What is an Administrative Professional? Who are Administrative Professionals?

By Karen Porter

The Administrative Professional
Job Performance and Career Success Coach
Assisting Administrative Support Professionals Since 2004

The phrase administrative professional can be an official title or a general title associated with administrative support staff. Sometimes informally called admin professionals (the short version of administrative professional), these are the individuals who are the administrative support system of corporate America and globally. You'll find them using titles in the workplace such as administrative assistant, administrative secretary, executive administrative assistant, executive assistant, senior administrative assistant and even office manager. Those are some of the common titles of administrative professionals. However, admin titles are specific to individual companies. That's just a small sample of administrative professional titles.

Administrative professionals perform work that includes writing business correspondence, developing and maintaining paper and electronic filing systems, managing individual projects, conducting research online and offline, creating and maintaining databases, scheduling for managers and executives, maintaining calendar systems for individuals and departments, ordering office supplies and maintaining inventories, leasing office equipment, working with vendors, answering and handling telephone calls, creating spreadsheets and reports, planning and coordinating small and large meetings and events, and much, much more.

Administrative professionals often are highly trained professionals who know how to use computer software extensively along with multiple office equipment. They usually are good communicators, able to adapt to different personalities and work styles of bosses and coworkers whom they assist and or work with.

Admins are highly composed professionals; after all, it is admins who greet and assist company visitors and customers as well as managers, executives and their other staff. Administrative professionals are frontline personnel and backend personnel. Often admins offer the first impression of their companies to customers and visitors when they greet, direct or assist them. Ironically, they also offer the last impression of the company to these same folks since they also usually assist or interact with them last as they depart. In that respect, administrative professionals can be the "voice" and "face" of a company to visitors and customers.

According to Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Outlook Handbook, "Secretaries and administrative assistants held about 4.1 million jobs in 2004, ranking among the largest occupations in the U.S. economy."

Administrative professionals work in many industries ranging from construction to finance to hospitality to much more. Many administrative support professionals support multiple managers or entire departments, even entire small companies, while others work for individual executives.