"she was young so the role was a stepping stone into a very different position"
In the old days the secretary position was a vocation in itself. Now I see two types of people:
- someone who actually wants to do something else. They tend to at least not be stupid, but they aren't going to give a ton of time to honing their secretarial skills either and are going to leave as soon as they get the job they really want.
- someone who frankly just isn't very bright. Secretarial work is unfortunately not very high status these days. People who are ambitious and intelligent don't generally chose to be secretaries.
But you can't swing a cat without hitting an executive assistant three years out of college and using it as a stepping stone. The value proposition of being the boss's calendar-keeper has been reversed.
In the old days the secretary position was a vocation in itself. Now I see two types of people: - someone who actually wants to do something else. They tend to at least not be stupid, but they aren't going to give a ton of time to honing their secretarial skills either and are going to leave as soon as they get the job they really want. - someone who frankly just isn't very bright. Secretarial work is unfortunately not very high status these days. People who are ambitious and intelligent don't generally chose to be secretaries.