Offices can get very hectic. In an ideal setting, an office can get along just fine if each employee would focus on achieving their own clearly defined goals whether it is the sales team bringing on board new clients, the accounts department keeping a close eye on the financials, the human resources unit recruiting new members of staff or the IT personnel working to make sure that the requisite technology is available and working as it ought to be. But the reality is often different. An office needs someone that makes sure everything works smoothly and that the things needed by each department are available when they are needed. This is where the role of office administrator jobs kicks in.
Description
Jobs for administrators entail coordinating the day to day activities of an office. In larger organizations, the administrator's role can span multiple offices and geographical regions. The actual role of the administrator will vary from one industry to another and from one organization to the other. But even when defined, office administrator jobs require that the person possesses one of the highest levels of versatility when compared to other types of office jobs. Typically, the administrator will work with the persons in the office they are responsible for to define tasks and come up with a priority chart. The office administrator will then help allocate the tasks and monitor to ensure completion on time and within the institution's laid down procedures.
One of the key roles of the administrator will be to determine the resources needed by each person or team and working towards making these resources available. Often these resources will be in the form of office stationery such as printing paper, and equipment such as printers and computers. Many times the management of supplies will go beyond simply ordering on demand, but will also entail helping departments draw up budgets, making sure each department remains within its budget for the financial year and ensuring that there is appropriate justification and approval if the budget has to be breached midstream.
Requirements
Even though the academic requirements for an entry level office administrator job may not be necessarily strict, you will need to at least have an associate degree with emphasis on the areas of business, management and communication if are to have a shot at some of the better paying and senior jobs for administrators. It would also be a major plus if you have expertise in the most commonly used office desktop applications such as Microsoft Office, Open Office and Adobe Acrobat Reader.
But other than the technical and academic expertise, there are certain personal qualities that are vital for administrator jobs. Working well under pressure is one of them. You will be coordinating the activities of different departments of the organization while keeping a close tab on third party stakeholders such as suppliers. Even without the title of office manager, office administrator jobs must occasionally wear a manager's hat and be assertive in handling the different types of personalities that you would expect in an ordinary work environment. Your interpersonal skills as well as your strengths as a team player will be called upon time and again to make sure each person delivers on their tasks.
Remuneration
Looking at the broad range of responsibilities that office administrators will be charged with, it is no surprise at the wide disparity in salaries for jobs in this field. Pay can range anywhere from as low as $25,000 to as high as $65,000. The factors that will determine the remuneration of an administrator will be first personal skills such as level of experience and academic training, but also the work environment such as size of organization as well as work location. Bigger institutions will usually pay much higher for jobs for administrators than smaller organizations will.
Where to find administrator jobs
In the US, the main source of office administrator jobs is the federal government. You can check internet job boards for administrator vacancies. Alternatively, you can come up with a list of companies that you would be interested to work for and then send out an application to each. The good thing is that the outlook for jobs for administrators is expected to be stable for the next 10 years.
