What is an Office Manager?

If you’re thinking about a career as an Office Manager but not sure what that entails, here’s some helpful information.

What does an Office Manager do?

Almost every public and private business that runs an office, whether it’s a small or big will likely have an Office Manager, to organise all the administrative duties that facilitate the smoothing running of the office.

The day to day duties will vary depending on the organisation, but for the most part, the Office Manager will cover the following duties:

• Maintaining calendars
• Organizing meetings
• Training staff
• Handling employee conflicts
• Monitoring all office operations
• Organising and motivating administrative staff
• Dealing with office equipment and maintain the condition of the office and arrange for necessary repairs
• Ordering stationery
• Manage online and paper filing systems and make sure they are up to date
• Develop and implement new administrative systems, such as record management
• Record office expenditure and manage the budget
• Delegate work to staff and manage their workload and output
• Respond to customer enquiries and complaints


What Skills are required? The requirements for an Office Manager vary depending on the size of the business, bigger companies might require the candidate to hold a degree in one of the following:

• Business Administration
• Business Management
• Computing and Information Technology
• HR Management


Where smaller businesses might only require a candidate to hold A Levels/BTEC.

Skills required:

• Strong decision-making skills
• Excellent interpersonal, oral and written communication skills
• Excellent organisational skills
• Time management skills
• Knowledge of Microsoft Office Suite (Word, PowerPoint, Excel) strong IT and typing skills
• Attention to detail

Career Path to Office Manager?

Office Manager roles aren’t usually entry-level positions and typically the desired candidate will have previous administrative or managerial experience.
If you are in an administration role and want to progress up to an Office Manager role then undertaking the following courses/qualifications will help you on your way to a promotion.
Key courses:

• Managing and leading teams
• Appraisals, recruitment and selection
• Equality and diversity legislation
• Health and safety
• Stress management & time management
• Assertiveness


Why not take a look at our available Office Manager roles in Guernsey and start your career today.