Office and Administrative Support · Holland code ECS

First-Line Supervisors of Office and Administrative Support Workers

Directly supervise and coordinate the activities of clerical and administrative support workers.

Also called: Accounting Manager, Customer Service Manager, Customer Service Supervisor, Office Manager, Accounts Payable Supervisor, Accounts Receivable Manager, Administrative Supervisor, Office Coordinator.

O*NET 43-1011.00

At a glance

US median annual pay: $69,500; Middle half earn $55,950 to $85,090. BLS OEWS, May 2025.
Most common education: Bachelor's Degree; 45% of workers surveyed by O*NET report this level.
Preparation needed: Job Zone 3 of 5; Medium preparation. Zone 1 is little or none; zone 5 is graduate-level.

What the work involves

The tasks workers in this occupation rate as most important, from the O*NET survey.

Supervise the work of office, administrative, or customer service employees to ensure adherence to quality standards, deadlines, and proper procedures, correcting errors or problems.
Resolve customer complaints or answer customers' questions regarding policies and procedures.
Provide employees with guidance in handling difficult or complex problems or in resolving escalated complaints or disputes.
Review records or reports pertaining to activities such as production, payroll, or shipping to verify details, monitor work activities, or evaluate performance.
Discuss job performance problems with employees to identify causes and issues and to work on resolving problems.
Prepare and issue work schedules, deadlines, and duty assignments for office or administrative staff.
Recruit, interview, and select employees.
Interpret and communicate work procedures and company policies to staff.

Skills and knowledge it leans on

Skills

Reading Comprehension4.0 / 5
Active Listening4.0 / 5
Speaking4.0 / 5
Monitoring4.0 / 5
Critical Thinking3.9 / 5
Writing3.8 / 5

Knowledge areas

Administration and Management4.5 / 5
Customer and Personal Service4.2 / 5
English Language3.7 / 5
Administrative3.7 / 5
Computers and Electronics3.3 / 5
Personnel and Human Resources3.2 / 5

Importance ratings on O*NET’s 1 to 5 scale. Higher means the occupation depends on it more.

Who tends to enjoy it

How strongly this occupation draws on each of the six Holland interest types, which is the same profile the career interests test compares you against.

Realistic10
Investigative6
Artistic0
Social56
Enterprising98
Conventional78

The same work abroad

Other countries classify jobs differently, so these are the closest matches through the international ISCO-08 standard, not exact equivalents.

European occupation titles (ESCO)

business service manager · DE Führungskraft für Unternehmensdienstleistungen · FR directeur services aux entreprises/directrice services aux entreprises
court administrator · DE Gerichtsverwalter/Gerichtsverwalterin · FR chef de juridiction
call centre manager · DE Call-Center-Manager/Call-Center-Managerin · FR responsable de centre d’appels
contact centre manager · DE Leiter des Kundendienstes/Leiterin des Kundendienstes · FR responsable service clientèle
call centre analyst · DE Call-Center-Analyst/Call-Center-Analystin · FR analyste en centre d’appels
call centre supervisor · DE Call-Center-Trainer/Call-Center-Trainerin · FR superviseur de centre d’appels/superviseuse de centre d’appels

Closest UK occupation groups (SOC 2020)

Customer service managers (4143)106,200 employed
Customer service supervisors (7220)40,100 employed
Travel agency managers and proprietors (1225)10,400 employed

Employment is the UK Annual Population Survey for April 2025 to March 2026, all workers in the group, which can be broader than this one occupation.

Pay across Europe, for the whole group

Median annual earnings of all employees in “Technicians and associate professionals”. This is the broad ISCO group this occupation falls in, not the occupation itself, so treat it as context for the wage level, not as a salary for this job.

Median annual earnings, Technicians and associate professionals, by country
Country	Median pay
Belgium	€50,992
Austria	€46,986
Germany	€44,473
Netherlands	€42,448
Ireland	€41,613
Sweden	€41,155
Italy	€34,882
France	€34,816
Spain	€29,757
Portugal	€18,080
Poland	€12,108

Eurostat Structure of Earnings Survey, businesses with ten or more employees outside public administration, in euro and not adjusted for the cost of living. Reference years differ between sources: the US, Japan and Europe figures on this page come from different survey years, so compare them as rough levels, not to the euro or yen.

Exposure to AI

This occupation sits in the higher third of the 774 occupations scored, with an exposure score of +1.04. The scores are standardized across those occupations, so 0 is the average and a score of 1 is about one standard deviation above it.

Our note on reading it: the dataset links AI applications to the abilities that occupations require, so the score reflects overlap between the two. It is a comparison between occupations, not a forecast about jobs. It does not say whether exposure means tasks are replaced or workers get more done with the tools, and it says little about one employer or one role.

Source: Felten, E., Raj, M., & Seamans, R. (2021). Occupational, industry, and geographic exposure to artificial intelligence: A novel dataset and its potential uses. Strategic Management Journal, 42(12), 2195-2217. Matched to this page by 6-digit SOC code (43-1011).

Is it a fit for you?

Interest is one input, alongside ability, pay and what is hiring near you. The career interests test takes about thirteen minutes and ranks occupations by how closely their profile matches yours.

Take the career interests test