Clerical and administration

Clerical and administrative jobs involve carrying out routine organisational tasks such as sorting and distributing mail, writing business letters or memos, answering telephone enquiries, attending to visitors, operating office machines such as photocopiers, filing papers and documents and a range of other functions such as banking, credit control or assisting with functions or travel arrangements, depending on the employer. Administration jobs overlap with clerical work and involve implementing office or organisational operations. Work can include a combination of information technology, human resource management, office resource management, written communication, verbal communication, research and budgeting. 

Industry characteristics and trends

About 9.8% of the labour force are employed as ‘elementary clerical, sales and service workers’, a further 17.1% are employed as ‘intermediate clerical sales and service workers’, and a further 4.3% are employed as ‘advanced clerical and services workers’.  At the same time, there is an increasing need for clerical and administration workers to specialise in a particular field of work, such as the transport industry for example, in order to be competitive for available jobs. 

Major characteristics of general clerks (clerks, receptionists and secretaries) are that:

• a majority of general clerical roles are undertaken by women (78.5%);
• roughly two thirds of clerical workers are employed full time;
• according to the Department of Employment and Workplace relations, there are ‘average’ to ‘good’ employment prospects in clerical work;
• the main employing industries are identified as government administration and defence;
• clerical and administration work is heavily impacted by changing technology, rapidly changing business functions and an increasing need for cross-cultural communication;

Opportunities and requirements

There are opportunities for people with experience and training in clerical work and office administration. Skills gained in these occupations are generally transferable to other areas of business or government operations and the skills can be combined with other fields of interest. Specialist areas that can be entered include:

• Arts administration;
• Legal and paralegal administration;
• Medical administration;
• Music industry administration;
• Human resource management administration;
• Local government administration;
• State public service;
• Australian public service;
• Educational administration;
• Hospitality administration;
• Tourism administration;
• Sports and recreation administration;
• Advertising and marketing administration;
• Banking and finance administration; and,
• All other industries such as automotive, manufacturing, mining, transport and storage, building and construction and electrical/electronics. 

Career paths

It is possible to enter a clerical job without specialised training and to build the skills to increase employment opportunities and prospects. Educational qualifications have an important impact on career options and employability. According to Business Training Australia, 73% of graduates completing VET courses find employment within five months of completing their course. Out of this group, there is a 93% employment rate for those completing New Apprenticeships in administration. There are too many possibilities to list but a common career path is to advance to senior office or business management roles through gaining qualifications in accounting or business administration. Other areas such as human resource management, marketing or tourism operations are all very real possibilities starting from a clerical position. 

Core attributes

There are some core requirements and attributes necessary for clerical and administrative employees.  These include being:

• Efficient, methodical and well organised;
• Polite, well-presented and punctual;
• Skilled in spoken and written English;
• Able to work independently and as part of a team;
• Able to follow instructions;
• Discrete and ethical; and,
• Skills in utilising new information technologies or the capacity to learn these skills.

Employers will want to find out how a potential applicant demonstrates these attributes through their behaviours, presentation and communication through an application and interview.  For advice on preparing for such an interview, see www.careerone.com.au.

Employment wages and conditions

Clerical and administrative employees work in an office environment, often as part of a team. It is common to work full time standard working hours from Monday to Friday. Wages and conditions vary according to qualifications, experience and the employer and details about relevant awards in a particular industry, state or territory can be found at www.wagenet.gov.au or through the relevant state or territory department responsible for industry relations. While entry level or training wages are likely to be reasonably low, there are good opportunities for higher earnings with training and experience. The Department of Employment and Workplace Relations identify that only fourteen per cent of clerical and administrative employees earn less than $500 per week for full time adult employment. 

Training

The Business Services Training Package sets out qualifications from Certificate I – IV, Diploma and Advanced Diploma in business with a range of specialisations including:

• Legal administration;
• Legal services;
• Business administration;
• Sales;
• Record keeping;
• Frontline management;
• Medical administration;
• Small business management;
• Advertising;
• Marketing;
• Human resources;
• Governance;
• Purchasing;
• Project management;
• Franchising;
• Unionism;
• Quality auditing.

There are also qualifications in E-business with specialisations in E-business development, E-learning and strategic E-business development. 

There are increasing numbers of people who undertake on-the-job training in administration work through new apprenticeships.  This can be undertaken part time while still at school through VET in schools programs or as a full time employee.

The Salvation Army Employment Plus placements

The majority of clerical and administrative placements for The Salvation Army Employment Plus have been general clerks, keyboard and data entry operators, office assistants, managers and receptionists.

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