Keeping it Private and Confidential

Ishara Jayawardane

Secretaries Day was celebrated on April 24. The secretary plays a vital role in the functioning of the office. Like a Wicket Keeper behind the stumps she or he often motivates the office staff. She/he is always polite, gracious and mostly has a smile on their face - which is always a welcome feature every morning. Daily News spoke to Romayne Diasz, the course moderator of the Diploma Course for Confidential Secretaries and Personal Assistants and also Managing Partner of Career and Facilitators.

"The secretary is like a live wire of the organization, the blood of the organization who controls and executes duties effectively and delegates and executes. I believe holding that position, I felt that we contribute so much, towards not only the role, but also towards the goal of the organization," said Romayne.

Believing talents should not be kept in cold storage Romayne said: "I felt a secretary is much needed in an organization and today we don't get young people choosing the secretarial career so much as it was in the past. So I want to enhance the profession and give life to this profession and see that it blooms again. Because today there is a great need for secretaries and we don't have secretaries."

Talking of different courses she said that some of them are conducted totally free for the students who have done Advanced Levels. "I would like to give a chance to people who don't have parents, people from low income families and I do a lot of training for the armed forces. I would like to contribute to those who have lost their parents in the war. I would definitely like to help those children to come up in life. The entire course is free of charge and job guaranteed. Basically I am doing the training, no one is funding me, I am doing it by myself. I want to share what I know. As much as I impart with love, I want someone to take it with a lot of love and see that person become a useful citizen."

Romayne has done Public speaking for the armed forces for the last 13 years. "Here it is everything to do with secretaries and what a secretary would be. They will be taught Shorthand, how to take down dictation, how to transcribe and do a letter. Secretaries day is being celebrated world over. "Secretaries in Sri Lanka also have an international secretaries week. We have seminars and workshops, we get together during this week, share and make bosses value what a secretary does. This is what is recognized during this week".

Winning Secretary of the Year gave Romayne a tremendous boost in life. "It was a great challenge when I won it. And thereafter I was encouraged a lot. I was working at the Maharaja Organization and they recognized my services. Although you are a secretary you don't have to be born a secretary and die a secretary. Right now I am a managing partner and I am able to do much more than what a secretary could do and all this is with the skills I gained as a secretary. Toastmaster is an organization where we specialize in leadership and public speaking, where we encourage people to speak, get leadership roles and basically be useful citizens. We contribute to the development of human kind."

Romayne has been in the field of secretary for more that 25 years. Right now she is running a recruitment company, it is a family business and she is managing it. "What we do is, we help people who are looking for jobs gain employment. We place them in various companies, in banks and private organizations. Right now I am running training, but sometimes I charge for training. But if a person needs training and I feel I could help. I would definitely go beyond boundaries to help that person and give that person a job.

As they roll in they can gain entry and start on the course and thereafter, I will be giving hands on training and while training is going on I can put them onto various organizations where they can develop and enhance their skills. I have been giving these scholarships in the past on a very low scale. This year I felt the war is over, the country is booming in employment, so at a time like this why can't we enhance a career that needs recognition?"

When entering the field initially Romayne found time a challenge. "I had to do my London Chamber with three growing up children. It was a challenging task because I took everything that came my way, work as well as studying. Something I want to encourage children today is to work and study both. Not look at studies alone because work experience is very important. Today there is a big demand for secretaries starting from a trainee level to a very competent executive secretary. The need is great. Now that the war is over, opportunities are many in number. But we have to focus the young folk to the opportunities available. I act as a catalyst basically. We have to get the young folk to look at the job opportunities available. I want young people to make use of this opportunity and see how best we can develop the society at large."

Commenting on the standard of English Romayne said : "Basically if you look at it, most of the young students who go for jobs cannot speak well. They cannot do a presentation or write a letter. So I want to inculcate these basic skills that will help them to go up and become great leaders."