The term office administration is most often used in reference to office support positions. Within this area, there are a variety of positions with varying levels of responsibility. While some office administration jobs provide admin support to specific executives, managers, or departments exclusively, others assist the office as a whole. As both the definition of administration and the need for administrative assistance grows, many job titles are used interchangeably and vary from workplace to workplace.
Office administration jobs at the entry level usually include such responsibilities as opening, sorting, and distributing mail and filing, typing, collating, and printing documents. Answering phones, greeting incoming visitors, and procuring refreshments for meetings and lunches may also be included in an entry level job description. Data entry and customer service call center jobs are also occasionally included in this group. Job titles might include front desk clerk, receptionist, junior administrative assistant, or file clerk.
Mid-level admin jobs often include such responsibilities as answering email and phone queries on behalf of the organization, arranging meetings and travel for staff, 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 then acts as that department’s coordinator. These jobs might have such titles as administrative assistant, administrative coordinator, or office manager.
Senior office administration jobs handle the highest level of responsibility in office administration and most often involve working closely with executives or other members of senior management. In small organizations, senior office admin may even handle responsibilities that might otherwise require an entire department, such as marketing, HR, or accounting. Typical responsibilities include managing executive itineraries, creating manuals and documents for meetings, approving orders for office supplies, attending meetings in place of executives when required, creating executive expense reports, and acting as “gatekeeper” and sometimes spokesperson for one or more executives. In addition to working closely with management, senior professionals might also supervise entry level admin staff and delegate tasks to them. These jobs might carry such titles as executive assistant, executive coordinator, or senior administrative assistant.