Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Office General

🎯 Role Definition

The Office General is a versatile administrative professional responsible for ensuring smooth day-to-day office operations, supporting executives and teams with calendar and travel logistics, managing vendor and facilities relationships, maintaining accurate records and reports, and improving administrative processes. This role blends reception, facilities coordination, procurement support, and basic HR/finance administrative tasks to keep the workplace efficient, safe, and welcoming.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

Receptionist or Front Desk Associate transitioning into broader office responsibilities.
Administrative Assistant or Office Coordinator looking to expand cross-functional skills.
Customer Service Representative moving into internal-facing administrative work.

Advancement To:

Office Manager / Senior Office Manager
Operations Coordinator / Operations Manager
Executive Assistant to senior leadership
Facilities Manager or Workplace Experience Manager

Lateral Moves:

HR Coordinator
Project Coordinator
Procurement Specialist
Records Management or Compliance Assistant

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

Serve as the primary point of contact for internal staff, external vendors, and visitors, providing professional reception services, answering multi-line phones, routing inquiries, and ensuring a positive front-office experience.
Manage complex calendar scheduling and meeting logistics for executives and cross-functional teams, including room reservations, AV setup, agendas, minute-taking, and conflict resolution to maximize productivity.
Coordinate domestic and international travel arrangements for staff and leadership—booking flights, ground transportation, accommodations, visas, and creating detailed itineraries while tracking travel budgets and approvals.
Oversee vendor selection and vendor management activities: solicit quotes, negotiate service agreements, schedule maintenance, monitor performance, and maintain up-to-date vendor documentation and insurance certificates.
Administer accounts payable basics for office-related expenses: process invoices, code expenses, reconcile petty cash, submit expense reports, and liaise with finance to resolve discrepancies and ensure timely payment.
Maintain office supplies and inventory management systems by forecasting needs, placing purchase orders, tracking deliveries, and implementing cost-saving measures while ensuring uninterrupted office operations.
Implement and enforce office policies and procedures, including workplace health & safety guidelines, building security protocols, confidentiality agreements, and emergency preparedness plans.
Manage incoming and outgoing mail and courier logistics, including sorting, distribution, package handling, tracking shipments, and coordinating secure document transfers.
Maintain accurate physical and digital filing systems for contracts, vendor agreements, employee records, and company policies; implement version control and retention schedules to ensure compliance and quick retrieval.
Provide onboarding support for new hires by coordinating workstation setup, access badges, IT requests, welcome kits, orientation schedules, and initial administrative training to accelerate first-day readiness.
Support basic HR administrative tasks such as scheduling interviews, maintaining applicant tracking notes, preparing offer letters templates, and logging time-off requests in HRIS or timekeeping systems.
Prepare and distribute meeting materials, executive reports, internal newsletters, and periodic operational dashboards by collecting data, formatting documents, and ensuring timely distribution to stakeholders.
Coordinate internal events and company meetings—from logistics and catering to attendee registration and post-event feedback—ensuring alignment with brand standards and budget constraints.
Monitor workplace facilities and coordinate maintenance requests, cleaning, repair, and safety inspections; act as liaison with building management to resolve issues that affect operations.
Manage confidential, sensitive information with discretion and appropriate access control; ensure compliance with data protection policies and secure handling of personnel and financial documents.
Perform routine reconciliations of office-related spending against budgets and provide monthly summaries, variance explanations, and recommendations for cost optimization to operations leadership.
Execute recurring administrative projects, process improvements, and cross-functional initiatives—documenting current-state procedures, proposing enhancements, and participating in implementation and change management.
Support light bookkeeping and financial data entry tasks into accounting systems or ERPs as required by finance, ensuring accuracy and timely posting of office-related transactions.
Coordinate AV and technology support for meetings and hybrid work setups, including troubleshooting basic equipment issues and working with IT vendors to escalate and resolve complex technical problems.
Conduct periodic inventory audits of office assets, furniture, and IT peripherals; maintain asset registers, track warranties, and schedule lifecycle replacements consistent with capital policies.
Facilitate interdepartmental communications and follow-up on action items, deadlines, and project statuses to ensure alignment and timely completion of deliverables across teams.
Maintain and improve the office welcome experience, including signage, visitor access procedures, and shared spaces etiquette to reinforce company culture and a customer-facing professional environment.

