Career Essay: Administrative Services Manager

Jean wearing an impeccable suit is sitting in a professional office with a pile of neatly organized papers. Yes, she is a manager indeed. Not an ordinary one, but an administrative services manager. Because this career, administrative services manager, has “big” words in it, people often ignore this job. It is a person who organizes or manages a certain area of business related to services. This career requires many responsibilities for they are responsible for running the business smoothly and effectively. In other words, they control majority of the business system including finance and services. Administrative services manager is not an easy career, but I, who have skills and talents related to managing, am eager to manage a business and am willing to take this job for my future.

I am an ingenious person who has many skills associated with business management. My peers tell me I have good speaking, artistic, acting, hand-craft, and time-managing skills. Surprising, but it is habitual for me to find myself staring at my agenda, organizing my daily schedule in my head, not forgetting to calculate the time between each event. For example, after school, I have a set of plan for the rest of the day. Neatness, which is essential in managing, is one of my prides. For every subject, I have an individual binder for it. In the binder, there are my works in the chronological order of dates. At school, I am a member in Forensics team. Recently, I won second place in oral interpretation. This proved me of my speaking skills. Presenting my ideas and my plans, which are some of the manager characteristics, are the enjoyments I have in school. This is the reason why I am often the leader of the group at school.

Throughout my research, I found that the job that fits with me the most with my skills was an administrative services manager. From Self-Directed Search by Dr. John Holland, most of my career came out in engineering area. It included “production engineer, radiation protection engineer, foreign exchange trader, chief bank examiner and industrial-health engineer” (Holland 11). None of these careers seemed to favor me, so I decided to do a further research on engineering. Since engineering was related to managing, in addition, I researched managing careers.

Becoming an administrative services manager require many skills and talents. When I did one of the tests on my natural affinities, it was mainly about organizing skills: “…ENTJs are from an early age bent on the exacting and untiring practice of their budding coordination skills, which enable them to be good at systematizing, arranging, generalizing, summarizing, compiling evidence, and demonstrating their ideas” (Keirsey 3). My skills which were managing and organizing, matched the result. This also matched with my career information. “Administrative services managers should be analytical, detail-oriented, flexible, decisive, and have good communication skills” (Administrative Services Manager). When my skills were compared with the characteristics of an administrative services manager, they matched adequately.

Through the natural affinity test, I was able to find out the reason why I am often the leader of a group. “…they[ENTJ’s] have a strong natural urge to bring order and efficiency wherever they are-to harness people and resources and to lead them toward their goals with minimum waste of effort and maximum progress” (Keirsey 3). It was related to my top values: being successful, being in charge, and doing something hard. To me, being in charge is significant because it shows me my power to command because I personally do not like to be told what to do. I work hard and use my time wisely to bring a satisfying, successful result.

To fulfill my dream to become an administrative services manager, I have to go through many process of training with a determined focus. I should focus my studies on business areas where I can learn about what I have to do and what I am going to be responsible for. My career information told me that I should take “…courses in office technology, accounting, and business mathematics, computer applications, human resources, and business law” (Administrative Services Manager). For the future, I should work toward achieving “Attainment of the Certified Manager(CM) designation offered by the Institute of Certified Professional Managers(ICPM)…” (Administrative Services Manager). CM will greatly help with my position promotion. These studies and process of receiving certification is a long way to go, but I’ll take them as an advice, an introduction to becoming an administrative manager.

To get a bigger view of my career, I interviewed Mr. Hyon Geun Oh, who is currently the boss of Hotel Queen. He told me that he “…mostly look[s] for their[manager] loyalty, diligence, and experience record. Since they have to interact with many clients, I expect them to have good communication skills” (Oh translated by Lee). I should take communication arts classes from next year to improve my speaking skills. “They[managers] sum up everything. They also think of ways to bring back clients” (Oh translated by Lee). By joining student council or prom committee, I should practice and think of ways to improve my managing and organizing skills.

My career information fit well with my values and skills, relatively matching with each other; therefore, administrative services manager is an excellent job for me. Managing is all about organizing and being able to run an organization or a business effectively. After going through tough training process, first, I will work in a small organization to get a glimpse of what the environment is like. When I get employed in a bigger organization, then, I will know what to expect. Through more research and studies about this career, I will be prepared to face its challenges.


Works Cited

"Administrative Services Managers." Occupational Outlook Handbook. 20 December 2005. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. 12 Mar 2007 .
Holland, John L. The Occupations Finder. Lutz: Psychological Assessment Resources, Inc., 2000.
Holland, John L. Assessment Booklet: A Guide to Educational and Career Planning. Lutz: Psychological Assessment Resources, Inc., 1994.
Keirsey, David. Please Understand Me II. Del Mar, CA: Prometheus Nemesis Book Company, 1998.
Oh, Hyon Geun. Translated by Jean Lee. Telephone Interview. 11 March 2007.