Office Administration Solved!

     It's finally here! After some folks indicated their interest in wanting to learn about Office Administration, and what local employers are expecting with regards to that field, I've decided to focus on the area for this blog.

    So...what do office administrators do? Office administrators undertake a range of functions to make sure the administration activities within an organisation run smoothly. They are essentially seen as the 'eyes and ears of a company'. With their unique overview of the company, administrative staff are regularly tasked with making business critical decisions.

    In an attempt to localize the area and get a local perspective of the field, I spoke to Mrs. Dianne Phillips, the Human Resource manager at WACK 90.1FM (a local radio station in South Trinidad). Mrs. Phillips went on to list some of the responsibilities she expect from her office administration team. 

Duties:

administer salaries and work out leave entitlements 

be involved in staff training and development, the preparation of job descriptions, staff assessments and promotions

maintain management information systems (manual or computerized)

review and answer correspondence

provide secretarial or executive services for committees.

sort and distribute incoming mail to areas and staff within the organisation and dispatch outgoing mail

answer telephone enquiries from customers, attend to visitors and assist other staff in the organisation with their enquiries

operate a range of office machines such as photocopiers, computers and faxes

write business letters, reports or office memoranda using word processing programmes

undertake other duties such as banking, credit control or payroll functions.

    If you are serious about a career in office administration, there are certain qualities one should possess, and these qualities are what administrative staff are valued for, this according to Mrs. Phillips.

Qualities:

• Organized approach
• Communication skills
• Personable phone manner
• Initiative
• PC literacy
• Honesty and discretion
• Time management
• Team ethic
• Ability to cope with pressure
• Professionalism

So that's just a peak into what local employers may expect from you if you would like to have a career in office administration. Of course with different employers and organizations the duties may differ but this is just a little introduction into what they maybe looking for. 

Albert Einstein "The only source of knowledge is experience."