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Candice Burningham
Director and Founder of Admin Avenues
Director and Founder of Admin Avenues
Candice Burningham is a true admin advocate. She started her 20-year admin career as an office junior in Brisbane, Australia. She worked her way up to being a C-Suite Executive Assistant to some of the biggest and brightest minds globally and has now gone on to be an ambassador for the admin industry via her community group, Admin Avenues.
In 2021, Candice returned to Australia. She saw a gap in the market for a niche job board and community support network dedicated to the administrative industry. This led her to create Admin Avenues – Australia’s first premiere employment marketplace and community website for admin professionals.
In her personal life, Candice is a long-time supporter of UNHCR Australia (The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) and Ronald McDonald House. She is an LGBTQIA+ straight ally and supports the Pride Foundation Australia. Candice splits her time between Australia and the UK.
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Creating an Admin Department
Have you ever noticed that most businesses don’t have an Administration department?
They have a marketing department, a sales department, HR, the list goes on. Admins are often just a dotted line in an org chart, attached to the department heads, but not seen as a role in that department. They often don’t receive promotions or bonuses like everyone else in that department. This is one of the many reasons admins need their own department in companies. Their own budgets for training, department events, salary bands and bonus structures. In this session, I will be talking through how admin departments can be established and the value this will bring to businesses.
Learning Outcomes
- The importance of an administration department in an organisation should not be underestimated. Working with the administrative department is like dealing with an entire corporation at one time. They are the information superhighway of any business. They directly interface within each department, contextualise administrative needs and bring that information to the larger company for discussion and action.
- Admins need the tools and budget they require to do their jobs efficiently. They may be met with resistance in suggesting new ways to change the way they do things (e.g., move to a project management tool like Asana instead of using manual spreadsheets). Companies need to be open, and admins need to be creative in the way new tools and systems are introduced to the business.
- Admin departments need to ensure performance metrics are introduced using helpful documents like the Global Skills Matrix, which provides a framework for administrative professionals and makes it possible to identify levels of work for a given role and career progression opportunities.