From the editor
Welcome to our new Letters Page — a space dedicated solely to you and your views. Write to us about anything that affects your working day, whether it's praise or problems with the site, questions for your peers, suggestions for articles, funny stories, or just good old fashioned rants! We'll be picking a Star Letter each month, so get writing now    

When is a PA not a PA?
I was interested to read the letter from Dorothy McCuller requesting clarification of the difference between secretaries and PAs. This is a confusing area, but I believe there are genuine differences in the roles of Secretaries and PAs. I believe I can clarify this for you.

A 'secretary' would carry out normal secretarial duties (typing letters and other documents, arranging meetings, telephone calls, looking after the 'boss's diary, travel arrangements, committee servicing etc). However, (as in my own position), a PA's duties will normally include additional areas of responsibility such as management of other staff; budget control/purchasing; personnel control/management; the ability to analyse documents/reports received and prepare written responses; report writing; giving Powerpoint presentations; sitting on committees as a full member (rather than as 'secretary' to that committee); representing the 'boss' at meetings or other events that he/she is unable to attend; organising corporate events; and also having decision-making responsibility for specific areas etc etc

When 'genuine' PA jobs are advertised, the salary tends to be on a middle management scale which would reflect the additional responsibilities. Some of the confusion is, of course, caused by describing 'secretarial' roles as 'PA' roles (and vice versa)

I do hope you find this helpful and informative
Amanda Townsend
Personal Assistant to Chairman & Principal
Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama

That certainly seems to clear things up Amanda, but does anyone else have a view on this matter?    

Spinning around
Just a quick email to say thank you to DeskDemon for the wonderful trip on the London Eye that I won recently. (Emily took a spin on the wheel with 19 of her friends) It was brilliant fun!    Emily Deth

A pleasant surprise
I couldn't believe it when you called the day before Xmas Eve to tell me I'd won the competition and would be receiving flowers from you each month for the whole of 2005. I'm chuffed thanks    Clare Mowat

Regional focus
I just wanted to say that the new My Career section is a fantastic idea, and there's some really useful information in there. I've worked my way up through the ranks over the years, and I'm now PA to the MD of a fairly large company, but I haven't ever had the time to sit down and take stock of my career so far, or properly plan where I want to go in the future. No time like the present I suppose!

I noticed that there is a lot of information on career development agencies etc. in the South East of England. Will you be providing details for different areas of the UK — I live in Wales.
Anne Harris