SECRETARIAL ASSISTANT 3
Career Family: SECRETARIAL ASSISTANT
Secretarial Assistant 3 is a state title in New Jersey's competitive civil service, which means the way in is an open exam rather than a direct appointment.
It is the top of the Secretarial Assistant ladder, a grade above Secretarial Assistant 2. The main requirement is 3 years of relevant experience. Pay on the FY2026 schedule runs $53,807 to $78,268, and state payroll currently lists about 153 people in the title, led by Office of the Public Defender.
How to apply
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Exam
This is an application to sit an exam and be placed on an eligible list for this title, not an application for a specific job. A $35 application fee applies to Non-Public-Safety announcements issued on or after 2026-02-01. There may be no current vacancy behind it, and the list it produces may not be certified for months or years.
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Exam
Open to permanent employees in the competitive division who hold a qualifying lower title in the same unit. A $35 application fee applies to Non-Public-Safety announcements issued on or after 2026-02-01. Like the open competitive exam, this places you on a list; it is not itself a job offer.
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Agency posting
Office of the Public Defender's employment page may require a click-through to see specific openings. Provisional appointment against a posted vacancy is how most people are actually hired into this kind of title.
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Agency posting
Department of Corrections's employment page may require a click-through to see specific openings. Provisional appointment against a posted vacancy is how most people are actually hired into this kind of title.
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Agency posting
Department of Human Services's employment page may require a click-through to see specific openings. Provisional appointment against a posted vacancy is how most people are actually hired into this kind of title.
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Agency posting
Department of Transportation posts its own vacancies directly, often before (or instead of) any civil service exam announcement. Provisional appointment against a posted vacancy is how most people are actually hired into this kind of title.
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Agency posting
Department of Children and Families posts its own vacancies directly, often before (or instead of) any civil service exam announcement. Provisional appointment against a posted vacancy is how most people are actually hired into this kind of title.
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Agency posting
Department of Labor and Workforce Development's employment page may require a click-through to see specific openings. Provisional appointment against a posted vacancy is how most people are actually hired into this kind of title.
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Agency posting
Department of Law & Public Safety posts its own vacancies directly, often before (or instead of) any civil service exam announcement. Provisional appointment against a posted vacancy is how most people are actually hired into this kind of title.
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Agency posting
Department of Environmental Protection posts its own vacancies directly, often before (or instead of) any civil service exam announcement. Provisional appointment against a posted vacancy is how most people are actually hired into this kind of title.
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Department of Education posts its own vacancies directly, often before (or instead of) any civil service exam announcement. Provisional appointment against a posted vacancy is how most people are actually hired into this kind of title.
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Motor Vehicle Commission's employment page may require a click-through to see specific openings. Provisional appointment against a posted vacancy is how most people are actually hired into this kind of title.
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Department of Health posts its own vacancies directly, often before (or instead of) any civil service exam announcement. Provisional appointment against a posted vacancy is how most people are actually hired into this kind of title.
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Agency posting
Department of Community Affairs posts its own vacancies directly, often before (or instead of) any civil service exam announcement. Provisional appointment against a posted vacancy is how most people are actually hired into this kind of title.
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Agency posting
Department of Military and Veterans Affairs's employment page may require a click-through to see specific openings. Provisional appointment against a posted vacancy is how most people are actually hired into this kind of title.
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Department of the Treasury's employment page may require a click-through to see specific openings. Provisional appointment against a posted vacancy is how most people are actually hired into this kind of title.
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Department of State posts its own vacancies directly, often before (or instead of) any civil service exam announcement. Provisional appointment against a posted vacancy is how most people are actually hired into this kind of title.
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Agency posting
State Parole Board's employment page may require a click-through to see specific openings. Provisional appointment against a posted vacancy is how most people are actually hired into this kind of title.
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Department of Agriculture's employment page may require a click-through to see specific openings. Provisional appointment against a posted vacancy is how most people are actually hired into this kind of title.
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Agency posting
Civil Service Commission's employment page may require a click-through to see specific openings. Provisional appointment against a posted vacancy is how most people are actually hired into this kind of title.
