Skills Required to Be an Administrator

The main job of an administrator in any given organization is to ensure that the office operations run smoothly. Administrators are thus, in a way, the backbone of an organization. Today, there is a need for skilled, experienced, and good administrators in all kinds of industries, be it health care, information technology, or education.

They work in various departments of an organization, such as personnel department, accounts, human resources, sales, etc. So, you can see, as administrators work in different kinds of industries in different departments, their job profiles vary greatly.

Still, for those who are keen to enter this profession, knowledge of the various roles that they play as well as the skills required to be successful in this profession will be of immense help.

In some organizations, attending calls, arranging meetings and appointments, interacting with clients and suppliers, maintaining office and business correspondence, and sending emails, are all a part of an administrator's job. This requires good language, grammar, and oral communication skills.

Knowledge of specific software which help them plan and manage office operations and maintain office records, as well as Internet skills, are prerequisites.

There are some administrative skills which are job-specific. For instance, some jobs require a person to participate in selection and recruitment of candidates. So, in order to handle such a job, a person should possess good interpersonal and interviewing skills.

As a person becomes a senior administrator, he may be required to participate in the performance appraisal of the employees. Developing office policies and planning office procedures may fall under his job purview.

Organizational skills are a must have to succeed in this profession. A person should be good in time management and should have ability to multitask. As an administrative job requires you to manage and take care of a lot of responsibilities simultaneously, you should have the ability to juggle a lot of tasks and finish them within the prescribed deadlines.

Maintenance of office records, filing, doing and maintaining office paperwork, ensuring availability of office supplies, and overlooking regular maintenance of office machines and equipment, are some of the jobs which an administrator needs to perform on a regular basis.

Other jobs may require you to be a degree holder in fields such as administration, business, or office systems technology. Learning on the job and gaining experience in one's chosen industry is a great way to learn the required skills.