Why I’m a manager of both places and people– Office Manager – Why I Love My Job

My job title has become a running joke with the food shopping delivery man during the lockdowns. I get asked the age-old question of, “What you do for a living?” as I’m piling up my Oreos next to my pasta sauce as I forgot to bring some carrier bags to the door (again!). I respond with, “I’m an Office Manager”, and I get the usual sarcastic response of, “Oh, so what do you manage then?”. I’d be lying if the response didn’t wind me up just a teeny bit. Because I don’t just manage an office. Like yes, that is in the title of my job, but I also do things outside of that remit.

So, what even is an Office Manager then if they do things outside of Office Manager-y stuff, I hear you ask. Well, an Office Manager is a type of office administrator. Administrators tend to keep things running, such as answering queries, responding and sending emails, making sure paperwork is completed and filed and usually some finance and data work is completed. Without any administrators, nothing would function.

For example, at school, you need the school reception team to make sure teacher’s sign in to school, oversee registers, talk to parents and email and send letters home, etc. Without any of that, the school might not have supply teachers, that school trip you were excited about would never be sorted and your mate in class never got caught bunking off of school. And while I’m sure you not having a teacher for class might appeal to some of you, it defeats the whole point of school. Therefore, the admin staff keep doing tasks to make sure teachers can teach and allow support staff in the school support students.

An Office Manager is just a step up. We tend to oversee other admin staff as a line manager. This means the admin staff report to you with the work they do and you support them doing their job by offering guidance where appropriate. You also manage the office space itself. You may need to make sure equipment is ordered, such as books, computers, stationery etc. You may also be responsible for overseeing a project by the admin team and have more responsibility with budgets and decisions in your company.

So, while you now have the gist of what an Office Manager is, you might wonder why I picked it.

While admin isn’t everyone’s cup of tea (and no, administrators aren’t there just to make the tea and coffee!), it’s something I thoroughly enjoy! At school, I was an allrounder and a jack of all trades. I’m not particularly “clever” in one area. I liked English, but if you’ve seen my YouTube video of me at sixth form, I really screwed up my A-Level in English so my passion didn’t match identically to my academic strength. I was good academically, but nothing particularly special. I very much bobbed along in school. And as I left school and dabbled in part-time jobs and volunteer opportunities, I realised I didn’t mind talking to people (after being incredibly shy throughout school and really, REALLY hated speaking to anyone) so a phone call slowly became less scary!

I finished my degree and saw a Coordinator job for an education project. I enjoyed helping people in my old jobs which tended to be with young children or at my university so I thought why not try and go for it. And I got it!

I worked two years really hard in this role, with a wonderful team and manager who supported me in bits of training and allowing me to try new things and find the bits I really enjoyed. And because of this, I was offered a promotion as our team expanded. It’s been 6 months now of my new role and I love the variety. While it may look like I sit at a computer for most of the day, I do lots of different things from managing our University Insiders blog account, writing reports, creating posters, paying people, doing emails, booking hire cars and hotels, organising meetings and writing minutes and so much more. Every day is a little bit different, but also stable enough that I know what to expect when I walk into the office (or my home office!). I find the work fulfilling as I get to support people going out and delivering education programmes and know I’m making my contribution to bettering society… just behind my computer screen!

Thanks for reading,

Charlie