Administration

As an administrative assistant, it would be your job to deal with the day-to-day office work for your employer.

You may also be known by many other job titles, such as clerical assistant or office administrator.

Some of your tasks would depend on the type of company you work for, but would typically include: filing and retrieving information and documents; data entry; typing letters ; and recording or updating information using computerised or manual systems.

You could also be photocopying documents; managing diaries; booking travel; and dealing with incoming and outgoing post.

In some jobs you might specialise in one or two of these tasks, in others you could be responsible for all the administrative duties in your department.

Starting salaries can be between £11,000 and £14,000 a year.

With experience this could rise to between £16,000 and £19,000 a year.

You could get into administrative work with most levels of qualification and experience - entry requirements vary widely between employers. Some may prefer you to have GCSEs including maths and English, while others may test your keyboard, filing and telephone skills instead of asking for qualifications.

Temporary work ('temping') can be a good way of getting experience that may lead to permanent jobs. You may find it helpful to take a full- or part-time college course in administration before you look for office work, although this is not essential. 

You could take a wide range of courses, including NVQ levels 1 and 2 in Business and Administration or Pitman, OCR (RSA) or Education Development International LCCI certificates and diplomas.

You may be able to get into this type of work through an Apprenticeship scheme. The range of Apprenticeships available in your area will depend on the local jobs market and the types of skills employers need from their workers. To find out more about Apprenticeships, visit www.apprenticeships.org.uk.