Pursuing a Career in Administration: Everything You Need to Know
Pursuing a career in administration brings many advantages, including versatile work opportunities across various industries as well as being in high demand due to the crucial role they play in office dynamics. Acting as the lynchpins holding organisations together, administrators ensure smooth operations, allowing other employees to concentrate on their specialised roles. With salaries starting from £25,000, and paying up to £45,000 and more for senior administration positions, administrative roles are not only financially rewarding but also provide invaluable experience in managing business operations smoothly.
Types of Administrative Jobs Available
1. Team Administrator
Team Administrators or Administrative Assistants have responsibilities across the whole range of a business or company’s work. The role is broad and can cover everything from general office administration such as filing, data entry, maintaining meeting schedules, mailing correspondence and so on, to assisting with a team’s project management workload.
Team Administrators are there to take the administrative burden away from other employees, allowing them to focus on business development and generating revenue. This is a perfect entry-level role as it allows you to get experience of a wide range of administrative support tasks and can be both full and part-time roles.
2. Business Support Administrator
Similar to a Team Administrator, Business Support Administrators take on a wide range of administrative duties within an organisation. However, the role will also include administrative duties involving technical, facilities and financial support such as taking payments, processing orders, producing payment, financial and staffing reports, ordering office and other facilities supplies, organising maintenance of fixtures and fittings and acting as a main point of contact with IT support services.
This is another perfect entry-level administrative role that is common in the public sector and in smaller organisations, and allows you to gain experience in many different administrative areas.
3. Front Desk Administrators
Front Desk Administrators are the first employee that a customer, visitor, or client interacts with when visiting a business meaning the impression they portray is incredibly important. Beyond answering telephone enquiries and greeting visitors, Front Desk Administrators collect visitor information, maintain visitor lists in case of emergencies, control building access, manage incoming and outgoing mail and deliveries, schedule appointments and conduct other administrative tasks. Positions can be full or part time and some businesses may require front desk support on evenings, nights and weekends.
4. Department Administrators
Often specific departments within an organisation will hire administrative assistants to support their unique functions within the business. Depending on the industry involved this can include job roles as varied as Marketing Assistant, Editorial Assistant, HR Administrator, Communications Assistant, Payroll Administrator or Facilities Administrator.
Each role will often require at least a basic understanding of the department’s specific function as well as prior experience in a similar position. Often, it’s useful to have or be working towards a qualification in the field you will be providing support for.
5. Executive Assistant
An Executive Assistant can support the wider team they are assigned to and/or a specific executive or group of senior members of staff. Executive Assistants will often manage the diary, make and receive calls on their behalf, filter, prioritise and respond to emails, take meeting minutes and any other tasks that help executives perform their job. This can be a demanding role as Executive Assistants are supporting senior employees in high level business functions and many executives have exacting standards. You will usually need some prior experience in an administrative role.
What Does an Administration Career Path Look Like?
Once you’ve landed your entry level administrative role your career development path in administration can be extremely versatile and fulfilling. Businesses large and small across every industry require competent and high-quality administrative support staff so building up experience in entry-level roles can be the key to advancing to Office Administration or Executive Assistant positions in large companies who are often global household names.
Administrative positions can also be excellent ways to gain in-depth knowledge and experience of more specific skills such as marketing, Human Resources and communications that will enable you to move horizontally into different careers.
Get started in your administrative career with Australasian
If an administrative role sounds like it would suit your skillset and you want to begin your career in administration in London we can help. Explore the latest vacancies, get support with writing your CV and connect with exciting, high-profile clients across London who are looking for business support and administration staff today.
Send us your CV to get started.