Thinking About Becoming an Administration Manager?
Thinking About Becoming an Administration Manager?
If you’ve ever worked in an office, you will have either worked alongside or under an Administration Manager. These organisational wizards are responsible for the smooth running of the office but there is so much more that they do behind the scenes.
In this article we are going to go over everything you need to know about becoming an Administration Manager including how much they earn, what they do and how to get into this industry.
What is an Administration Manager?
Administration Managers, sometimes also called Office Managers or Head of Administration, are the unsung heroes of the business world.
They keep the office running and make sure every administrative task has been assigned and is handled.
Administration Managers will train, hire, and evaluate administration employees, improve workflows, design, implement policies and procedures, keep the office filing systems and work to improve on those systems.
They also often handle a lot of communication duties, dealing with clients and customers and communicating vital information to the staff and the customers as needed.
They are often in charge of stocking the office and ordering supplies, organising office functions and meetings, and overseeing document handling, reporting and budget management.
Where do they work?
There is a need for Administration Managers in every industry. Some aspect of all industries include administration and there’ll be a head office if not office locations scattered about.
This means this job can take you anywhere. From the fashion industry to the mines and construction or to the entertainment industry and pretty much anything in between.
The versatility of this role and the industries you can access in it is a part of what makes it such an attractive field for job seekers. There’s also steady job growth in this industry making it a safe bet for those wanting a career that is future proof.
How much do they make?
Administrative Managers or Office Managers typically make between $65,000 and $75,000 per year with the median wage being $70,000.
Not too shabby for a job that doesn’t require a university degree.
Of course, the earning potential of the job can grow depending on the industry. Some industries such as construction and mining can often offer more in the way of salary to accommodate the need for remote living or travel. How much you can make all depends on where you work.
What can you do next?
While the role of Administration Manager is pretty much the top role you can get as an administrative professional, there are other roles that you might progress into from there. Different industries and roles will give you different opportunities for career progression but some of the roles you might want to grow into are Project Manager, Executive Assistant or Compliance Manager.
What skills do you need?
Administration Managers require a variety of skills to excel in their profession. If you want to make it, you’ll need to be organised, good at thinking on your feet and be a natural born leader. But there’s much more to it than that.
Communication Skills
It’s so important when you are managing people that you are a good communicator.
If you are in charge of the workflows and you don’t effectively communicate what you want done, you’ll find you have workers doubling up on tasks. Being a good communicator is a must have skill for Administrative Managers.
Leadership Skills
As an Administration Manager you’ll be in charge of the whole administration team.
It will be your job to manage the workflows, delegate tasks, assign projects and review the professional performances of everyone on your team. This means you need to be comfortable taking charge and giving directives. Successful Administration Managers need good leadership skills.
Attention to Detail
The devil, as they say, is in the details and that’s why Administration Managers need to have excellent attention to detail. The buck stops with you. So if something important is missed in a project or in the written processes for the business it’ll be your head on the chopping block. Having a keen eye for details is crucial to this job.
Creative Problem Solving Skills
You’ll need to be able to think outside the box.
Other department heads will turn to you to fix issues they are having with processes and workflows, so there will be times when you need to pull a rabbit from a hat and make something work that just isn’t working. Having creative problem solving skills can really save your skin in this kind of role.
How do you become an Administration Manager?
There are many different paths to become an Administration Manager.
You could work your way up from the inside of a company as an Administration Assistant or you could study a degree in business. The middle ground between these two paths is to explore a Diploma of Business Administration. This gives you all the base knowledge and skills you’ll need to excel in the role.
The course, which is taught through online self-paced study, has eight units and can take anywhere from 4 months to 8 months to complete.
In this course you’ll learn:
- how to plan and implement administrative systems
- how to manage meetings
- how to create and design business documents
- managing payroll
- undertaking project work
- customer services
- managing personal work priorities and professional development and much more.
If you’d like to know more about the course you can check it out here or have a chat with one of our friendly course advisors.