Thepositionofsecretaryorpersonalassistantusedtobethepreserveofefficientandcapable

women,loyalfootsoldierswithnoeyeontheboss'sjob–butnowmenaremusclingtheirwayin.

"Holdmycalls,MrJones"isbingthenewnorm.

Thechangeisduepartlytothehighestrateofgraduateunemploymentsincerecordsbegan,andthe

growingawarenessthatsalariesforcorporatePAscanreach75,000ayear.

JoshuaWatson,25,hasbeenanexecutiveassistanttoafemaleseniordirectoratBarclaysfor18

months,havingpreviouslyworkedasareceptionistandPA.Hedoesnotseehimselfasworkingina

woman'srole.

"Idon'tfeelthatI'mtreatedanydifferentlyjustbecauseI'mmale,"hesaid."Idon'tthinkthat

isanissueforpeoplefrommygeneration.It'sagoodjobformebecauseIampassionateabout

organising.IhavegoodexposuretothetoppeopleinthepanyandIwanttoclimbtheladder."

Recruitmentconsultantsareseeinganever-increasingnumberofmeninterestedinPAorsecretarial

posts."Outofthe1,000candidateswe'veregisteredinthepast12months,around200aremale,"

saidDavidMorel,managingdirectorofTigerRecruitment."Itisincreasingthewholetime.Since

2011,thenumbershavebeendoublingeachyear,andmostofthemareambitiousgraduates."

SusannaTait,managingdirectorofTayAssociates,agrees.Shesaidshehasseena"huge"increase

innumbersofmaleapplicants."WehavewitnessedtheroleofthePAevolveimmeasurablyand,with

it,thepoolofapplicantsitattracts,"shesaid."Aswellasorganisingandmanagingmitments,

theyarerequiredtoproject-manageschedulesandmunicatewithavastworkofcontacts.It's

anobviouscareerchoiceforambitiousindividualskeentooperateatthecentreofthebusiness

sphere."

QuestProfessional,whichofferstrainingcoursesforthecorporatesector,saidthiswasthefirst

yearthatmenhadenrolledonitsexecutivePAprogrammeandthat"moreandmore"menweredoingits

administrativecourse.

TopPAsintheCitynowearnbetween35,000and75,000,plusbenefits–insomecasesevenmore.

Morelthinksthisistheprimaryreasonwhymoremenareingintothemarket."Inthepast,men

feltthesalariesweren'thighenoughandtherewasastigmaattachedtoadministrative,typing-

basedroles,"hesaid."Thesecretarialrolehaschangedmassively.Gonearethedaysofthe

traditionaltypist,andthereismoreofacareerpath.Guysareseeingthattheycangettoastage

wheretheyareprovidingalotofbusinesssupporttotheirboss,andthatisreflectedintheir

salary."

BarclayssaiditwasmittedtoencouragingmaleapplicantsforPAandadminroles."Itis

importanttousthatweoffereveryone–regardlessoftheirgender–thesameopportunitiestobe

successful,"saidaspokesperson.

Attheturnofthe20thcentury,secretarialjobswerewell-paidandwell-respected,and

predominantlyfilledbymen.However,aswomenfoughttojointheranksoftheemployed,the

professionlostitsstatus,paydecreasedandmensoughtworkelsewhere.Bythemid-1960s,itwasa

roleprimarilyassociatedwithwomen.In1962,asurveyrevealedthat28%ofpaniesbelievedsex

appealwasarequirementofthePA'sjob.

Michael,27,hasbeenaPAatatopmanagementconsultancyforoverthreeyears."WhenIcalled

clientstheyusedtobereallysurprisedthatIwasn'tfemale,"hesaid."Now,we'vegotfiveguys

inthePAteam,whichisabout10%.They'vealljoinedinthepastfewyearsandtheyareallaround

thesameageasme."

Currently,morethanoneinfivegraduatesareoutofworkandtherearetypically84applicantsfor

eachgraduatevacancyintheCity.Youngpeoplearefindingnewwaystoenterthebusinessworld,

andworkingnine-to-fiveinsupportrolesisonewaytogetontothecorporateladder.

"Iworkwitheveryoneinthepany,"Michaelsaid,"allthedirectors,allthepartnersandall

theteams.Thisisaverydifficultworldtogetintoandthisisthebestrouteinforme.Inafew

years,Iwilltakethisgreatexperienceandgoelsewhere."

