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Administrative Services Managers
Significant Points
* Applicants for the limited number of higher-level management jobs will face keen competition; less severe competition is expected for lower-level management jobs.
* Administrative services managers work throughout private industry and government and have a wide range of responsibilities, experience, earnings, and education.
* Like other managers, administrative services managers should be analytical, detail-oriented, flexible, decisive, and have good leadership and communication skills.
Nature of the Work
Administrative services managers plan, coordinate, and direct a broad range of services that allow organizations to operate efficiently. They might, for example, coordinate space allocation, facilities maintenance and operations, and major property and equipment procurement. They also may oversee centralized operations that meet the needs of multiple departments, such as information and data processing, mail, materials scheduling and distribution, printing and reproduction, records management, telecommunications management, security, recycling, wellness, and transportation services. Administrative services managers also ensure that contracts, insurance requirements, and government regulations and safety standards are followed and up to date. They may examine energy consumption patterns, technology usage, and personal property needs to plan for their long-term maintenance, modernization, and replacement.
Specific duties for these managers vary by size of company or office and degree of responsibility and authority. In small organizations, a single administrative services manager, sometimes called an office manager, may oversee all support services. (See the statement on office and administrative support worker supervisors and managers elsewhere in the Handbook.) In larger ones, however, there may be several layers of administrative services managers that may specialize in different areas and report to directors of administration, or vice presidents of administration who oversee all administrative services.
The nature of these managerial jobs varies as significantly as the range of administrative services required by organizations. For example, administrative services managers who work as contract administrators oversee the preparation, analysis. negotiation, and review of contracts related to the purchase or sale of equipment, materials, supplies, products, or services. Other administrative services managers handle the acquisition, distribution, and storage of equipment and supplies, while others oversee the disposal of surplus or unclaimed property.
Administrative services managers who work as facility managers plan, design, and manage buildings, grounds, equipment, and supplies. Increasingly, they develop and implement plans that incorporate energy...