A comparative study of the entry-level competencies for clerical office occupations as perceived by business employers and secretarial educators in the Philippines

Scope of the study. The purpose of this study was to make a comparative analysis of the desired entry-level clerical office competencies as perceived by business employers and secretarial educators throughout the Philippine islands with the end in view to develop a relevant, innovative entry-level secretarial curriculum.; The descriptive study utilized a questionnaire drawn from the instrument used by the Professional Secretaries International and Akeyo's study of clerical occupations. This questionnaire was administered to 126 Philippine secretarial educators at their national conference and mailed to 100 business employers, selected by a stratified random sample of Philippine Fortune 500.; Findings and conclusions. The findings indicated that word processing was the highest-rated competency area by businesses but educators rated keyboarding (typing) as the highest. Though the businesses valued word processing, the educators were training entry-level secretaries on typewriters. Personality development and grammar were the next highest-rated competency areas. On the other competencies, businesses and educators basically agreed on the important entry-level competencies. However, the educators rated each competency generally a little higher than the businesses. Most competencies rated low by both groups were tasks that are being assigned to advanced or executive secretaries.; The most important criterion used by businesses when hiring entry-level workers was the company administered clerical test. The businesses preferred entry-level workers with postsecondary training (tertiary level) rather than simply a high school diploma and were willing to provide on-the-job training.; Based on the findings of this study, a one-year entry-level curriculum for secretaries was proposed.(UNFORMATTED TABLE OR EQUATION FOLLOWS){dollar}{dollar}vbox{lcub}halign{lcub}#hfil&&qquad#hfilcr&{dollar}underline{lcub}rm First Semester{rcub}{dollar}&{dollar}underline{lcub}rm Units{rcub}{dollar}cr&Keyboarding 1&quad 5cr&English 101 (grammar)&quad 3cr&Clerical Training&quad 3cr&Computer Literacy&quad 3cr&Word Processing Concept&quad 3cr&Personality Development&quad 3crcr&{lcub}it Second Semester{rcub}&{lcub}it Units{rcub}cr&Word Processing (basic)&quad 5cr&Data Entry&quad 3cr&Business Math&quad 3cr&Business English&quad 3cr&Keyboarding 2&quad 3cr&Career Seminar&quad 3cr{rcub}{rcub}{dollar}{dollar}(TABLE/EQUATION ENDS); An ad hoc or task force must be formed to match the clerical office competencies that were rated by the educators and managers, with the courses that were also recommended by both groups of respondents.; It was also proposed that a student must have a 3-month practicum (on-the-job training) to qualify for the certificate. This program could be integrated with the Career Seminar course.