Where can I find an office manager?

Office managers need to be close to the office, and do not need any particular specialist skill, so your local newspaper may well be the best source of candidates. In London, where local newspapers play a smaller role than in many other regions, the Evening Standard often carries adverts for office managers wanted.

Local high street recruitment agencies can be very helpful trying to recruit office managers, especially since many PAs or secretarial staff view the office manager position as a step up to a more interesting and responsible role.

Using an agency should save you quite a lot of time in putting together a shortlist of candidates. The agency should also provide you with some feedback regarding local salary levels.

In practice

In theory, hiring a good office manager ought to be one of the easier positions to fill. In practice, it is often extremely hard.

Because the roles and expectations vary, and need such a strong dose of general skills, it can be hard to find someone with sufficient intelligence, maturity and common sense who does not wish to do something more focussed, such as specialise in HR or bookkeeping. It’s far from ideal to hire someone who meets most of your requirements, but leaves you having to get somebody else within your company to assume some responsibilities.

Due to the wide ranging possible responsibilities of office managers, it is more important than with many positions to spend the time coming up with a full job description.