How To Become An Administrative Professional: What It Is and Career Path

What is an administrative professional and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

4 min read

Quoted expert

Anne McConnell Ph.D.

An administrative professional performs a variety of administrative and clerical tasks to support the operations of an office or department. Usually, they also double as front desk staff, receptionist, or office manager, which entails additional duties.

The key responsibilities of an administrative professional typically revolve around handling correspondence (phone calls, emails, text messages, etc.), monitoring the inventory of office supplies, overseeing maintenance of office equipment, managing schedules, preparing presentation materials, and attending meetings on behalf of other employees. If they work at the front desk, they are also responsible for greeting guests, signing all visitors in, and receiving mail.

Most employers may require applicants to have a bachelor's degree in a relevant field for this role, but this is not always the case. High school graduates and applicants with associate's degrees may still qualify; however, they may need to have prior work experience.

The salary of an average administrative professional is around $38,000 per year. However, there are some administrative professionals that make up $71,000 annually, which are usually those that work for executives in large companies.

What general advice would you give to an administrative professional?

Anne McConnell Ph.D.

Professor, West Virginia State University

I would say it's important to be very attentive to the way you communicate with your employers, managers, and co-workers. Even sending an e-mail can be an opportunity to demonstrate your professionalism and communication skills. Some people think that no one knows how to write anymore, or how to communicate in a professional way. I don't think that's true. But we don't always think about how our writing can be a tool to communicate our competence and seriousness. If you know how to write and communicate professionally-which college grads do-then make sure to demonstrate that in the workplace.

ScoreAdministrative ProfessionalUS Average

Salary

3.1

Avg. Salary $39,486

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

6.0

Growth rate -8%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

3.1

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.73%

Asian 3.85%

Black or African American 9.38%

Hispanic or Latino 16.41%

Unknown 3.88%

White 65.77%

Gender

female 82.58%

male 17.42%

Age - 52

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 52

Stress level

6.0

Stress level is manageable

7.1 - high

Complexity level

4.4

Complexity level is basic

7 - challenging

Work life balance

7.6

Work life balance is good

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become an administrative professional

Explore administrative professional education requirements

Most common administrative professional degrees

Bachelor's

54.7 %

Associate

22.8 %

Master's

9.2 %

Start to develop specific administrative professional skills

Skills	Percentages
Customer Service	15.63%
PowerPoint	11.62%
Data Entry	11.29%
Travel Arrangements	6.90%
Administrative Tasks	3.16%

Complete relevant administrative professional training and internships

Accountants spend an average of Less than 1 month on post-employment, on-the-job training. New administrative professionals learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as an administrative professional based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real administrative professional resumes.

Research administrative professional duties and responsibilities

Manage documentation, folder structures and user permissions in SharePoint.
Participate in committee meetings by preparing minutes and presentation summaries, planning meeting agendas, and organizing and managing meeting logistics.
Keep vendors accounts up to date, process payroll, collect on accounts receivable, keep accounts payable up to date.
Create document libraries for several hospital initiatives in SharePoint.

Prepare your administrative professional resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your administrative professional resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on an administrative professional resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable administrative professional resume templates

Build a professional administrative professional resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your administrative professional resume.