過(guò)去，秘書(shū)和個(gè)人助理往往是這些人的專(zhuān)利：她們是精干高效的女士，還是并不覬覦老板寶座的忠誠(chéng)員工。但現(xiàn)在

男士們也開(kāi)始在這一領(lǐng)域涉足?！罢?qǐng)別掛斷，瓊斯先生?！比缃襁@種男士擔(dān)任助理的現(xiàn)象越來(lái)越常見(jiàn)。

這種現(xiàn)象的部分原因是畢業(yè)生失業(yè)率創(chuàng)下記錄新高，越來(lái)越多人意識(shí)到個(gè)人助理也能每年拿到7萬(wàn)5千美元的薪水。

沃森今年25歲，之前做過(guò)接待以及個(gè)人助理等工作，現(xiàn)在擔(dān)任巴克萊銀行一位高層女經(jīng)理的行政助理已經(jīng)有18個(gè)月

了。他并不認(rèn)為自己在干女人的工作。

“我覺(jué)得并沒(méi)有因?yàn)槲沂悄行裕陀惺裁磪^(qū)別對(duì)待，”他說(shuō)道，“我覺(jué)得這對(duì)我們這代人來(lái)說(shuō)不是個(gè)問(wèn)題。這個(gè)工

作很適合我，我很喜歡組織協(xié)調(diào)，在公司我還能經(jīng)常與高層人物接觸，我很希望能夠晉升?！?/p>

招聘顧問(wèn)們看到越來(lái)越多的男性對(duì)個(gè)人助理和秘書(shū)類(lèi)職務(wù)感興趣。“去年，我們所登記的1000名求職候選人中就有

200名是男性，”老虎招聘（TigerRecruitment）公司總經(jīng)理大衛(wèi)·莫雷爾（DavidMorel）說(shuō)道，“這一數(shù)字在

不斷增加，2011年以來(lái)，每年都能翻一番，大多數(shù)男性求職者都是具有雄心壯志的畢業(yè)生。”

泰聯(lián)合公司（TayAssociates）總經(jīng)理蘇珊娜·泰特（SusannaTait）表示同意。她表示男性申請(qǐng)個(gè)人助理職務(wù)的

人數(shù)大幅度增加?！拔覀兛吹絺€(gè)人助理這一角色發(fā)生了翻天覆地的變化，隨之而來(lái)的是吸引了一大批求職者，”她

說(shuō)道，“除了有很多組織和管理方面的事物外，個(gè)人助理還要管理專(zhuān)案進(jìn)程，做好大量的溝通工作。很明顯，對(duì)那

些有志于進(jìn)軍商業(yè)領(lǐng)域核心的人們，這一職業(yè)是不錯(cuò)的選擇?！?/p>

為企業(yè)部門(mén)提供培訓(xùn)的追求專(zhuān)業(yè)培訓(xùn)公司（QuestProfessional）表示這一年首次有男性報(bào)名參加這個(gè)行政助理的

培訓(xùn)項(xiàng)目，“越來(lái)越多”的男性正在進(jìn)修行政課程。

高級(jí)個(gè)人助理除了各種福利外，每年能掙3萬(wàn)5千美元到7萬(wàn)5千美元不等，有時(shí)候掙得更多。莫雷爾認(rèn)為這是男性進(jìn)

軍這一職業(yè)的主導(dǎo)因素?！斑^(guò)去，男性認(rèn)為個(gè)人助理工資低，干行政和文秘工作不體面，”莫雷爾繼續(xù)說(shuō)道，“秘

書(shū)這一職務(wù)發(fā)生了很大變化，傳統(tǒng)的打字員時(shí)代已經(jīng)遠(yuǎn)去，他們有了更多的發(fā)展機(jī)會(huì)。很多男性認(rèn)為這一職業(yè)能為

他們提供平臺(tái)，他們可以借此為老板提供業(yè)務(wù)支持，因而薪水也隨之提高?！?/p>

巴克萊銀行表示他們致力于鼓勵(lì)男性應(yīng)聘?jìng)€(gè)人助理和行政助理等職務(wù)。銀行一位發(fā)言人表示：“無(wú)論男女，我們都

一視同仁，我們都給與他們成功的機(jī)會(huì)，這點(diǎn)對(duì)我們來(lái)說(shuō)至關(guān)重要?！?/p>

20世紀(jì)之交，秘書(shū)這門(mén)職業(yè)薪水不錯(cuò)也很體面，男性成了主力軍。但是，隨著女性努力進(jìn)入職場(chǎng)，這一職業(yè)失去了

以往的社會(huì)地位，薪水也隨之降低，男性也另謀高就了。到了20世紀(jì)60年代，秘書(shū)就與女性緊密地聯(lián)系在了一起。

1962年一項(xiàng)調(diào)查顯示28%的企業(yè)認(rèn)為性感是勝任這一工作的必備條件。

邁克爾今年27歲，擔(dān)任高層管理顧問(wèn)的個(gè)人助理已有三年了?！斑^(guò)去每當(dāng)我給客戶打電話，發(fā)現(xiàn)個(gè)人助理不是女性

，他們總是很驚訝，”他繼續(xù)說(shuō)道，“現(xiàn)在我們個(gè)人助理小組已有5位男性助理，占總?cè)藬?shù)的10%，他們都是近幾年

加入的，年齡也和我相仿?！?/strong>