Job Descriptions

The last job that I had was as an office manager for a local IT company. The company had just changed ownership and the new owner was interested in candidates that did not have the typical background that would be required to be an office manager. I was moving to the area after getting out of the military and was looking at different fields to work in. The job description of the job entailed managing personnel, inventory management, advertising coordination, bookkeeping amongst other responsibilities. What I liked about the description is that it made it appear that I would be able to be involved in many different aspects of business and be in a position where I could make important decisions. My experience matching the job description was hit and miss. I did get to be involved in different aspects of the business but not in the ways that I thought. The owner had a hard time relinquishing control of certain roles that were advertised as part of the office manager job description such as advertising. Often the advertising decisions were made by the owner, and I would be responsible for providing any information needed by the advertising agency. Inventory management was a constant battle of me ordering parts requested by the technicians and the owner canceling them and ordering other parts instead. If a technician was sick or we were overbooked, I found myself filling in. Overall I did learn a lot about how a business works as this was my first job that was not the military and the experience I gained was invaluable.