Secretarial courses for free - Who funds updated secretarial courses for existing secretaries?

At Pitman Training Hammersmith, this question is often posed by those wishing to update their skills.

Sometimes an employer will be sympathetic to a request from a secretary to undertake an advanced secretarial course or a request to update their skills if they can see clearly how the advanced secretarial courses will help the secretary perform better in their existing role or provide the necessary skills to take on a further role. 

Some corporates have introduced individual learning accounts. With such an account, the secretary or administrative assistant receives a sum of money from their employer to use in any way they like to upgrade their training. The amounts and criteria for using such sums vary but there is no doubt that secretaries are using this money to update their skills with secretarial course providers.

However, an increasing number of secretaries are funding updated secretarial courses themselves. There are many reasons for this.

Firstly, some secretaries do not want to ask their employer to fund the training because the skills they are learning, although relevant to their profession, are not utilised in their company and some employers will only pay for a course where they see clear added value from the secretarial course, i.e. where there is a business case.

Secondly, some secretaries do not want the employer to know they are attending further secretary courses because they fear being ‘tied into’ their employer. In this instance, some employers request secretaries stay for a minimum period beyond the commencement of their secretarial course so that they receive the benefit of the training.

Thirdly, some secretaries do not want their employer knowing that they are undertaking further secretarial courses because they feel that it increases the pressure on them. They argue that they believe the employer will expect them to pass within a certain period of time and if they do not pass, they feel that their job will be at risk. Those falling into this last group prefer to pay for the training themselves to avoid all the stress and added pressure associated with securing funding from their employer. It also gives them total freedom to progress along the course at a pace dictated by them not their employer. 

Mike Connolly is a well known author who writes on the topics related with secretary courses and secretarial training and other administration and vocation courses. See http://www.pitmanhammersmith.com/ for more such articles.