Secretary III, IV - Student Services Section

The authorized level of the position is Secretary IV. Applications are being accepted down to the Secretary III in the event of recruiting difficulties.

Salary Range :

Secretary III, SR-16 : $4,038.00 per month

Secretary IV, SR-18 : $4,364.00 per month

• R eceives telephone and personal callers, screens those which can be handled by other subordinates of the supervisor or other offices, and tactfully makes referrals as appropriate.
• P ersonally takes care of many matters and questions from callers including answering substantive questions not requiring professional research or detailed technical knowledge.
• K eeps the supervisor's calendar and schedules appointments and conferences without prior clearance, seeing that the supervisor is fully briefed on the matters to be considered before scheduled meetings.
• R eceives requests for statistical or informative material concerning the programs which can be assembled from the files and records, advises when the material can be furnished, and prepares it personally or follows up to see that it is prepared within the specified time by the supervisor's staff.
• M akes necessary arrangements for conferences including space, time, people, etc., assembles background for the supervisor, attends meetings and prepares reports of the proceedings.
• R eceives and reads incoming correspondence, reports, instructions, etc., and screens out those that can be personally handled by drafting replies to general inquiries not requiring a detailed technical knowledge of the programs, relaying instructions to subordinate office, collecting data, preparing reports for higher echelons or otherwise acting on requests concerning procedural or administrative requirements.
• M aintains control records on incoming correspondence and action documents and follows up on work in process to insure timely reply or action.
• R eads outgoing correspondence for procedural and grammatical accuracy, conformance with general policy, factual correctness and adequacy of treatment, and calls any deviations or inadequacies to the attention of the writer or more rarely to the supervisor.
• A ssists the supervisor's other subordinates in the procedural aspects of expediting the work of the office, including such matters as shifting clerical help in subordinate offices to take care of fluctuating workload, explaining and guiding implementation of the supervisor's instructions concerning procedures, explaining report requirements and arranging with professional and technical staff for the collection and submission of data for assembly into general reports of the total work of the office, etc.
• I nforms and instructs officials, technicians and lower-grade clerical personnel in the office concerning established procedures for the preparation and clearance of correspondence, action documents and the like.
• I nforms the supervisor on such matters as procedures in the clearance of memoranda, past practices with respect to various reports, the general nature and history of miscellaneous recurring items, and the sources from whom the supervisor can obtain a quick explanation of various matters.
• M ay operate a typewriter to type correspondence, reports or other materials.
• M ay take and transcribe dictation of correspondence, reports and other materials.

Experience Requirements : Except for the substitutions provided for in this specification, applicants must have had work experience of the kind and quality described below and in the amounts shown in the following table :

Class Title

Gen. Clerical Exp. (years)

Spec. Clerical Exp. (years)

Total Exp. (years)

Secretary III

Secretary IV

G eneral Clerical Experience : Work experience which involved performance of tasks which demonstrated knowledge of English grammar, spelling and arithmetic;

and the ability to read and understand oral and written instructions; and speak and write simply and directly.

• Specialized Clerical Experience : Progressively responsible typing, stenographic and / or substantive clerical work which duties demonstrated possession of, in addition to the knowledge and abilities noted under General Clerical Experience, knowledge of common office appliances and equipment and the ability to carry out procedures in clerical work systems and to perform secretarial tasks including, but not limited to, several of the following : serving as telephone and walk-in receptionist;
• maintaining a system of files; making travel arrangements; composing correspondence; obtaining and presenting information from files;

routing correspondence; reviewing outgoing correspondence for format, grammar, spelling and typography; maintaining a log of pending work; etc.

Two years of the Specialized Clerical Experience, requires progressively responsible typing, stenographic and / or substantive clerical work, which duties demonstrated possession of the ability to perform secretarial duties including, but not limited to, the following : 1) providing personal assistance to an administrator or executive by attending to the administrative details of an office;

2) having an overall awareness of the activities and administrative framework of a program / organization; and 3) ability to exercise sound judgment.

Substitutions Allowed : Any combination of work experience and / or education, although not cited elsewhere in this specification, which clearly demonstrates the applicant's possession of knowledge, skills and abilities comparable in quality and quantity to that described in this specification may be accepted as satisfying a portion or all of the minimum qualification requirements.

Substitution of Education for Experience :

Graduation from high school with courses in basic English and arithmetic may be substituted for the six months of General Clerical Experience.

Successful completion of a substantially full-time equivalent clerical, stenographic or secretarial curriculum leading to a degree or diploma at an accredited community college, business or technical school which included courses in business English, arithmetic, office clerical procedures, and office machines will be deemed equivalent to one year of Specialized Clerical Experience.

Partial completion of a substantially full-time equivalent clerical, stenographic or secretarial curriculum at an accredited community college, business or technical school which included courses in business English, arithmetic, office clerical procedures, and office machines will be substituted for the Specialized Clerical Experience on a month-for-month basis.

Education in an accredited university in a baccalaureate program may be substituted for the Specialized Clerical Experience, on the basis of fifteen semester hours for six months of experience, up to a maximum of one year provided it included at least two or more courses such as : human relations in business, business correspondence or communications, principles of management, personnel management relations, office management, business administration, etc.

Salary : The advertised salary is based on full-time employment and includes shortage and school year differentials, if applicable.

Requirements : Applicants must meet all the requirements for the position they are seeking as of the date of the application, unless otherwise specified.

Unless specifically indicated, the required education and experience may not be gained concurrently. Calculation of experience is based on full-time, 40-hour workweeks.

Part-time experience is pro-rated. Example : Twelve months of experience at 20 hours / week is equivalent to six months of experience, not one year.

Also, hours worked in excess of 40 hours / week will not be credited. Example : Twelve months of experience at 60 hours / week is equivalent to one year of experience, not one and a half years.

Temporary Assignment : Claims of Temporary Assignment (TA) experience to meet the minimum qualification requirements must be verified and attached to the application using one of the options below :

A copy of the applicant’s TA History Report or equivalent system-generated report;

A signed letter from the applicant’s supervisor that includes the applicant’s name, his / her TA job title, the TA start and end dates (from mm / yy to mm / yy), his / her specific TA duties performed, and either the TA hours worked per week or total TA hours worked; or,

Copies of the applicant’s signed SF-10 Forms.

Documents : Attach all relevant supporting documents to your application. Documents that were attached to applications submitted before November 16, 2023 do not automatically attach or transfer to applications submitted on and after December 16, 2023.

All submitted documents become the property of the Hawaii State Department of Education.

Information about Temporary Positions : Temporary positions may be extended year to year, dependent upon funding and departmental needs.

Making yourself available for temporary positions increases your employment possibilities and may lead to permanent opportunities.

A person hired for a temporary position may also become a temporary employee upon satisfactory completion of the initial probation period of at least six months.

Once a temporary employee, you would be eligible to apply for promotion and transfer opportunities to permanent as well as other temporary positions.

You may also enjoy other rights and benefits as afforded to an employee in a permanent position, with the exception of return rights and placement rights associated with a reduction-in-force.