Business School News - 1955-10-01

              BUSINESS
SCHOO
L NEWS
Official News Publication of the National Association and Council of Business Schools
Vol. 6, No. 7
Washington, D. C.
October, 1955
Seeing the World as a Secretary
By ARCH K. JEAN
Chief, Division of Employment, Department of State
Today, hundreds of ambitious and alert young American women are dis-covering that their abilities as ste-nographers and typists will take them around the world at Government ex-pense. The U. S. Department of State's Foreign Service employs office workers at its Embassies and Con-sulates in some 70 countries. In Bur-ma, Thailand, Japan, France, Eng-land, yes and even Russia, American girls are working daily in the diplo-matic and consular offices of the United States. And their travel to and from these places along with their effects, is paid by the Govern-ment.
The job itself may not be very much different from the one they had in Boston or in Boise—it may even be quite trying at times, espe-cially if they happen to be working in a country whose climate and stand-ard of living are vastly different from our own. But the interest and even adventure provided by living and working in foreign lands more than compensate for any adverse fea-tures.
That is why more and more young women with a taste for something new and different in a job are turning to the Department of State's Foreign Service. Any American woman who meets the following requirements is eligible to apply: high school edu-cation; single, from 21 to 35 years of age; minimum speed of 50 words per minute in typing or 80 words per minute in dictation. Three years of office experience is required, although college or business school training may be substituted for some of the required experience. Finally, all ap-plicants must have been citizens of the United States for at least five years. Men who meet these require-ments are also welcome to apply.
Of course, everyone can't go to Rome or Paris—Foreign Service posts
in Southeast Asia, in the Middle East, and in Africa need stenographers and typists too. The Department of State attempts to assign Foreign Service personnel to the countries they pre-fer, but this cannot always be done. Even so, employees who receive a post assignment not strictly to their liking often find that they enjoy it very much upon arrival. The small consular office in an out-of-the-way country frequently has an easy, in-formal atmosphere, with a close feel-ing of teamwork between all the Americans on the post from the top official down to the newly-arrived clerk—a spirit of friendliness not often encountered at a large Em-bassy. One girl expressed no little disappointment upon being assigned to Iceland recently, for she didn't expect to find much to hold her in-terest in that far-off northern coun-try. But not long ago she wrote to us to tell us how much fun she was having and how much she enjoyed the people, culture, and customs of the land, the Americans with whom she works at the Legation in Rey-kjavik, and how happy she was that she had joined the Foreign Service. The same story has been repeated countless times in small outposts like Kuala Lumpur and Penang in Ma-laya, Basra in Iraq, Dar es Salaam, Tanganyika in East Africa, and many others.
Foreign Service secretaries and typists have vacations, just like their counterparts at home in the United States. But how they spend their va-cations can be very different. One girl recently completed a safari in Africa, another had two weeks on the French Riviera, while others may go skiing in Switzerland or boating on the Adriatic. And even though they may have an unusual vacation in some far-off foreign land, the Government (Continued on page 2)
CONVENTION SPEAKER
J. W. Harrison, Jr., Personnel Di-vision, Employee Relations Depart-ment, E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Company, Wilmington, Delaware, is the principal speaker at the Annual Banquet on Friday evening, Novem-ber 4, high spot of the NACBS Con-vention.
His address, "Industry's Challenge to the Business School," will be of particular interest to all who are pre-paring youth to meet the demands of industry for trained personnel.
Recently appointed as a Commis-sioner on the Accrediting Commission for Business Schools, Mr. Harrison assumed the duties of that office at the annual meeting of ACBS on May 7-9, 1955.
Mr. Harrison has been connected with the du Pont company since 1941, except for a break for military serv-ice, during which he attained the rank of Major in the Army. He has worked on time study and wage incentives, has served as Supervisor of Training and Publicity at the Chambers Works in Deepwater, New Jersey, and as placement representative in Wilming-ton has developed and coordinated an Academic Stenographer Training Program which embraces a joint work-study plan. He is thus cogni-zant of the problems involved in training employees and of the re-quirements which the world of busi-ness and industry makes on those who seek to enter its ranks.
We are indeed fortunate to have Mr. Harrison as our banquet speaker, and we shall be eager to hear and to meet his challenge.