How to become a Secretary
Does a wide range of work to assist company or organisation presidents, directors and other executives so they can focus on their jobs.
Main tasks
- Reading post, faxes and emails and sorting them by importance
- Checking the executive's schedule for the day and liaising with people inside and outside the company as needed
- Keeping the diary up to date and arranging the schedule
- Answering the phone
- Answering enquiries to the executive directly where possible
- Picking out only the information needed and summarising it clearly for the executive
- Passing on the executive's wishes and instructions accurately inside and outside the company
- Receiving visitors and looking after them
- Looking after visitors from overseas
- Writing, translating and interpreting business documents in English
- Taking dictation in shorthand or with a machine and typing up documents
- Writing letters and other documents and preparing meeting papers
- Filing documents
- Planning business trip schedules and making bookings
- Sending out post
- Preparing for meetings
- Setting up and arranging business meals, drinks and client entertainment
- Handling reception on the day of business meals and drinks
- Handling congratulations and condolences
- Managing customer information
- Managing company cars, mobile phones and other equipment
- Compiling business performance and other data
- Keeping track of the executive's arrivals and departures
- Managing accounts such as budgets and expenses
- Planning and running company events
- Supporting company-wide projects
- Supporting management and planning
- Cleaning and tidying the office
- Buying meals and everyday items for the executive
- Helping the executive look after their health
Workers in this job say university is common. From job tag's survey of people in each job, who could give several answers. It shows what workers see as common, not how many workers hold each level.
How to become one
No particular education or qualification is required to start. People either study secretarial work at a tanki daigaku (junior college) or senmon gakko (vocational college), or graduate from university, join a company or organisation and are assigned to the secretarial section. Regular staff are also sometimes moved into secretarial roles. A related qualification is the secretarial skills test (hisho kentei) run by the Practical Skills Certification Association, which assesses whether you have the knowledge and ability to carry out secretarial work. Foreign-owned companies and similar employers expect advanced language and practical skills from the start. Passing the Certified Bilingual Secretary (CBS) exam and gaining the CBS Certificate is an advantage for working internationally. With experience, secretaries may be given advanced work such as gathering and analysing business information, and sometimes assist or stand in for the executive. You need to be quick-witted, proactive and attentive to others, and to have a good memory. Computer skills and administrative ability are also needed.
Ways in
- Vocational college, junior college, kosen and trade skills tests: Junior college (短期大学) programme. 19% of workers surveyed by job tag say junior college graduates are common in this job. In March 2025, 3,879 junior college graduates started work in clerical jobs (34% 社会, 33% 家政) (School Basic Survey 2025, table 103).; Vocational college (専門学校) course: Secretarial studies. 専修学校 courses in 秘書 (商業実務関係) had 154 graduates in the 2024 school year, 146 of whom started work in a related field (School Basic Survey 2025, table 237). Course matched to the occupation by Peernovo.
Pay · Job openings · AI and this job
- Average annual income: ¥5,916,100 Private sector only: employers with 10 or more staff. Public servants, such as public school teachers and police officers, are not in these figures.
- Monthly base pay (before overtime and bonus): median ¥337,800, and the middle half earn ¥278,400 to ¥419,700 a month.
- 0.34 job openings per applicant at Hello Work (2025). A current demand signal, not a projection. It counts only the jobs and job seekers registered at Hello Work, Japan's public employment offices, and many graduate and professional hires never pass through it.
- Generative AI could change many tasks in this job, which usually reshapes the work more than it replaces it, by the ILO's global estimate.
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Questions people ask
How do I become a Secretary?
No particular education or qualification is required to start. People either study secretarial work at a tanki daigaku (junior college) or senmon gakko (vocational college), or graduate from university, join a company or organisation and are assigned to the secretarial section. Regular staff are also sometimes moved into secretarial roles. A related qualification is the secretarial skills test (hisho kentei) run by the Practical Skills Certification Association, which assesses whether you have the knowledge and ability to carry out secretarial work. Foreign-owned companies and similar employers expect advanced language and practical skills from the start. Passing the Certified Bilingual Secretary (CBS) exam and gaining the CBS Certificate is an advantage for working internationally. With experience, secretaries may be given advanced work such as gathering and analysing business information, and sometimes assist or stand in for the executive. You need to be quick-witted, proactive and attentive to others, and to have a good memory. Computer skills and administrative ability are also needed.
How much does a Secretary earn in Japan?
Average annual income in the private sector, bonus included, is ¥5,916,100 (Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare).
Do you need a degree to become a Secretary?
Not always. In this job's census occupation group, 55% of workers are university graduates. Ways in include: Junior college (短期大学) programme; Vocational college (専門学校) course: Secretarial studies.
Will AI change the work of a Secretary?
Generative AI could change many tasks in this job, which usually reshapes the work more than it replaces it, by the ILO's global estimate.
Sources
- Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare: Basic Survey on Wage Structure (賃金構造基本統計調査) 2025: earnings by occupation (2025 survey (June 2025 pay, 2024 bonus), published 2026-03-24), Government Standard Terms of Use 2.0, retrieved 4 October 2026
- Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare: Employment Referrals for General Workers (一般職業紹介状況): Hello Work job-openings-to-applicants ratio by occupation (2025 annual (release of 2026-10-02)), Government Standard Terms of Use 2.0, retrieved 4 October 2026
- Statistics Bureau of Japan (MIC): 2020 Population Census (令和2年国勢調査) detailed sample tabulation: employed by occupation, sex, age and education (2020 Census (tables 9-1 and 15-1, published 2022-12-27)), Government Standard Terms of Use 2.0, retrieved 4 October 2026
- JILPT (職業情報データベース) via MHLW job tag: job tag download data: 解説系 (descriptions, how to become, related qualifications) and 簡易版数値系 (interests, tasks, education) (解説系 ver.7.01 (2026-06-04); 簡易版数値系 ver.7.00 (2026-03-17)), retrieved 4 October 2026
- International Labour Organization, Generative AI and Jobs: A Refined Global Index of Occupational Exposure (ILO Working Paper 140, Gmyrek et al.) (ILO Working Paper 140, May 2025, Annex Table A1), CC BY 4.0, retrieved 4 October 2026
独立行政法人労働政策研究・研修機構（JILPT）作成 職業情報データベース 解説系ダウンロードデータ（IPD_DL_description_7_01.xlsx）ver.7.01 職業情報提供サイト（job tag）より2026年10月4日にダウンロード（https://shigoto.mhlw.go.jp/User/download）を加工して作成
独立行政法人労働政策研究・研修機構（JILPT）作成 職業情報データベース 簡易版数値系ダウンロードデータ（IPD_DL_numeric_7_00.xlsx）ver.7.00 職業情報提供サイト（job tag）より2026年10月4日にダウンロード（https://shigoto.mhlw.go.jp/User/download）を加工して作成
Sources: JILPT Occupational Information Database download data via job tag (解説系 ver.7.01 and 簡易版数値系 ver.7.00, downloaded 4 October 2026), processed by Peernovo; MHLW, Basic Survey on Wage Structure 2025; Statistics Bureau of Japan, 2020 Population Census; MEXT, School Basic Survey 2025; MHLW, Employment Referrals for General Workers (Hello Work statistics). Figures processed by Peernovo. English job names, translations and the matching of jobs to statistical groups, schools and degree fields by Peernovo.
Updated 4 October 2026