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First-Line Supervisors of Office and Administrative Support Workers

Also called Accounting Manager, Customer Service Manager, Customer Service Supervisor, or Office Manager

What First-Line Supervisors of Office and Administrative Support Workers do

First-Line Supervisors of Office and Administrative Support Workers directly supervise and coordinate the activities of clerical and administrative support workers.

Who tends to enjoy it

Leading

People who like persuading, selling, starting things, and taking charge.

Organizing

People who like keeping things accurate, orderly, and running on schedule.

Helping

People who like teaching, caring for, and working closely with people.

What you'd actually do

  • Supervise the work of office, administrative, or customer service employees to ensure adherence to quality standards, deadlines, and proper procedures, correcting errors or problems.
  • Resolve customer complaints or answer customers' questions regarding policies and procedures.
  • Provide employees with guidance in handling difficult or complex problems or in resolving escalated complaints or disputes.
  • Review records or reports pertaining to activities such as production, payroll, or shipping to verify details, monitor work activities, or evaluate performance.
  • Discuss job performance problems with employees to identify causes and issues and to work on resolving problems.
  • Prepare and issue work schedules, deadlines, and duty assignments for office or administrative staff.
  • Recruit, interview, and select employees.
  • Interpret and communicate work procedures and company policies to staff.

A typical day involves

Face-to-face with people Email Part of a team Sitting Deadlines and time pressure Working with the public

Skills that matter most

  • Reading Comprehension
  • Active Listening
  • Speaking
  • Monitoring
  • Social Perceptiveness
  • Coordination

What you'll need to know

  • Administration and Management
  • Customer and Personal Service
  • English Language
  • Administrative
  • Computers and Electronics

Where to study for this

College programs that commonly lead to this career, and how many US colleges offer each.

  • Administrative Assistant and Secretarial Science 638 colleges
  • Office Management and Supervision 282 colleges
  • Medical Office Management / Administration 154 colleges
  • Executive Assistant 114 colleges
  • Medical / Health Management and Clinical Assistant / Specialist 31 colleges
  • Medical Reception / Receptionist 53 colleges
  • E-Commerce / Electronic Commerce 72 colleges
  • Customer Service Management 45 colleges

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Medium preparation

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Office and Administrative Support

Office Clerks, General

Perform duties too varied and diverse to be classified in any specific office clerical occupation, requiring knowledge of office systems and procedures. Clerical duties may be assigned in accordance with the office procedures of individual establishments and may include a combination of answering telephones, bookkeeping, typing or word processing, office machine operation, and filing.

Little to some preparation

Source: O*NET 31.0 Database (USDOL/ETA), occupation 43-1011.00, used under CC BY 4.0 and modified by Whittle. Program links: NCES CIP 2020 to SOC 2018 crosswalk. How we build these pages.