Planit : Career Areas : Administration and Management

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, in December 2024, nearly 3.1 million people worked in secretarial and administration roles, a slight decrease from 3.16 million in March 2024, while over 3.6 million worked as managers, directors and senior officials. ¹

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 increased since March 2024, from 251,200 to 263,900 in December 2024. ²

The number of managers, directors and senior officials employed in Scotland saw another increase in December 2024 to 230,700, compared to 204,500 in March 2024. ²

In December 2024, there were 597,300 people working in the public sector in Scotland, a slight decrease of 1.2% from the previous year. ³

Facts and figures

From the academic year 2021/22, 64.9% of Business and management studies first degree graduates found full time employment within fifteen months after graduation (compared to 66.5% the previous year). 22.7% entered as business, HR and finance professionals (a decrease of 2.6% from the previous year), and a further 19% entered marketing, PR and sales roles.⁴
From the same period, 62.2% of Economics graduates were in full time employment fifteen months after graduation, compared to 63.7% from the previous year. Of these, 61.4% entered as business, HR and financial professionals, compared to 61.9% in the previous year.⁴
In December 2024, there were 548,000 people working for the UK Civil Service (excluding Northern Ireland), a 2.4% rise from the previous year. ⁵

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.