What's it like to work as an office manager at a start up August 20, 2018

What's it like to work as an office manager at a start up

Office managers are the back bone of any organisation and their role is to make sure that everything is running smoothly in the office. Larger well established organisations and companies are able to have a whole team to help them to manage the office but this is very different for start up companies.

Start-up companies are usually natural magnets for chaos, projects are changing all the time, different investors and visitors are coming and going. All the different comings and goings can make your head spin.

When starting up a company the first priority should be to hire a competent office manager. The office manager will keep the office running smoothly so you will be able to stay focused on driving the company forward. If the office manager does their job correctly then everyone in the company will be productive.

Office manager training is something that every competent office manager should complete.

The office manager is the rock of the company that keeps the workplace functional, efficient and most of all organised. Without an office manager managing those responsibilities the other team member would be distracted and less efficient. It might even end up diverting one of the founders priorities.

Being an office manager at a start up

Being an office manager in a start up means that the mistakes that you make are obvious. You come face to face with employees and clients which mean that your mistakes cannot be easily hidden. For example if you get some numbers on an invoice wrong you will get a very negative response from the customer which can affect the company.

Working for a start up company can be very unpredictable, in other companies you might want to tell the future but this is impossible for a start-up. It can be hard to foresee when a piece of equipment will fail or if someone might quit. If this is the case you will have to start the process from scratch.

You constantly have to be on your toes and be ready to take action at any moment in time. Office management skills will come in handy to ensure you are on top of the game.

Working for a start up can mean that you are unable to complete all your responsibilities on time. This might force you to work extra hours in the week to play catch up. You will need to let management know about this to ensure that this doesn’t happen often.

Office management can be an exciting career but you might want a change. There are not many high management positions to progress to within start up’s. This doesn’t mean that you need to steer away from the career, you might need to enrol on management training programs to ensure that you are ready when the position is available.

Unlike a normal office manager job which is the same every day, working for a start-up can make your days different. Within a start up your role is more like a tree that branches out in different ways rather than a straight map. You will be looking at different schedules, one day you will be recruiting, next day handling payroll and ordering stationary.

Need help improving your office management skills? Contact us to find out more about our office management training programs.