Office clerk

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Office administrator or office clerk is a nationally recognized training occupation in Austria . In Germany, the three office professions of office clerk, clerk for office communication and specialist for office communication were merged on August 1, 2014 to form the new job description clerk for office management . The field of activity is diverse. Office clerks can be found in almost all industries, where they always fulfill different areas of responsibility. In particular, the introduction of modern communication systems into the office world made a fundamental reform of the office professions necessary, so the profession in Germany was reformed in 1991.

Training in Germany

In 2011, 21,175 new training contracts were concluded in Germany. On the ranking list of apprenticeships after new degrees in Germany, office clerk was in third place. The job is a classic women's domain . In 2010, the proportion of women in training and professional practice in the DACH countries was between 71 and 80 percent.

The training to become an office clerk is completed like many other training occupations in the dual system , but also at vocational schools or other supra-company providers. It is divided into in-company and school-based training. There is compulsory vocational school, which is attended once or twice a week or in a caste system, i.e. several days in a row.

In-company training

conditions

The requirements for training to become office clerks depend on the respective training company. For example, larger companies attach great importance to knowledge of English , French or Spanish as a foreign language and others do not. In principle, the profession does not have a minimum level of qualification, but mostly the secondary school leaving certificate or the technical college entrance qualification is required.

activities

The activities of office clerks are mostly highly dependent on the department in which they are employed (purchasing, sales, accounting , human resources , etc.). Industry-specific areas of responsibility must also be distinguished. They are mostly fixated on the IT systems . These systems are used to have a better overview of the inventory and to communicate with other companies and customers etc.

Office clerks are also finding new areas of responsibility in marketing . In large companies in particular, they take on the coordination of advertising materials, place orders for the production of commercials and ensure customer satisfaction in customer care centers. In order to be able to carry out their varied tasks efficiently, office clerks have to be familiar with the handling of the current hardware and software.

Training allowance

Year of training monthly
remuneration (2013)
1 483-772 EUR
2 565-836 EUR
3 684-915 EUR

School education

conditions

In the vocational school, the trainee acquires the theoretical knowledge specific to the job. In general, training companies value good grades in the following subjects (in order of importance):

The proportion of secondary school graduates who receive an apprenticeship in this occupation is shrinking from year to year. Most of the trainee office clerks have a secondary education, which, due to their previous education, has a positive effect on the dropout and failure rate in final exams. School leavers with a university entrance qualification ( Abitur ) or a technical college entrance qualification ( Fachabitur ) are still rare in this training occupation .

Due to the previous education of school leavers with intermediate education, the training is sometimes shortened from three years to two and a half, often to two years.

activities

The main subjects taught in the vocational school are:

final exam

The job of office clerk is the only job in Germany that can be completed either at the Chamber of Crafts (HWK) or at the Chamber of Industry and Commerce (IHK) . The subjects of accounting, office management as well as economics and IT are also the final examination subjects. The final examination consists of a theoretical and practical examination.

The theoretical exam is taken first, you will be examined in accounting, economics, office management and IT, the answers to the first two are multiple-choice , IT, on the other hand, is completed directly on the PC. However, the written exams are increasingly being converted from multiple choice to open-ended questions.

The practical exam is taken about five weeks after the theoretical exam. There is an examination committee of the HWK or IHK, which examines you. There are two different subject areas as a task, between which the examinee has to decide, then he has about 20 minutes to think about the task. The examination committee will then put questions about the task at hand to the examinee. The training officially ends with the successful completion of the practical test.

Training in Austria

The three-year training also takes place in the dual training system at the relevant vocational schools and at training companies in all sectors as well as public administration institutions. As in Germany, many vocational schools offer similar training. According to the law, the completion of nine years of compulsory schooling is sufficient as a school requirement. Most successful applicants, however, have completed a secondary school and / or polytechnic school.

The training content and requirements are similar to those in Germany. Austrian apprentices learn the basic tasks and activities of office organization and customer care. Depending on the training company or institution, different priorities are set, such as administrative organization for teaching in the public service. Office clerks conclude with the final apprenticeship examination, which consists of a written and an oral part. This examination is also considered to be the completion of the apprenticeship as an administrative assistant . Related apprenticeships, such as financial services clerk or insurance clerk, as well as many other office and administrative jobs, can be completed with a shorter apprenticeship period.

Training opportunities

Germany

Trained office clerks have the opportunity to acquire a higher commercial qualification, for example as a specialist , specialist or business economist , as part of advanced training. Once you have completed your vocational training, you can also study at universities of applied sciences in Austria and Switzerland .

Austria

The opportunities for further education include above all offers of subject-specific further education in course form, such as accounting, payroll accounting or information and communication technology (ICT). For higher qualifications at colleges, technical colleges and universities, you usually need the vocational matura (vocational matriculation examination), which is made up of the final apprenticeship examination and four other exams. As a result, academic degrees such as Bachelor or Master can be obtained.

See also

Individual evidence

  1. Office management clerk / clerk for office management . Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training (BIBB). Last accessed on August 10, 2014.
  2. Ranking list of the training occupations of the Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training (BIBB)
  3. Amount of the training allowance  ( page no longer available , search in web archivesInfo: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 504 kB) according to the Federal Employment Agency, as of March 1, 2013@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / infobub.arbeitsagentur.de  
  4. Training ordinance for office clerks ( memento of the original from December 22, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 163 kB) of the Austrian Ministry of Economic Affairs, valid since 2004  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.bmwfj.gv.at
  5. Current examination regulations ( Memento of the original dated December 28, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 71 kB) of the Austrian Ministry of Economic Affairs, valid since 2007  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.bmwfj.gv.at
  6. Further education information from the Institute for Economic Research in Education (BIC) accessed on August 9, 2010

Web links

Germany:

Austria: