Office Manager / Administrative Assistant
🗂️Answers calls, manages the boss's diary, documents and correspondence, orders supplies and keeps the office running.
Prospects & pay
What the work is like
💼 Job market
🇺🇸 $50.9k a year on average · -6% jobs by 2035 · 163,900 openings a year
Secretaries and administrative assistants, except legal, medical, and executive — US: Census ACS 2020–24 (full-time), BLS projections 2025–35
🇬🇧 £34.9k median a year · 84,000 jobs
Personal assistants and other secretaries — UK: ONS ASHE 2025 (full-time)
🤖 AI & automation
AI assistants take over calendars, calls, documents and email. The mass job is shrinking; personal assistants to senior executives will remain.
Who it suits
Interests: 🗂️ Order, paperwork, systems, 🤝 Helping and caring, ✍️ Writing and literature.
Key strengths: organisation, attention to detail.
Where to study
- Apprenticeship Business Administrator apprenticeship (UK, Level 3)
- Vocational BTEC / T Level in Business Administration (UK), associate degree (US), Kaufmann/-frau für Büromanagement (DE)
- Course Executive PA courses, Microsoft Office Specialist
Key school subjects (A-level / IB / AP): English Literature, Languages, Business.
🧗 Open to school and college leavers: a Business Administrator apprenticeship (UK), Ausbildung in office management (DE) or an associate degree (US). Executive PA roles need languages and experience.
Things to know
🪑 Sitting at a computer all day
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