Secondary Functions

Support ad-hoc data requests and exploratory data analysis.
Contribute to the organization's data strategy and roadmap.
Collaborate with business units to translate data needs into engineering requirements.
Participate in sprint planning and agile ceremonies within the data engineering team.
Assist with basic CRM and database maintenance tasks, including data entry, duplicate clean-up, and contact updates to maintain accurate stakeholder records.
Help coordinate cross-functional pilot programs and small projects, maintaining timelines, action logs, and stakeholder communications to ensure smooth execution.
Assist procurement with supplier onboarding documentation, service-level tracking, and contract renewal notifications to reduce business risk.
Provide backup support for payroll submission windows by collecting timesheets, verifying approvals, and coordinating with HR/Payroll teams.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

Advanced proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite (Excel—pivot tables, VLOOKUP/XLOOKUP; Outlook; Word; PowerPoint) and Google Workspace (Sheets, Docs, Calendar).
Experience with calendar and meeting management tools (Google Calendar, Microsoft Exchange/Outlook, Calendly) and room-booking systems.
Familiarity with accounting software and AP workflows (QuickBooks, Xero, SAP Concur, NetSuite, or similar) for invoice processing and expense reporting.
Basic knowledge of HRIS or applicant tracking systems (Workday, BambooHR, Greenhouse, Lever) to support onboarding and hiring activities.
Competence with office management platforms and facility ticketing systems (ServiceNow, FM:Systems, UpKeep, OfficeSpace).
Experience using communication and collaboration tools (Slack, Microsoft Teams, Zoom) and managing hybrid meeting setups.
Document management and version control skills (SharePoint, Box, Dropbox) with knowledge of retention policies and access controls.
Basic procurement skills: creating POs, vendor comparisons, contract tracking, and maintaining supplier databases.
Familiarity with CRM basics and data hygiene (Salesforce, HubSpot) to assist with contact management and reporting.
Fundamental data entry and reporting skills, including creating operational dashboards and simple metrics using Excel or Google Sheets.
Knowledge of workplace safety, ADA, and building security best practices to coordinate facilities compliance.

Soft Skills

Exceptional organization and time-management skills with the ability to prioritize competing requests in a fast-paced environment.
Strong written and verbal communication skills for clear, professional interactions with executives, vendors, and staff.
High attention to detail and accuracy in document preparation, data entry, and expense reconciliation.
Customer-service orientation with a friendly, approachable demeanor and professional reception etiquette.
Discretion and trustworthiness handling confidential employee and financial information.
Problem-solving and resourcefulness to resolve vendor issues, schedule conflicts, and operational disruptions proactively.
Flexibility and adaptability to shift priorities, support urgent requests, and work across multiple departments.
Collaboration and teamwork skills, including the ability to build relationships and influence without direct authority.
Initiative to identify inefficiencies, propose process improvements, and drive small projects to completion.
Resilience and stress tolerance in high-volume periods such as company events or executive travel seasons.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

High school diploma or equivalent (required).

Preferred Education:

Associate degree or Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, Office Management, Human Resources, Hospitality Management, or a related field.

Relevant Fields of Study:

Business Administration
Office Management
Human Resources
Hospitality and Event Management
Operations Management
Facilities Management

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range: 1–5 years of progressive office administration, executive support, or facilities coordination experience.

Preferred: 3+ years supporting a busy office or executive team with demonstrated responsibility for vendor management, calendar/travel coordination, procurement, and basic finance/admin reconciliation. Experience in a hybrid or multi-location workplace and familiarity with common office systems (MS Office, G Suite, an accounting or HRIS system) are highly desirable.