An employee that performs functions that do not bring them in direct contact with the company's customers is essentially a back-office employee. The larger percentage of work done in large organizations falls in the back-office or middle office category. Back-office functions include records maintenance, clearances, settlements, compliance, IT services, HR, and accounting.
For instance, in a typical Financial Services company, the Sales, Marketing, and Customer Support departments belong to the front office category. Risk management would fall in the middle office category, while support services and administration would be back-office.
Despite being seemingly invisible, back-office staff are as essential to an organization as front and middle office staff. They perform roles that help other business functions run efficiently. In many companies, back-office functions are lumped under the title 'Operations.' The key difference between back-office roles and other roles is that the former do not directly generate revenue. For this reason, most organizations relocate their back-office positions away from their headquarters to locations where labor is cheaper and diverse and leases inexpensive.
Other companies outsource back-office roles to minimize costs. Thanks to advancements in technology, many companies now opt for remote-work arrangements to cut rent costs and tap into a broader labor pool.
For many university and college graduates, back-office work offers an opportunity to gain valuable experience, create professional networks, and work their way to front office roles. Typically, the transition from back-office to middle or front office can take 3-5 years, depending on your skillset and expertise.
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A back-office employee works in non-client-facing jobs such as HR, IT, accounting, administration, and records, among others. So, depending on their area of specialization, the skills and knowledge expected of back-office employees vary. For example, an HR officer and a company accountant possess different sets of skills despite both being back-office.
This resume showcases a back-office employee's experience in multitasking and performing administrative roles. The applicant is mainly focused on showing their administrative and customer service skills. The resume also shines light on the impact of the applicant's work.
A wide variety of technical skills is necessary for a job applicant seeking a back-office role. These employees are usually assigned a wide range of tasks that require a host of technical skills. So, showcasing proficiency in skills like MS Project, Office Suite, Google docs, Switchboard, etc., can add value to your back office resume.
A back-office manager is responsible for work performed by back-office employees. The back-office manager often supervises other back-office employees in entry-level to mid-level positions. While the professional background for back-office managers can be any relevant course, they are mostly sourced from engineering, business management, accounting, or mathematics fields. Back-office managers are usually excellent communicators, thanks to the nature of their work.
A back-office manager's resume for a professional with 10+ years of experience should focus on the impact of their work. This means demonstrating the effect of your actions on, say, a company's bottom line, departmental efficiency, etc. This helps the hiring manager assess the value you will add to their company if they hire you.
As a professional supervising numerous, often-times unrelated tasks across different back-office departments, demonstrating that you're up to the task is essential. Point out in your back-office manager resume your ability to manage cross-functional teams and oversee numerous business processes. Being able to work across different time zones is also a valuable skill.
A back-office manager role is a senior role, so you need to demonstrate initiative and leadership. The ability to maximize business processes and performance improvement initiatives will hinge on previous exposure and familiarity with such duties. A career with an upward trajectory showing transition from junior to senior roles will inspire confidence in your professional abilities.
We spoke with hiring managers at top companies like Amazon, Walmart, and Target to get their insights on what makes a strong back office resume. They consistently mentioned the importance of highlighting your organizational skills, attention to detail, and ability to work well with others. The following tips will help you craft a resume that showcases your strengths and lands you an interview.
Back office roles require strong organizational abilities. Showcase your skills by including specific examples:
Avoid generic statements that don't provide concrete details:
A summary is an optional section on your resume that highlights your key qualifications, skills and experience for the job you're applying to. While your resume already provides an overview of your background, a summary can be helpful if you're changing careers or have a lot of experience and want to provide additional context. However, you should never use an objective statement, which focuses on your goals rather than how you can meet the employer's needs.
When writing a summary for a back office role, focus on your most relevant skills and accomplishments. Avoid repeating information that's already covered in other sections of your resume. Instead, use the summary to provide a high-level overview of your qualifications and mention any important keywords that are relevant to the job. Keep your summary concise - no more than a short paragraph.
The work experience section is the heart of your resume. It's where you prove to employers that you have the skills and experience they're looking for. In this section, we'll cover the key steps to writing a strong work experience section that will help you stand out from other back office candidates.
The education section of your resume is an important part of your application, especially if you're a recent graduate or changing careers. It's a chance to showcase your academic achievements and relevant coursework. Here are some tips to help you write an effective education section for your back office resume.
Action verbs elevate your skills and achievements. When applying for back-office positions, it is advisable to use administrative, push-along, helper, and appraise-and-study action verbs when highlighting your accomplishments. Use these verbs in-context to derive
These include but are not limited to:
For a full list of effective resume action verbs, visit Resume Action Verbs.
Unless you're applying for a back-office job that falls in your area of specialization, e.g., HR, accounting, or IT services, the skills you target in the back-office job resume should match those for the job you're applying for.
However, quoting skills like Management Information Systems (MIS) and Microsoft Project shows you are experienced in back-office roles and puts you in a better position with hiring managers.
Nevertheless, here are back-office skills that you can include in your resume.
You can include the above skills in a dedicated Skills section on your resume, or weave them in your experience. Here's how you might create your dedicated skills section:
This word cloud highlights the important keywords that appear on Back Office job descriptions and resumes. The bigger the word, the more frequently it appears on job postings, and the more 'important' it is.
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