Pay ladder: Secretarial Assistant series
- Secretarial Assistant 1 — $49,266 – $71,403
- Secretarial Assistant 2 — $53,807 – $78,268
- Secretarial Assistant 3 — $61,510 – $89,810 (this title)
Its top salary lands around the 19th percentile of all NJ civil service titles that publish a range.
Rungs are ordered by FY2026 pay. NJ level numbers are not always sequential, so ordering follows salary rather than the title number.
Who employs this title
State payroll records show 153 people working under this title. The median actual salary is $86,980. The agencies employing the most are:
- Office of the Public Defender (31)
- Corrections (23)
- Human Services (16)
- Transportation (11)
Counts from NJ YourMoney agency payroll. See statewide workforce analytics.
Official job specification
The text below is the official specification published by the New Jersey Civil Service Commission. The plain-language summary and analysis above are derived from it by NJ Civil Service Navigator.
Definition
May be assigned as a secretary to Assistant Division Directors, Bureau Chiefs, their organizational equivalents, or Executive Assistants 1; does other related duties as required.
Examples of work
- Takes and transcribes dictation of varied types including correspondence, reports, and recommendations of a confidential nature.
- May assign and instruct individual employees and groups of employees engaged in clerical, stenographic, and filing duties, and supervise the performance of their work. Reviews, sorts, and routes incoming correspondence.
- Personally prepares letters on routine matters, which may or may not be reviewed or signed by the executive officer.
- Obtains pertinent materials from the files and from other sources and puts it into usable form for the review and use of the executive officer.
- Acts to relieve the executive officer of detail by providing information to those requesting it including division personnel, representatives of state, local, and other groups, organizations, agencies, and to the general public in accord with established policy.
- May interview callers at the office.
- Maintains a schedule of appointments and the daily engagement calendar of the executive.
- Prepares agenda of meetings and types and/or supervises the typing of meeting minutes from notes or recording equipment.
- Makes necessary arrangements for speaking engagements, travel arrangements, and for hearings, conferences, and meetings.
- Takes and transcribes minutes of informal hearings, conferences, and meetings.
- Maintains mailing lists and makes revisions.
- Prepares statistical and other reports.
- Maintains confidential personal correspondence and fiscal and other records and files including a follow-up file.
- Will be required to learn to utilize various types of electronic and/or manual recording and information systems used by the agency, office, or related units.
Experience
Three (3) years of experience in taking and transcribing dictation and/or in secretarial and administrative clerical work.
License
Appointees will be required to possess a driver's license valid in New Jersey only if the operation of a vehicle, rather than employee mobility, is necessary to perform essential duties of the position.
Knowledge, skills and abilities
- Knowledge of secretarial and clerical routines, procedures, and practices, and their application to specific situations.
- Ability to take and transcribe dictation that is frequently of a complex and difficult nature.
- Ability to act as confidential secretary to a supervisory officer and to relieve him/her of office detail.
- Ability to organize secretarial work, sometimes of a confidential nature, which may entail the supervision of clerical employees.
- Ability to use correct English, to spell correctly, and to use correct sentence and paragraph structure.
- Ability to communicate with visitors, schedule appointments, and process requests for information in accord with established procedures.
- Ability to take minutes of meetings, conferences, and hearings, and transcribe them into authoritative form.
- Ability to prepare routine correspondence.
- Ability to prepare statistical and other reports.
- Ability to maintain confidential, follow-up, and other files.
- Ability to learn to utilize various types of electronic and/or manual recording and information systems used by the agency, office, or related units.
- Ability to read, write, speak, understand, and communicate in English sufficiently to perform the duties of this position. American Sign Language or Braille may also be considered as acceptable forms of communication.
- Persons with mental or physical disabilities are eligible as long as they can perform the essential functions of the job after reasonable accommodation is made to their known limitations. If the accommodation cannot be made because it would cause the employer undue hardship, such persons may not be eligible.
- CODES: 16/A17- DJ 7/3/99
Note
The examples of work for this title are for illustrative purposes only. A particular position using this title may not perform all duties listed in this job specification. Conversely, all duties performed on the job may not be listed.
Successful completion of a clerical training program with a minimum of 700 classroom training hours or 30 semester hour credits in secretarial science from an accredited college or university may be substituted for one (1) year of the experience indicated above. Course work must include typing skills, methods, and procedures; other courses may include, but not be limited to, office procedures, word processing, and business English.