excellent platform for reaching job candidates. First, you have their relatively new job board. This allows companies to place an ad for a job opening and it will appear to anyone in the specified area that is currently looking for a job. Anyone who pursues the job board with the parameters set to the specified area will see your opening.

Also, anyone following the job board for that area will get notified when you post the opportunity. There are also groups on the platform that are dedicated to specific professions, often in specific areas. Search for these groups, ask to join if you are not already a member, and post about the job opening. Beyond Facebook, it is also wise to place a synopsis of your ad on all social media platforms that you have access to. In all ads, be sure to include the email address where contenders can send their application and resume.

After you have placed ads in all of the appropriate places, you will need to sort through the responses. Given the nature of working in a psychiatric office, it is critical to sort through every applicant carefully. Check with your local police station to see how much they would charge to process background checks on your applicants. If you are unfamiliar with the process, someone within the police station will be able to break it down and explain the process to you as well as highlighting what you need to do to process background checks legally.

Beyond background checks, also consider pursuing the applicant’s social media pages. This is often even more telling than a full background check. People have a habit of posting every detail of their lives on their social media pages. Finally, be sure to contact all references listed on all of the applications that you are heavily considering.

The post Why you Need to Hire a Secretary To Help Expand Your Business appeared first on Miss Millennia Magazine - Big Sister Advice for Millennials.