In Demand Career:  Office Administration

By Randall Olson

When choosing a career path, one of the most important things to consider is the long-term job market in your chosen field.  If you are going to train for and specialize in a particular line of work, it is important to be sure that there is going to be demand for people who have your skills in the geographic area where you want to live and work.

Virtually every business needs office support personnel, and that is not likely to change for the foreseeable future.  Any business that has an office needs employees to handle the day-to-day office administration functions.  Some companies have a very small office support staff, and some have a large number of employees handling administrative functions.  

Some companies that don’t even have offices utilize the assistance of office administration professionals.  Many small business owners and those who operate home based businesses utilize the service of virtual assistants.  A virtual assistant is an administrative support professional who handles administrative functions for clients from his or her own home office.  Clients pay only for the time and services that they need, and a virtual assistant may work with several different clients at a time. 

What Do Office Administrators Do?

The roles of office administration professionals varies from one office to the other, depending on the industry, type of business, and the manner in which tasks are divided among employees. 

Typical administrative personnel responsibilities include some or all of the following tasks:

• Customer Service
• Data entry
• Document processing
• Event planning
• Internet research
• Keyboarding
• Mail processing
• Multi-line telephone system
• Travel planning
• Office equipment operation
• Purchasing
• Records Management
• Scheduling
• Working with promotional materials
• A variety of additional duties

In some offices, a particular office administration employee might handle one or a few functions for the entire organization, such as records management or travel planning.  In other offices, an office support staff member might provide all of administrative functions for either a particular manager, or for the entire organization if the business is small.

Preparing for an Office Administration Career

It is important to know what types of skills that employers need so you can make an informed decision about the best type of training for your chosen profession.  When hiring office support personnel, many companies look for employees with a combination of the types of technical skills that are needed in the particular job as well as a positive attitude and strong communication skills. 

While job duties vary from one position or company to another, most jobs are going to require candidates to have specific computer and office equipment skills.  Many companies require pre-employment testing to determine the strength of a job candidates skills.  Tests often include skill sets such as:  typing speed, skill with Microsoft Office software applications, spelling, grammar, filing, basic math, and other job requirements.  Specialized fields, such as the legal and medical fields, may have additional requirements such as legal or medical terminology and transcription skills.

When considering your options for preparing for a career in office administration, it is vital to focus your efforts on getting and polishing the skills that employers demand.  Many of the skills that employers value are best learned in a hands-on environment.  Make sure that at the conclusion of your chosen training program that you are likely to have the skills that employers value.  There will always be a high demand for skilled office support professionals.

Randall Olson is a career training expert with Mobile Technical Institute http://www.mobiletechwebsite.com.  He specializes in helping individuals identify  career goals and training needs for success in the high-demand fields of Office Administration, Medical Billing and Coding, and Information Technology.  His expertise encompasses instructor-led, online, and hybrid training, and he also oversees the Institute’s Mobile AL training and certification testing certification center.