How easy is it to get a job as a school secretary/

[maisemor]

receptionist/admin person? Ideally in Edinburgh (or Dundee).

Do I need specific qualifications?

I am a fully trained receptionist (so knows how to look really cross and annoyed at people when they come up to desk and ask their questions ) and I have worked as a legal secretary for 8 years.

These days many schools dont have secretaries as such but bursars. A large secondary may well have separate receptionists then people in the finance/admin office but primaries have one person who does it all (and is usually the most valuable person in the school according to one primary head I know)

I'm looking at the same thing! I've had a look on our local borough website and it gives a job description for the ones I've looked at. All of the requirements are things that I'm perfectly capable of doing, so I'm going to apply and hope for the best. Have you looked on your council website yet?

Thank you so much for your replies. I will definately give the council's website a go. I have also signed myself up with a website called Eteach.

I am also doing this because my husband is now a qualified teacher and it would just be so darn handy to have the same holidays

When i was last looking for a job i applied for two roles for PA to Headteahcer and was invited for interview for both... having had experience in blue chip companies in both reception and some shorter term PA roles.

I ended up cancelling the interviews but I think it dshould be pretty straight forward and this is what I fully intend to do once I have this baby.

errrm... think they were both women, well at least one was.

I work in a secondary school, it all started when I volunteered to help out in any role in my kids school, I started helping in the classroom, did a bit of dinner time, then when someone went off sick in the school office, they asked me to stand in, within that time I tried to learn all I could, when the lady returned from sick, I went back to helping out.

Then a job at another school came up, not many hours, but I got my foot in the door, they sent me on many training courses to learn the school computer systems (SIMS), I then saw the job I'm doing now, with the experience I'd gained at the other two schools, I walked straight into this one.

The advantage I'd got over all the others interviewed was that I'd got SIMS experience, which you can only learn on the job.

Look on the Council website for vacancies, even if there's a job that doesn't quite suite, try for it, you will then gain the experience required when the right job comes along