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Office and Administrative Support occupations are an important part of nearly every sector of the economy and encompass a vast range of positions, all of which are administrative in nature (from low- to high-end) and play a vital role within an organization. Positions include, but are not limited to: Secretary and Administrative Assistant; Customer Service Representative; Office Manager or Supervisor; Proofreader; Clerks (e.g., brokerage, insurance, mail, file, court, municipal, license, new account).
The role of the office support professional has evolved significantly over the years, owing its growth and expansion to office automation, technological advancements, and organizational restructuring. As a result, these professionals, depending upon the specific occupation and education level, have taken on responsibilities once handled by management or other professional staffers.
Office support professionals share much in common, including: supporting management in making a business run smoothly and efficiently; using a wide variety of office equipment, computers, and software in their daily tasks; working on tasks, projects, and programs with deadlines; and, supporting or managing processes.
Most individuals work in clean and well-lit offices. Workweeks range from part-time to full-time (40-hours) to long and irregular that, depending upon the role and nature of the business may include evenings, weekends, and holidays.
Some of the more common characteristics and traits that are required and shared in office support roles include:
Office and Administrative Support Education
Education requirements vary greatly and are dependent upon the specific role, specialty area, and at times, the specific industry. While the majority of office support jobs do not require formal education, they do typically require a minimum of a high school diploma; on-the-job training is fairly common under close supervision of an experienced colleague or supervisor.
Some occupations require post-secondary, formal education along with specialized skills and knowledge. Examples include, but are not limited to:
Schools for Office Support are listed in the column to the left.
This table shows summary data on occupations in the US. Clicking on any occupation name brings you to a page showing job prospects and salaries for that occupation in hundreds of metro areas across the country, with data updated through 2008.(Where data is denoted by an asterisk (*), summary info was not available.
The green bars in the table below indicate the relative salary levels and growth rates of each occupation, compared to the others. The levels are determined by sorting the occupations (by salary or growth rate, separately) and then dividing them into ten groups corresponding to the the ten possible green bar levels. So a single bar means the occupation is in the bottom 10% for that characteristic compared to others on this page.
Click each Occupation title for more details.
| Occupation | Jobs | Median Pay | % Growth 2006-2016 | Video |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Customer Service Representatives | 2,233,270 |  $29,860 | 24.8% |  |
| Desktop Publishers | 26,210 | $36,600 | 1% | |
| Executive Secretaries and Administrative Assistants | 1,491,520 | $40,030 | 14.8% | |
| Insurance Claims and Processing Clerks | 237,800 | $33,100 | -1.2% | |
| Secretaries | 1,872,070 | $29,050 | 1.2% | |
| Supervisors Of Office Workers | 1,404,330 | $45,790 | 5.8% |
These schools offer particularly quick info upon request, and we have written detailed profiles for each (click school names to see the profiles).
Request info from multiple schools, by clicking the Get Info links.
We have some additional detailed pages at the state level for Office Support.
Numbers in parentheses are counts of relevant campus-based schools in the state; online schools may also be available.
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