Striving to Boost the Profiles of Secretaries : Through her Irvine workshops, Pamela Rhodes teaches support staffers how to gain recognition.

Pamela Rhodes usually asks her students--all secretaries--to draw the chain of command in their companies. Usually, the secretaries leave themselves off the chain.

And when they do include themselves, they insert their names under those of the executives they work for.

This view of secretaries as passive and outside the decision-making circle is something Rhodes is working hard to change.

A former secretary herself, Rhodes now operates a local franchise of Priority Management, a Vancouver, Canada, company. In her workshops in Irvine, she teaches secretaries how to gain recognition from their companies, as well as from themselves, for the work they do.

The workshops, which Rhodes began offering in November, 1990, have become especially important during the long recession. As middle managers are laid off, more management functions are finding their way into the hands of secretaries.

“It’s no longer a job where you sit and type or take dictation,” Rhodes said. “Secretaries are delegating tasks, coordinating meetings, putting projects together, writing proposals and correspondence.”

They also represent the front line for new office technology, she pointed out. They are the ones using computer systems and software and need to take an active role in determining their companies’ computer needs, she said.

There are 4 million secretaries working in the United States, and more than 90% of them are women, according to Professional Secretaries International in Kansas City, Mo. Some go by the titles administrative assistant, executive assistant or office manager.

Secretaries in Southern California typically earn between $22,400 and $27,300, according to the secretaries’ organization.

Some of the basic advice that Rhodes offers to the nearly dozen secretaries a month who come to her workshops includes:

* Develop a track record that will eventually make you a part of the decision-making team. This may include persuading the boss to buy a piece of office equipment that will save time and, therefore, money. It may be suggesting ways to improve customer service or the company’s image.

* Volunteer to lead a project, such as organizing a regional staff meeting. But, before you plow ahead and do the work, make a timeline chart to show the boss what needs to be done when. “When you start to use the tools that managers have been using for years, you get added credibility,” Rhodes said.

* Tailor your approach to the people you are trying to impress. “I’m not an activist,” Rhodes insisted. “I’m not going to tell you to go in and say things that will get you fired. You’ve got to remember your corporate culture and your boss’ style and customize your approach.”

For $465, Rhodes’ students get two half-day workshops and a visit by her to their workplace, where she helps them overcome barriers to being better organized. The aim is to make better use of time to take on the extra work she advocates.

Professional certification is another step Rhodes recommends. A two-day test examines secretaries’ knowledge of financial statements, economic theory, behavioral science, office procedures and technologies.

Less than 1% of secretaries have taken the test, according to Professional Secretaries. Yet certification often results in a pay increase or a bonus, said Carol Williams, president of the Orange Empire chapter of the organization.

Williams, however, said her certification didn’t result in more money for her. Still, she said, she believes the certification was worthwhile for her own sense of self-satisfaction. Until recently, she said, she often fought battles to gain respect, trying to use humor to get her point across.

“My (former) boss once called me his ‘girl,’ ” said Williams, who has worked as a secretary for 27 years. “I called him on it. I said I was no longer a girl, and I wasn’t his anything but his secretary.”

In a few cases, Rhodes said, companies see the need to send secretaries to workshops like hers. Food broker Bromar Inc. in Newport Beach paid for one of its secretaries, Karen Rose, to attend Rhodes’ workshop.

But most of the time, Rhodes said, it’s hard to persuade companies to invest in their support workers.

Rose, who was a secretary for 16 years, said the program makes her feel more in control of her day and able to work toward longer-term goals.

“I get so many interruptions, the day goes by so fast,” she said. “This keeps me focused. I feel very happy with what I’m doing.”