If you are a good organiser, enjoy taking responsibility and communicating with people, then a job in administration or management could be a good career for you. It is a wide ranging career area, covering many varied and interesting jobs.

Administration and management jobs exist in all industries, in both the public and private sector, so graduates of this career area are always in demand.

Across the UK, over 3.27 million people work in secretarial and administration roles (10.2% of the UK workforce) while there are nearly 3.4 million working as managers, directors and senior officials (around 10.5% of the UK workforce).

What areas can I work in?

The jobs and courses for this career area are in four sectors: general administration and management; economics; human resource management; and public services administration.

There are a wide range of specialisms in this career area, from medical secretarial work to academic administration in colleges and universities. You could become a personal assistant to a business director or a project manager in IT or finance.

To see the routes to getting into each of these sectors, take a look at our Career Pathway.

What kind of companies can I work for?

You could be working in just about any type of company or organisation, for example a construction firm, car dealership, hotel, local council or hospital. 

There is a large administration and management workforce in the public sector, where you could be working for: 

• The Civil Service
• local government – a local authority or council
• public bodies, such as the National Health Service (NHS), Police Scotland or the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service
• Parliament (researchers and politicians)
• a college or university.

What’s the job market like?

The number of administrative and secretarial employees in Scotland has been showing a continued upward trend since 2018. In December 2021 there were 256,100 employed in this area, compared to 252,000 from the same period in 2019.

Again, however, the number of managers, directors and senior officials employed in Scotland fell: 226,800 in December 2021 (compared to 233,700 from the same period in 2020).

Employment numbers in the public sector have seen an ongoing increase: in December 2021, 589,600 people were working in the Scottish public sector, compared to 565,600 from the same period in 2020.

Public sector employment now accounts for 22.3% of total employment in Scotland (an increase of 2.8% from the previous year).

Facts and figures

• From the academic year 2018/19, 60.6% of Business and management studies first degree graduates found full time employment within fifteen months after graduation. 23.5% entered as business, HR and finance professionals (compared to 22.6% in the previous year), and a further 18.9% entered marketing, PR and sales roles (compared to 21% in the previous year).
• From the same period, 59.6% of Economics graduates were in full time employment fifteen months after graduation, compared to 65.2% from the previous year. Of these, 59.3% entered as business, HR and financial professionals, compared to 58.2% in the previous year.
• Graduates of all business and administrative subjects showed higher numbers entering full time employment than the average across all other subject areas, who entered administration and management as a career.
• According to Prospects, the average salary for business and administration graduates is £24,493 a year, a slight fall from £25,000 in the previous year. Economics graduates earn higher salaries, at an average of £31,288 a year, an increase from £30,000 on the previous year average.
• The UK Civil Service employs 450,000 people in a wide variety of occupations, across the UK and overseas.

Want to find out more?

If you are looking for a career in the public sector, the Civil Service offers a number of routes into a career. The Fast Stream programme is open to graduates, other department graduate programmes and also apprenticeships. Visit the Civil Service website for more information.

Instructus Skills (formerly known as Skills CFA) provides information about skills and qualifications in the workplace including apprenticeships and training programmes across the UK for a whole range of business skills.

Sources

• What do graduates do? Prospects in association with AGCAS (2021/22)
• Public Sector Employment in Scotland, Statistics for the 4th Quarter 2021, The Scottish Government Website (December 2021) 
• Labour Market Profile – Employment by Occupation, NOMIS (December 2021)
• The Civil Service website (June 2022)

Video

Career Pathway