Keep an office running: supplies, schedules, records, people and the hundred small problems a day.
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Pay, the path, pros and cons and the facts on one printable page. Counsellors: send it to a student from your own email in one click.
Programs in the fields this career usually comes through. Each has its own page: what it takes to get in, the courses you need and what it costs.
The median pay is about $60,000 a year. Across everyone in the job it runs from about $44,000 at the lower end to about $92,000 at the upper end. The source is listed under Sources at the end of this page.
1 to 3 years after high school, on the usual route.
$3,000 to $12,500 all in for tuition, fees, exams and kit. Living costs are not counted.
No. There is no licence to hold, though many employers still ask for training or a certificate.
Moderate demand nationally, from government outlook data. Demand varies by region, so check your area.
Or read the whole thing here
What you earn and what it costs to get there.
Median
$60,000
Lower end
$44,000
Upper end
$92,000
Job Bank's national median is $29 an hour, about $60,000 a year at 40 hours a week. The lower end ($21) and upper end ($44.15) are the bottom and top of the wage range for everyone in the group. Most people start as an office assistant or junior administrator.
$38.50 an hour
The median in the Northwest Territories, about $80,000 a year
Alberta is the top province at $30.77, and Manitoba the lowest at $26.15. Running a large office, with budgets, hiring, leases and vendors, is the usual way to the top of the range.
Roughly, all in
$3,000 to $12,500
Tuition, fees, exams and kit. Not rent, food or travel
The low end is a one year office administration certificate at a public college, which is enough to get hired at many small companies. The high end is a two year diploma plus a software certification exam or two. A four year business degree is another route and costs several times more, but most of these jobs do not ask for one, so it is not what the high figure represents. This is one of the cheapest entries on the site, and employers often pay for software courses once you are hired.
One of the cheapest paths on this site. A 1-year certificate is enough to get hired at many small companies.
Health and dental
Standard at medium and large employers. Small offices vary.
Pension
In government, school boards, hospitals and universities, which are big employers of administrators.
Regular hours
Mostly 9 to 5, Monday to Friday. Rare in a lot of other careers.
Room to grow
Office administrators often move into human resources, bookkeeping or operations.
The exact path from high school to qualified.
Short schooling, quick hiring, then you learn the specific office.
High school diploma
Grade 12
Job Bank says secondary school is required. English, business and computer courses help most.
Certificate or diploma
1 to 2 years
A 1-year Office Administration, General certificate or a 2-year diploma at a college. You learn Word, Excel, bookkeeping basics, records and customer service. Many programs include a placement.
First job
Right after school
Receptionist, office assistant or administrative assistant. Small companies hire fast.
Office administrator or manager
2 to 5 years
After 2 to 5 years you run the office: supplies, vendors, schedules, onboarding, sometimes budgets and staff. Job Bank notes some employers want a business degree or project management training for the senior roles.
English
Emails, letters and notices. Clear writing is the core skill.
Computer studies or business technology
Office software, spreadsheets, databases.
Math
Petty cash, invoices, budgets.
Accounting, if offered
Many small offices want the administrator to do basic bookkeeping too.
Job Bank confirms this occupation is not regulated in Canada. No licence, no registration, no exam. Employers hire on experience, software skills and how you handle people. That also means there is no protected title: office administrator, office coordinator, office manager and administrative officer all describe roughly the same work.
In Quebec the short route is a vocational diploma you can start at 16 without finishing high school, and the longer route is a 3 year college diploma.
Secondary IV courses
From age 16
The DEP (Diploma of Vocational Studies) in Secretarial Studies takes a high school diploma, or, from age 16, Secondary IV credits in your language of instruction, your second language and math.
DEP in Secretarial Studies
About 15 months
1,485 hours at a public vocational centre, program 5857 in English and 5357 in French. English centres run by the English Montreal, Lester B. Pearson, Riverside, New Frontiers, Eastern Townships and Western Québec school boards offer it.
Or a Business Administration DEC (Diploma of College Studies, 410.G0)
3 years
A 3 year CEGEP (public college) program that replaced the old office coordination diploma. In English at Vanier College and Champlain College Saint-Lawrence.
First job
Right after school
Administrative assistant, receptionist, data entry or human resources clerk.
Office administrator
2 to 5 years
After a few years you run the office: suppliers, schedules, records and often the books.
Things you don't need, but that help.
Bookkeeping and payroll
An administrator who can run the books for a small company is valuable to an employer. The PCP (Payroll Compliance Professional) designation is one route.
Human resources basics
Onboarding, benefits enrolment, vacation tracking. Many small companies have no HR (human resources) person, so the administrator does it.
Project management training
Job Bank notes some employers ask for it. Opens the door to coordinator jobs.
Medical or legal office specialization
Clinics and law firms have their own software and rules and look for people who know them.
Fast, accurate typing
Still tested at interviews.
A second language
French for federal and Quebec jobs, others for immigrant-serving offices.
Customer service experience
Retail or restaurant work counts. Half the job is dealing with people who are stressed.
First aid and fire warden training
Office administrators often become the building's safety contact.
Day to day, pros and cons, where you'd work.
Open the office, check the shared inbox and voicemail. Greet visitors and couriers. Order printer toner and coffee, call the landlord about the broken door. Set up a new hire's desk and accounts. Enter invoices, chase a late payment, file records. Book the boardroom for three meetings that all want 2 pm. Update the staff schedule. Small emergencies all day: a locked-out employee, a lost package, a printer jam ten minutes before a client arrives.
The good
The hard parts
Things people don't tell you.
Job Bank counts about 238,500 people working as office administrators and administrative officers across Canada in 2023.
Ontario colleges design the 1-year Office Administration, General certificate so graduates can move straight into year two of the Executive diploma. You can stop after a year, work, and come back later.
Job Bank says 38% of office administrators were 50 or older in 2023, so a steady stream of jobs opens as they retire.
Every list is built from the same numbers shown above, so you can see where this career sits next to the others.
People and operations first, then the rest of the field. See every career in business and money.
Last checked October 2026. Pay figures are typical full-time annual amounts in Canadian dollars, based on Government of Canada Job Bank wage data and published salary grids. They vary by province, employer and experience. Tuition is for domestic students. How every figure on this site is sourced and checked.
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