Office Management
Office Management Career Overview
Office managers supervise administrative support workers, such as office clerks and secretaries, and coordinate administrative support activities. They work in all types of business and government offices. Office managers may head the entire office in a small firm or administrative support operations in a department of a large company. In either case the manager is responsible for directing workers and seeing that their jobs are done efficiently.
Office managers often decide what administrative support duties are needed in their department or company, what qualifications are necessary to perform the job, and how much time it should take to do each job. Office managers are also responsible for reporting to higher management and acting as liaisons between administrative support and the senior management.
Most positions in office management require a college degree in business, although workers with only a high school diploma sometimes work their way up to managerial positions
If you choose to pursue a career as an office manager, you will be likely to start as an assistant and progress to jobs of greater responsibility as supervisors of large numbers of employees. A few office managers advance to top management positions in their firm. As an office manager, you will get a training that will make you qualified to run many kinds of businesses. You can also become management consultants to various companies.
Office Management Training & Education
A bachelor’s degree in business or a related field is most of the time required. are It is especially useful to take college courses in:
- Accounting
- Administrative and personnel management
- Data processing
As an office manager, you will most likely be trained on the job. Many companies and government offices have management trainee programs. Sometimes trainees start by working for a short time in each of the company's departments to find out how the company functions. They work under the supervision of an experienced manager. Some companies send employees to courses and seminars at business schools or colleges to learn management techniques.
Office Management Career & Salary Outlook
The average salary of an office manager is around $41,000 a year. Employment of office managers is expected to grow more slowly than the average for all occupations through the year 2014.
New technologies have eliminated many administrative support jobs as well as the need for someone to manage people in these jobs. Growth in the size and complexity of organizations in both the public and the private sectors, however, will require increasingly sophisticated management techniques, and the demand for skilled administrative specialists will continue to be strong.
As an office manager, you have the possibility to advance to top management positions in the firm you are working at. However, you also have the option of going into business for yourself. The training you receive on your job and the experience you get working for others make you qualified to run various kinds of businesses.
Career Fields/Specializations
Administrative Assistant Career
The main responsibility of an administrative assistant is to run an organization efficiently through various clerical duties. These include coordinating an office's administrative activities and storing, retrieving, and integrating information for dissemination to staff and clients.
However, office automation and organizational restructuring have led administrative assistants to assume responsibilities once reserved for managerial and professional staff. Many now provide training and orientation for new staff, conduct research on the Internet, and operate and troubleshoot new office technologies.
- High school graduates who have basic office skills may qualify for entry-level secretarial positions. However, employers increasingly require extensive knowledge of software applications, such as word processing, spreadsheets, and database management.
- Organizational skills are the most important part of the job, as are communication and multi-tasking skills.
- As an administrative assistants, you can work in organizations of every type. Most administrative assistants work in service providing industries, ranging from education and health care to government and retail trade. Most of the rest work for firms engaged in manufacturing or construction.
Office Manager Career
Office managers supervise administrative support workers, such as office clerks and secretaries, and coordinate administrative support activities.
- Examples of duties include devising training programs for new workers, deciding what administrative support duties are needed in the department and determining salaries and working conditions.
- Another important responsibility for office managers is reporting to higher management and acting as liaisons between administrative support and the senior management.
- While the employment rate for office managers is expected to grow under the average in the coming years, the industry is getting more competitive and the need for highly qualified candidates is rising. Therefore, skill sets such as organizational, communication, leadership and multi-tasking in addition to a bachelor's degree in business or a related field will give you an advantage over others.
Executive Secretaries/Assistants Career
Executive secretaries provide high-level administrative support for an office. The average starting salary for executive assistants is $34,913 per year.
- Job duties include conducting research, preparing statistical reports, handling information requests, and performing clerical functions such as preparing correspondence, receiving visitors, arranging conference calls, and scheduling meetings.
- All the job duties require high levels of organization, communication and multi-tasking skills.
- Executive secretaries †sometimes also train and supervise lower-level clerical staff. Therefore, the ability to work as a team and leadership skills are important.
Receptionist/Information Clerks Career
Receptionists and information clerks are charged with a responsibility that may have a lasting impact on the success of an organization: making a good first impression. Receptionists answer telephones, route and screen calls, greet visitors, respond to inquiries from the public, and provide information about the organization. Some receptionists are responsible for the coordination of all mail into and out of the office.
- As a receptionist, you will often be the first representatives of an organization that a visitor may encounter, so good interpersonal skills—being courteous, professional, and helpful—are critical.
- Although hiring requirements for receptionists and information clerks vary by industry, a high school diploma or its equivalent is the most common educational requirement.
- Receptionists and information clerks generally receive on-the-job training. However, employers often look for applicants who already possess certain skills, such as prior computer experience or answering telephones. Some employers also may prefer some formal office education or training.
