Behind every business success you can trace the work of strong and proficient administrators. Managers expect a lot from their admin teams, and flexibility is paramount! It could be you're looking into training to get you started in an admin career. Perhaps you've had a break and would like to retrain to get back up-to-date. Alternatively you may need a specific certification to get a promotion you're after. Whatever your reason, there are an abundance of training and certification programmes available for the motivated person.
We refer to a whole spectrum of staff members as administrators - from the office temp to the senior PA. Primarily the first thing you'll need to know is how to use a PC. So you must understand how to carry out research online, how to send and receive email, how to set up files and work in a number of Microsoft applications.
There are a great deal of course providers who advertise online if you need more training in any of these areas. Investigate what the different training companies can offer you. Have a look for example at how two or three that are featured here might vary on price, delivery of teaching and certifications offered. A quick tip - Press Ctrl and D at the same time and you can bookmark this or any other webpage for easy reference.
In addition to good PC knowledge, anyone entering an office environment will need to develop other administrative competencies.
It's always worth honing up your telephone skills for the business environment, and there are excellent training programmes available.
To keep up to date with the latest thinking, consider further up-grading your skills on a regular basis. Focus on training that adds value to the work you do to support others. Learning how to prioritise and compartmentalise your work will pay dividends, especially when your time is divided between a number of managers. Clerical workers are often asked to write reports, emails and letters on behalf of other members of staff. Look online to access many excellent courses to fine-tune your writing skills.
It's not unusual for most managerial staff to deal with their own emails, yet many still rely heavily on their senior administrative personnel for a variety of other tasks. Assume that many other clerical staff have covered the basics, and go the extra mile. Seek out training in extra skill-sets that will set you apart from the rest. Having the ability to handle a variety of different business situations will significantly increase your value and so enable you to command a more generous salary.
"Only those who do nothing make no mistakes." - Anon.
Senior corporate managers expect increasingly high administrative support, therefore more complex knowledge can be needed. Look at some of the course categories below to get a feel for where you may need to improve:
Find out which methods can avoid pressure build-up and how to stay out of the danger zone! Develop your problem-solving techniques to increase your own and your departments' productivity.
Discover how to focus on one job at a time. Discover the most up-to-date systems and procedural methods for time efficiency. Become skilled at managing your workload more efficiently, by learning how to ask the right questions to establish priorities.
Improve telephone techniques and customer service skills to gain mutually positive outcomes. Find out how to calmly work through conflict and deal effectively with other people's frustrations. Recognise how to make the offended party feel important.
Study the skills needed to get others to really hear what you have to say. Understand how to tune-in to what other people really want from you. Display confidence and trust with your body language. Discover how to write compelling business documents.
You may find yourself drawn to becoming a specialist as your experience builds. Professional certifications are available in many areas, e.g. Business Law, Accounting, Finance or Managing Change to name but a few.
So jump on the bandwagon and find out more right now! All sectors of industry need good administrators. Are you going to be an indispensible asset in one of those sectors? Every organisation needs good employees. Great administrators are the glue that holds those employees together so they can work in harmony with each other.