Almost all the business organizations in this world, whether it be into consultancy business or manufactures a product, have one thing in common, and that is administration. Each one of them has to deal with and handle a big pile of files, manage appointments and schedule meetings, etc. This might look too boring and repetitive in nature, but believe us, it takes some serious skills and knowledge to execute these tasks.
An office manager is a designation that specializes in handling and managing all the administration tasks that pertain to a business organization. Through this article, we will discuss this job profile in detail.
Duties To Be Performed
An office manager holds a vital and key position in any business organization and has to perform a variety of duties and tasks, such as:
- Schedules appointments for the top-level management of the organizations and ensures the concerned personnel is updated from time to time about the status of the scheduled meeting.
- Manages, supervises and handles the corporate or business travel of the top level managers of the organization.
- Organizes and manages the press conferences and events of the business organization.
- Prepares business communications, drafts and legal letters to be sent to the concerned parties
- Manages the stationery and furniture requirements of the business organization
- Deals and handles the consumer complaints, queries and feedbacks
- Ensures that all the employees of the organization are content and no one engages into unethical practices and behaviors.
- Ensures that the budgetary requirements of the organization are fully met and complied with
- Oversees the status of employee as well as consumer claims
- Prepares minutes of the meetings of the board of directors
- Prepares press releases for media personnel
Skills Required
The role of an office manager is more of a generalist, wherein he or she must have knowledge and specialization about a variety of aspects such as finance, organization, sorting, management, etc. In order to successfully execute such a challenging role, an office manager must have the following skills:
| Name of the skill | Why it is needed? |
| Problem-solving attitude | Managing an office and handling the entire workforce is not an easy task. This poses a lot of challenges in front of you, and sometimes the situations could be quite tricky, requiring a quick and effective solution. A problem-solving attitude is the most required skill for an office manager which will not only help to solve the problems but also improve the productivity levels of all the employees. |
| Organization | The role of an office manager revolves around effective management. He or she would be dealing with a lot of files and data that needs to be sorted and managed, so as to draw some meaningful conclusions. Hence, an office manager must be highly disciplined and organized. |
| Good I.T. Skills | This world revolves around technology and hardly there would be any business organization that does not make use of information technology to conduct its business operations. Being an office manager in this technology-dominated world, you are required to have an exhaustive knowledge of the latest software as well as basic computer operation skills so as to effectively execute your tasks and duties. |
| Communication skills | An office manager has to conversate a lot with its seniors, sub-ordinates, or even third-party vendors. In order to give fluent speeches and enter into meaningful conversations, it is necessary to have excellent communication skills. |
| Adaptability | An organization continuously upgrades or modifies its conduct of operations in order to better its business prospects and the way of managing things. This can include the introduction of new technology, new file sorting procedures, revised work-related guidelines, etc. Hence, an office manager must be adaptable and must have the ability to absorb the new rules completely. |
Salary Expectations
The office manager is a critical position in any business organization and is considered as key personnel. A person employed at this designation fetches high salaries and enjoys lucrative incentives. However, the salary garnered by an office manager varies and depends upon the following factors:
| Particulars | Explanation |
| Location | An office manager employed or posted at a location that is urban or metropolitan would always fetch a higher salary than the persons working at semi-rural or rural locations. |
| Work experience | Like for every other job, work experience plays an important role in deciding the salary of an office manager. Experience and salary always maintain a direct relationship with each other. The higher the experience of an office manager, the brighter would be his or her salary prospects. |
| Skills | Every employer organization prefers to hire and pay skillful employees that have the knowledge as well as an understanding of a variety of different skills, such as, MS Office, Advanced Excel, Powerpoint presentations, Accounting systems, etc. The higher the number of skills, the higher would be his or her salary. |
Educational Qualifications
In order to become an office manager, a person is expected to have successfully completed at least a Bachelor’s degree in any field (preferably management or business administration). Further, in order to get quick promotions and a good salary, a candidate can add various certification courses as well as full-time courses (such as CPA, MBA) to his or her arsenal.
Popular Must Have Certifications
Certifications play an important role in deciding the salary as well as employment prospects of a candidate. Prepmycareer recommends every person who is either in the middle or lower-level management to pursue a few relevant certifications. In the context of the job of office manager, below is the list of some most prominent certifications:
| Particulars | Duration |
| Advanced Excel | 3-4 months |
| Operating Accounting Systems (such as Quickbooks, Xero, Zoho Accounts, etc.) | 6 months |
| Payroll Management | 4 months |
| Digital Marketing | 6 months |
| Public Speaking (Communication Skills ) | 3 months |
References
- https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/344121
- https://repository.library.georgetown.edu/handle/10822/559297
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Sandeep Bhandari is the founder of PrepMyCareer.com website.
I am a full-time professional blogger, a digital marketer, and a trainer. I love anything related to the Web, and I try to learn new technologies every day.
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