Office administration includes a variety of positions with different levels of responsibility, from entry-level tasks like filing and answering phones to senior management roles like managing executive itineraries and acting as a spokesperson. Job titles vary and can include receptionist, administrative assistant, office manager, and executive assistant.
The term office administration is most often used in reference to office support positions. Within this area, there are a variety of positions with different levels of responsibility. While some office administration jobs provide administrative support exclusively to specific executives, managers, or departments, others help the office as a whole. As the definition of administration and the need for administrative assistance increases, many job titles are used interchangeably and vary from workplace to workplace.
Entry-level office administration jobs often include responsibilities such as opening, sorting, and distributing email and filing, typing, collating, and printing documents. Answering phones, greeting visitors, and purchasing refreshments for meetings and lunches may also be included in an entry-level job description. Data entry and customer service jobs are also occasionally included in this group. Job titles may include receptionist, hostess, junior administrative assistant, or receptionist.
Intermediate-level administrative tasks typically include responsibilities such as answering email and phone inquiries on behalf of the organization, organizing team meetings and travel, taking minutes during meetings, and ordering office supplies. Depending on the size of the organization, some offices may employ a mid-level administrative professional in each department who serves as the department coordinator. These jobs might have titles such as administrative assistant, administrative coordinator, or office manager.
Senior office management positions handle the highest level of office management responsibility and most often involve working closely with executives or other members of senior management. In small organizations, the senior office administrator may even handle responsibilities that would otherwise require an entire department, such as marketing, HR or accounting. Typical responsibilities include managing executive itineraries, creating meeting manuals and documents, approving orders for office supplies, attending meetings on behalf of executives when necessary, creating executive expense reports, and acting as a “gatekeeper” and sometimes spokesperson for one or more executives. In addition to working closely with management, senior professionals can also oversee entry-level administrative staff and delegate tasks to them. These jobs might have titles such as executive assistant, executive coordinator, or senior administrative assistant.
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