Secretaries and administrators play a supportive role in organisations where they are employed to undertake a variety of administrative tasks. An administrative role can sometimes be a way into a profession, particularly in the media or marketing. What does a secretary or administrator do? Secretaries and administrators help to keep an organisation running smoothly, taking care of the administrative and organisational tasks that make the organisation function. The job title "administrator" and "secretary" can be used interchangeably to describe the same role, or "secretary" can be another, more old-fashioned name for a personal assistant or executive assistant. An administrative role can sometimes be a way into a profession, particularly those in the media or marketing; that is, many professionals in sectors such as marketing and the media start out in an administrative role and work their way up. Similary, university students and graduates often do short-term temp work as an administrator or secretary via a recruitment agency during the holidays or after graduating. This sort of office experience can be an asset on a CV. However, if you wish to specialise in an administrative role, career progression can come from taking on more senior administrative positions; what these are exactly will differ according to the organisation. In some, you might become a senior administrator or team leader; in others, a personal or executive assistant; in still more, an office manager. It's also not unknown for secretarial and administrative staff to specialise in working for organisations in particular sectors: for example, pharmaceuticals or law.