What are the basic qualifications for an administrative role?

noirist

Hello all.

I am a health care assistant and have been for the past 3 years. I want to completely change the area of work I am in. I would like to try finding an office admin or receptionist job.

I passed the European Computer Driving License in 2008 but this needs updating so I will shortly be re-taking this, with the view to going on to the advanced level.

My question is do you think the advanced level is needed? What qualifications - and generally - what minimum length of experience do most employers look for?

I know there are so many other people out there looking for these jobs with qualifications I don't even have but I am absolutely desperate to get into this work. I an deeply unhappy working in healthcare and can't work another 6 months in it, let alone a year or more!!!

(Before anyone replies with "Well admin is crap anyway!" I really don't need those kind of respenses, thanks. At least in an office role I reckon I would not be breaking my back from heavy manual work!!)

I have never had an admin job but did have general admin and office duties as well as my usual work when I worked in the past as a print production assistant.

I have just now sent an e-mail to a local voluntary organisation giving them my information and asking to contact me if they feel there are any admin roles I could help on. This is so I can have recent admin experience and (hopefully) a referee for future job applications.

What else can I do? I am desperate. Any help or suggestions are greatly appreciated.

Sncjw

try a vision 2 learn course in buisness and admin it is level 2 equivalent to gcse but least you have something in it to build on. It is a free course subject to funding in your area and will tell you straight away.

noirist

Thankyou Sncjw - I will look in to that now.

Sncjw

no problem you have to complete the course within a dealine. im doing equality and diversity.

Nicklt

Don't think you need any admin specific qualifications to get an admin job.

If you have GCSE's and are a competent user of Word, Excel, Outlook etc you should be ok. Experience outways qualifications when it comes to admin positions I beleive. Fitting in with the team, dependable and a hard worker.

I don't work in Admin myself but if anyone did say that admin is crap is a moron. Yes it's generally seen as the bottom rung but many a company would be unable to function if it were not for admin staff.

noirist

Thanks Nickit - I'm sorry I really did not mean to be offensive.

Sncjw

i think it depends on the posting. why not look at jobs in your area. check out universal jobmatch for admin jobs. see what they are asking for. its like you have to work backwards to go forward

InsideInsurance

Admin is a massive range of things from someone who do basic things such as put a file in alphabetical order to someone who knows how to update a RAID log appropriately.

Receptionists tend to be a little different as they are potentially customer/client facing and may have to deal with things like a switchboard system or accident books etc.

Whenever switching jobs you simply need to focus on your transferable skills and make your experience sound more generic. So if I apply for a job outside of insurance then my claims target operating model project becomes a back office one instead.

Nicklt

noirist wrote: »

Thanks Nickit - I'm sorry I really did not mean to be offensive.

That wasn't a go at you. Unfortunately you do get people who think Admin positions are "crap" and the people in them don't deserve any real respect.

Carl31

Nicklt wrote: »

Don't think you need any admin specific qualifications to get an admin job.

If you have GCSE's and are a competent user of Word, Excel, Outlook etc you should be ok. Experience outways qualifications when it comes to admin positions I beleive. Fitting in with the team, dependable and a hard worker.

I don't work in Admin myself but if anyone did say that admin is crap is a moron. Yes it's generally seen as the bottom rung but many a company would be unable to function if it were not for admin staff.

this

plus, for someone like the OP, an admin role is a good foot into a new area without being too much pressure, working from the bottom up is the best way of carving a career in my opinion

I have worked with far too many managers that do not know basic stuff as they came in as managers due to having degrees etc..

Caroline_a

Examples of the type of admin in which you have experience should leap out of your CV. Competence in Word, Outlook, Excel also, plus smart appearance and a good general education (GCSE Maths, English, etc). I think very little notice is taken of specific qualifications unless they are looking for (say) someone who can do audio which needs speed and accuracy, but that's quite old hat now.

Good communication, written and spoken, telephone manner is often required too, as is attention to detail.

Temping is always a good way to start!