Office Manager job description for a resume

The short answer

An office manager writing a resume should describe what they actually did — work like train or instruct employees in job duties or company policies or arrange for training to be provided — rather than copying a generic bullet list. The U.S. Department of Labor classifies the role as First-Line Supervisors of Office and Administrative Support Workers (SOC 43-1011.00). Its 19 published duties are the place to start, and the 14 most relevant are listed below. Reading Comprehension is the capability O*NET rates highest for the work.

What follows is the published duty list, not a set of bullets to copy. The difference matters: a line describing work you did not do is one interview question away from falling apart.

What an office manager does

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

O*NET occupation: First-Line Supervisors of Office and Administrative Support Workers (SOC 43-1011.00).

Office Manager duties you can put on a resume

O*NET publishes 19 core duties for this occupation. These are the 14 its incumbents most often report performing, ranked by O*NET's published relevance rating — not a complete list of the job. Which ranking is a fact from the source; which of them you personally did is not something any dataset knows. Use the list as a memory aid, never as a list to paste.

1. Train or instruct employees in job duties or company policies or arrange for training to be provided.
2. Discuss job performance problems with employees to identify causes and issues and to work on resolving problems.
3. Make recommendations to management concerning such issues as staffing decisions or procedural changes.
4. Implement corporate or departmental policies, procedures, and service standards in conjunction with management.
5. Evaluate employees' job performance and conformance to regulations and recommend appropriate personnel action.
6. Research, compile, and prepare reports, manuals, correspondence, or other information required by management or governmental agencies.
7. Consult with managers or other personnel to resolve problems in areas such as equipment performance, output quality, or work schedules.
8. Participate in the work of subordinates to facilitate productivity or to overcome difficult aspects of work.
9. Develop or update procedures, policies, or standards.
10. Interpret and communicate work procedures and company policies to staff.
11. Supervise the work of office, administrative, or customer service employees to ensure adherence to quality standards, deadlines, and proper procedures, correcting errors or problems.
12. Provide employees with guidance in handling difficult or complex problems or in resolving escalated complaints or disputes.
13. Resolve customer complaints or answer customers' questions regarding policies and procedures.
14. Compute figures such as balances, totals, or commissions.

Skills an office manager can list

O*NET rates these at importance 3.0 or above for this occupation.

Reading Comprehension

importance 4.00

Active Listening

importance 4.00

Speaking

importance 4.00

Monitoring

importance 4.00

Social Perceptiveness

importance 4.00

Coordination

importance 4.00

Critical Thinking

importance 3.88

Writing

importance 3.75

What not to claim

• A duty from the list above that you did not personally perform. It describes First-Line Supervisors of Office and Administrative Support Workers as an occupation, not your particular job — and interviewers for office manager roles ask about the specifics.
• Duties from the 5 published items not shown here, unless you genuinely did them. A longer list is not a better one.
• A percentage, a headcount or a volume you did not measure. "Improved satisfaction by 35%" is the single most copied line on resume-example sites, and almost nobody who pastes it can source it.
• Reading Comprehension at a level you have not worked at. O*NET rates it highest for this occupation, which makes it the most likely thing to be probed.
• A tool, system or certification you have not used or hold. This is the fastest claim to disprove.

Source and method

O*NET data are provided by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration, used under the CC BY 4.0 licence.The duties and skills above are reproduced as published. The resume guidance, the prompts and any generated lines are RoleSprint's, and O*NET did not write them.

Related occupations

Same occupational family in the SOC classification, so the duties often overlap with work you have done.

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