Swap to Admin, HR, legal or Finance & accounting or go back to all job sectors
Admin assistants write letters, emails and reports, maintain data records and filing systems and provide support for meetings.
You could work: between 8am and 6pm; Mon to Fri
In this role you could:
We've identified this as a potential green job
For an admin assistant to be a green job, you could:
Find out more about green careers
You could work in an office or remotely.
You can get into this job through:
You could do a college course, which would teach you some of the skills and knowledge you need in this job.
Courses include:
Entry requirements for these courses vary.
You could apply to do a Business Administrator Level 3 Advanced Apprenticeship.
This takes between 1 and 2 years to complete and combines on-the-job training with study.
You'll usually need:
You might be able to start as an admin assistant on a temporary contract through a recruitment agency. This can often lead into a permanent job.
Qualifications or experience in office work will be helpful. Employers will give you training on the job, covering their data entry systems.
You could volunteer with a charity in an office based role to get some experience and skills that are useful for administration work.
You can find volunteering opportunities through The National Council for Voluntary Organisations and Do IT.
You can apply directly to become an admin assistant.
Employers may look for GCSEs at grades 9 to 4 (A* to C), or equivalent qualifications, including English and maths. Word processing and spreadsheet skills will be useful, along with good customer service skills.
Time management and the ability to prioritise tasks is really important in administration. This could be tested at interview. For example, you might be given some tasks to complete and asked to arrange them in order of importance.
With experience, you could progress from admin assistant to supervisor or office manager. You could also move into other departments, like payroll, accounting or IT.
With further training, you could:specialise in legal, financial or medical administration; work in information management; become a personal or executive assistant