Administration Officer

Pay

Pay for administration officers varies depending on their experience and skills.

• Entry-level administration officers with limited experience and basic keyboard skills usually earn between $35,000 and $40,000 a year.
• After one or two years' experience, most administration officers earn about $49,000.
• Senior administration officers with five to 10 years' experience usually earn between $40,000 and $58,000.

Administration officers in the private sector generally earn more than those in the public sector.

Source: Hays Salary Guide 2012

• MoreBusiness.com website - use this calculator to convert pay and salary information
• Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment website - information about minimum pay rates

What you will do

Administration officers may do some or all of the following:

• prepare and track budgets, pay bills, and do banking and invoicing
• monitor and/or maintain equipment and supplies
• ensure health and safety issues are addressed, including making staff aware of building safety procedures and safe work practices
• work on reception
• organise meetings and take minutes
• oversee, distribute and file correspondence
• project or database management
• research, records management and filing.

Skills and knowledge

Administration officers need to have:

• knowledge of budgeting and office finance systems
• knowledge of health and safety laws
• knowledge of minute taking and report writing.

Working conditions

Administration officers:

• usually work regular business hours and often work part time or to job-share
• usually work in offices and reception desks of businesses.

What's the job really like?

Judi Brennan - Programme Manager Service

Behind the scenes enabling teams to function

"Spreadsheeting and HR and all that is part of administration, but understanding the people you work with is paramount.

"I work for the Department of Conservation. I’ve been out with the goat hunters, I've helped identify weeds and I did a night at a hut listening for kiwi.

"So I don't see my job as just being in administration. What I do enables our teams to get rid of possums and keep our huts and tracks going so people can visit them."

Juggling teams and priorities

Judi runs budgets, recruitment processes, health and safety, and business planning, so she has to be well organised and adaptable.

"After a month's rain, we can't get into the back country to the huts – the team has to have something else to do – it's juggling all of that.

"Understanding the team is paramount. They come to me for advice, or to bounce around ideas.

"I don't often say no to requests. I would feel I was not doing my job! I know how to prioritise, I can say, 'not now' – but I can't say that."