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Goodness! These "necessary traits" for a secretary of the 1930s never seem to end. The adviced offered in them could apply to any young person entering the businessworld. As I've said before, the take is far too short for adequate testing at speeds at of 100 wpm or higher.
Applied Secretarial Practice, The Gregg Publishing Company, 1934, p 333
Attractive Personality
Personality is the outward manifestation of our inner selves. It is the impression we give to others of what we are. It is the quality of heart and head and soul that draws others to us. An attractive personality wins the confidence, respect, and affection of all whom it touches. It embraces so many qualities that it is difficult to define, because there are as many personalities as there are persons. But we can draw from our experience and classify in a measure the qualities that go to make up an attractive personality.
The first of these is attitude toward life. If we desire to have an attractive personality, we must like everybody, must select their good qualities, keep these in the foreground, and disregard entirely their bad ones. We must like them for the good that is in them. We cannot win friends by assuming the role of reformer. We must be happy, enthusiastic, sincere, optimistic, unselfish, sympathetic, human, and must possess imagination and vision.
Personality is a matter of character and of heart. It is something that can be cultivated, but it is not the growth of a moment. The selfish person never has, and never can have, an attractive personality—unless he is a brilliant actor—because he is always thinking of himself. An insincere person can never permanently win by his personality, because his insincerity will be discovered behind the mask of his art and deception.
To acquire an attractive personality, you must make an analysis of yourself. Search deep down into your heart and discover the motives underlying your actions, your expression, your feelings, your attitude.
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