Administrative Support: 314,000 Openings a Year, in Every Industry

The short answer: no occupation posts more entry-level openings across more industries. Federal data projects roughly 314,400 secretary and administrative assistant openings every year this decade — and the typical entry requirement is a high school diploma plus real skills. We supply the skills.

The honest numbers

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports a median wage of $48,310 (May 2025) across secretaries and administrative assistants. Overall employment is projected to decline about 2 percent from 2025 to 2035 as software absorbs routine scheduling and correspondence tasks — yet turnover alone still generates about 314,400 openings a year, on average, over the decade. BLS breaks the broad occupation into three groups it tracks separately: secretaries and administrative assistants except legal, medical, and executive; medical secretaries and administrative assistants; and executive secretaries and executive administrative assistants, which post a higher median wage than the group average. Across the field, roughly 80–90 percent of employers report a high school diploma as the typical education requirement, though the executive-support tier leans more on prior work experience. Openings, not raw growth, are the story here — and openings are what a job-seeker actually needs.

What the role does day to day

"Administrative assistant" covers a wide range of employers, but the core tasks repeat across almost all of them:

• Calendar and scheduling management. Coordinating meetings across multiple people's availability, booking rooms or video links, and rescheduling when things change — often the single most time-consuming task in the role.
• Correspondence. Drafting and proofreading emails, letters, and internal memos in a professional tone appropriate to the audience.
• Data entry and records management. Maintaining accurate files, spreadsheets, and databases, and knowing where things live so nothing gets lost.
• Meeting support. Preparing agendas, taking minutes, and following up on action items.
• Office logistics. Ordering supplies, coordinating travel, greeting visitors, and handling the dozens of small logistics that keep an office running.
• Gatekeeping and triage. Screening calls and requests, and deciding what needs a supervisor's attention immediately versus what can wait.

The standard toolset is Microsoft 365 (Outlook, Word, Excel, Teams) or Google Workspace (Gmail, Docs, Sheets, Calendar), depending on the employer. Scheduling tools like Calendly, and increasingly AI writing and summarization tools built into these office suites, are now common enough that fluency with them is expected rather than a bonus.

What our program covers

The administrative support track runs six months, roughly 15–20 hours a week, with volunteer educators and one-to-one mentorship. Coursework covers both major office suites (Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace), calendar and scheduling management, business writing and professional correspondence, data entry and records organization, and practical use of AI productivity tools for drafting, summarizing, and scheduling. Students practice on realistic office scenarios — managing a mock multi-person calendar, drafting correspondence for different audiences, organizing a shared file system — so they arrive with demonstrable comfort in the tools, not just a list of software names on a resume.

Why this track matters for our population

Administrative work is the widest door into professional environments: every industry, every city, nearly every schedule. Entry requirements are comparatively low (a high school diploma is the typical bar), which matters for young adults who may not have a completed degree, but the skills required — organization, written communication, tool fluency — are exactly the ones that build a professional track record. For a young adult building stability after foster care or the juvenile justice system, that combination of a low entry barrier and a real professional reference is a meaningful foothold, not a consolation prize.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need a college degree?
No. BLS data shows a high school diploma is the typical entry-level education requirement for most administrative assistant roles; a degree is more relevant for some executive-support positions, which usually come later in a career rather than as an entry point.

What if I've never worked in an office before?
That's expected. The program is designed for people without office experience — it teaches the software, the workflows, and the professional communication norms from the ground up, with mentorship to work through real scenarios.

Is the program actually free?
Yes. Azgari Foundation is a 501(c)(3) public charity, and all five training tracks, including administrative support, are tuition-free for accepted participants.

Will I need to buy software or a specific laptop?
Talk with us during the application process about what equipment and internet access you have; program requirements and any accommodations are addressed individually rather than assumed.

How the role changes with AI in the office

The tasks that used to define entry-level administrative work — formatting documents, transcribing notes, drafting routine emails from scratch — are exactly the tasks AI writing and scheduling tools now do faster. That's part of why BLS projects a slight employment decline for the occupation overall. It doesn't mean the role is disappearing; it means the bar for what counts as competent has moved. An assistant who can draft a first pass with an AI tool, then edit it for tone, accuracy, and the specific relationship with the recipient, is doing higher-value work than one who types from a blank page. The judgment about what to send, to whom, and how to phrase it under pressure is still a human skill, and it's the one employers are now paying for. Our program treats AI tools as something to use well, not something to avoid or something to rely on uncritically — both extremes leave a new hire underprepared.

For employers

Front-office turnover is expensive and constant. A trained, mentored graduate at no placement fee is a straightforward way to fill that need. Tell us what your office needs.