Admin Jobs Bristol

     

Bristol is a large city with thriving public and private sector businesses looking to employ experienced staff for administration purposes. The great thing about admin jobs is that we can gain experience for them in our daily lives, which makes it easier to apply for jobs where experience is vital. All it takes is a little creativity in the CV writing stage of job applications.

No matter how old you are, we all have experience administering out own lives. Time management, filing and communication are all responsibilities of admin staff, and we all know how to do them. If you have never had a job in administration before, you will still have experience in some of the roles required of you. For example, if you are a new mother looking to head back into work, you will know how to manage your time effectively and be able to balance a number of tasks at a time, determining which is the most important. Don’t feel embarrassed to put maternity leave on your CV, and use the skills you developed in looking after your newborn on there. This will show that you have initiative.

Knowing some of the basic roles that administration staff are required to undertake is important if you are applying for jobs in this area. You need to ensure that if you are asked about your experience during a job interview, you have an answer ready. Have a look at some of the typical day to day activities that you would be doing and try to think of what experiences you have which match the criteria:

  • Filing: Paperwork is a large part of admin jobs, as your employer needs to know that all their correspondence is organised and ready to find at the drop of a hat. The type of documents you will be dealing with include letters to staff, job applications, order sheets and daily correspondence. You may even be asked to develop your own filing system depending on the state of the current system.
  • Speaking on the telephone: In this day and age it is near impossible to find anyone over the age of five who has not used the telephone at sometime in their life. It is our premier form of communication although it is quickly being caught by email. Having a pleasant telephone manner is essential for a role in admin as you will be responsible for picking up inbound and making outbound phone calls.
  • Using the computer: The diverse nature of an administrator’s job requires knowledge of computers. You might be responsible for the upkeep of staff calendars online, taking internet bookings, responding to customer enquiries and updating databases. This will require knowledge of spreadsheets, writing tools and database management systems.

Most people who have had a job before will have experience in all of these areas, although a high level of computer literacy may be less common than the first two. If you need to think about how your lifestyle has given you these skills, here are some handy facts that most people can relate to:

  • Most people of legal working age will have had to deal with paperwork at some point in their lives. Household bills, birthday cards, letters of correspondence etc. All have to be dealt with in some way. Most people invent their own filing system to keep their most important papers safely and in order. If you have a large family, your CV could state that for many years you have been responsible for the paperwork connected with every member. This lets your potential employer know that you can organise a number of people effectively.
  • If you follow a financial budget you could make a spreadsheet for this on your computer which will give you the experience needed to organise databases. Creating your own email address with outlook can help you to understand how internet calendars work. Think about all the times you have ever needed to use a computer and apply these to your CV. It is better than putting ‘no former experience’ down on the application form.

Admin jobs are great for people with little formal work experience or those looking for flexible hours and no physical activity. In Bristol there are hundreds of recruitment agencies that can help you tailor your CV for admin jobs and will put you in touch with potential employers. A quick internet search should help you find enough vacancies in the area that are suitable for your level of experience.