Administrative assistants are the unsung heroes of any organization. They are the women and men who take care of quotidian details so the big bosses can do whatever it is they do behind closed doors in cushy corner offices. While the head guys plot the fate of different factions of the civilized world, someone has to be the foot soldier, transforming those plans into reams of paperwork.

Administrators supervise secretaries and the temp staff. They engage in office management. They schedule the boss's appointments, change the paper in the printer, and liaison with other departments within the entity. In so many words, the administrator is the jack-of-all-trades who ensures that the office runs like a well-oiled machine.

Administrators must be aware of the strengths and weaknesses of their staffs in order to delegate responsibilities. Diplomacy and people skills are a prerequisite. They must oversee the work of others but strive to resist the temptation to micromanage. Most people do not function well with a supervisor breathing down their necks. Administrators may also participate in performance reviews of people who report to them, play an active role in the hiring of new employees, and take on the occasional uncomfortable and unfortunate duty of firing someone.

Most administrators in government jobs work a typical forty-hour workweek. The forty-hour week has gone the way of the dinosaur in the private sector, but the government is still a place where clock-punching remains. You must be flexible, however, in the event of an office crisis, when you may be asked to go the extra mile.

Many administrators rise up from within the ranks; others are recruited from outside the organization. Those eager to climb the ladder had better be willing to demonstrate their ability to go above and beyond the call of duty. Some cynics may believe this trait is not a mainstay of government employees, but it is in your best interest to be a team player and to display problem-solving and leadership abilities. Those brought in from the outside usually start in entry-level positions and work their way up.

There are about 1.5 million administrative workers currently employed in the United States, and the government employs many of them. There is stiff competition to fill these government jobs, as there is for almost every kind of job these days. The number of applicants exceeds the number of job openings. The employment outlook for these jobs is optimistic, but expect the number of opportunities to grow slowly.

The average salary for an office administrator is $41,000. The lowest-paid 10 percent earn less than $25,000, and the highest-paid 10 percent earn more than $67,000.