Office Manager Job Description

Get a copy of a free office manager job description template to help you hire faster.

Job Description for Office Manager

Building a job description to post to job boards is an art.  Having run a job posting software for several years, we have some unique insight into what makes a job description good vs what makes a job description great.  There are several lessons learned after analyzing successful office manager job descriptions who receive the top 1% of applicants.

• Office manager job duties are typically requiring someone who is able to multitask very well.  Because of this, it is easy to get focused on all the roles and responsibilities they will be covering.  It can get overwhelming to the applicant.  Our research shows the top employers hiring for office manager positions will focus more on the company overview and who their clients are.  It will talk about the size of staff supported by the office manager.  There is some broad overview on the tasks the office manager must complete, but this is explained the exact functions will be laid out more during the interview.
• Top employers hiring for an office manager will expand more on personality traits they are looking for.  Office managers historically are organized and able to carry high volume of tasks.  They need to be exceptionally efficient while continually looking for ways to improve process.
• Gather a list of soft skills that match your company values and demonstrate a successful office manager.  You can highlight these in the job description and create questions for the interview that centralize these important skills.

Job Description Template for Office Manager

Office Manager Job Overview

Our company is looking for an experienced Office Manager that is well organized, an effective problem solver, and a good communicator.  You will manage all office operations and procedures to ensure optimal office efficiency.

Office Manager Responsibilities

• Hire, train, counsel, supervise, and discipline office staff
• Plan and organize meetings
• Prepare an annual budget and manage office finances
• Direct and oversee maintenance, supplies, bills, errands, equipment, and all office procedures and operations
• Work with HR to design, implement, and enforce office policies
• Work with IT on maintaining office equipment
• Should be able to predict possible problems that could cause reduced productivity and look for creative solutions.
• Assign clerical responsibilities and measure performance with support office staff.
• Provide continual training and guidance to office support.
• Coordinate office staff activities to ensure maximum efficiency
• Establish outlines and procedures for business record management.
• Design and implement filing systems
• Ensure safety  and standards to protect business documents.
• Monitor and maintain office supplies inventory
•  Handle customer inquiries and complaints

Requirements for Office Manager

• Proficient in Microsoft Office
• Proficient in Google Apps
• Knowledge of management and leadership principles
• Prior management or administrative experience
• Effective time management and multi-tasking
• Excellent leadership, problem solving, communication, and organizational skills
• Some light bookkeeping knowledge is preferable
• High School Diploma
• Three years experience in managing or running an office

Key Skills and Proficiencies:

• Assertiveness
• Attitude
• Planning and Organizing
• Problem Solving
• Efficient
• Communication
• Teamwork
• Integrity
• Budgeting
• Processe Management
• Inventory Control
• Supply Management

What Does an Office Manager Do?

Offices managers are charged with the responsibility of keeping the pulse of the business operations in order.  They perform tasks to allow operational efficiency in the office.  They are often tasked with working independently and report to company leadership. The financial G&A line items are often assigned to the Office Manager.

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Steps After You’ve Written Office Manager Job Description

Posting your office manager job to job boards

After you have taken the time to write your job description, find some free job posting sites to put your job description on.  There are many ways to know if you’ve written your job description well.  If you’re not getting any candidates, consider adjusting your job description title and introduction.  These tend to carry the most weight from job boards.

The best way is to look at conversion rates.  You can use tools like, VIVAHR to measure how many people clicked on the job, read the description, and ultimately applied.  A good conversion rate from view to applicant needs to be above 18%.

Creating your office manager scorecard

Comparing candidates to one another can be a hard task.  We recommend using a hiring scorecard to accurately compare candidates to the core values of the company, hard skills required to the business and ultimately the personality to perform the role.

Assign the internal hiring team

Having a clear picture on who is making the final decision on hiring for the office manager is an important step.  Give the authority to the hiring team and hold them accountable to ensuring they bring in the right candidate.  We recommend allowing someone from your leadership as well as entry-level team members to be apart of the hiring process.  This will help create office buy-in for whomever you end up hiring.  Having someone up and down the organizational chart participating can create peer acceptance and easier on-boarding when the new office manager begins their role.

Office Manager Interview Questions

Setting up your interview questions can help you build an effective job description.  This will help keep you hiring process in alignment.

Office Manager Situational Questions

• What experience have you had previously supporting office systems and work space?
• Share a time when you’ve been required to control and build your own schedule and responsibilities.
• What goals did you set for yourself and how did you measure success?
• Explain a time when you have dealt with office crisis and how it was resolved.
• Share ways you have kept yourself organized.
• Describe a time when you have found conflict with leadership team you’ve worked with.  How was it addressed?
• What is the most challenging part of being an office manager?
• How can you promote the core values of an organization through your responsibilities?
• What administrative process didn’t work well at your previous job?

Posting Office Manager Job

If you should find yourself in need of posting your office manager job, we’d be honored to let VIVAHR assist you with this process. When using VIVAHR, you’ll be able to build your job description, hiring team, job scorecard and automate your job posting to dozens of job boards.  As your candidates apply to your job, you can use VIVAHR to track and manage each applicant.