How to Find Work in Office Administration Later in Life?

Sydneyswans on 20/08/2026 - 11:03
Last edited 20/08/2026 - 14:20

Hey guys, I was talking to a friend and, former colleague and It appears we are in a similar situation.

I first started working in office based roles around 2010. My background is in investment Management (unit registry) and some insurance work. Although I was Midway through University at the time I dropped out when my father passed away. Haven't gone back since but just worked my way from call center customer service roles to operations administrator roles which I've been doing for the past 15 years. However, my most recent contract ended and although I'm a driver with Uber eats and doordash, that is unsustainable.

So I now find myself in this awkward middle ground where when you look at call center, customer service and office administration jobs they're either taken over by AI, they have been offshored or they will say in the job advertisements like 1 to 3 years experience necessary and then you get the unsuccessful response via email. Because I never ended up as a team leader I also then have the issue of being underqualified for those type of roles. Don't get me wrong. I've done some senior operations processing like dealing with AFCA complaints and project management. But my actual job title has never been team leader or manager.

And I know from experience having two interviews in the past month they've basically said Why go back to a customer service role when you were back office operations? Didn't get the job.

Another role in life insurance came back and said you don't explain how your experience relates to the role we've advertised.

I don't have experience in SAP Xero etc but I'm sure I could easily pick that up with training if that helps

When I was in this situation previously like 5 years ago I had jobs in a matter of weeks. So where do I go from here?

Edit: I have just had a few phone screen calls from recruiters and the belief seems to be that I may be overqualified.

Education & Work

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  • MS Paint on 20/08/2026 - 11:15

    Username checks out. Which of the 5 are you?

    • 6
  • freefall101 on 20/08/2026 - 11:36

    I'd be hitting up govt jobs, heavy amounts of administrative work and next to nothing is offshored.

    TAFE/VET courses would be the next trick, get skilled in something specific. You can have a poke around the govt's site on it too - https://www.yourcareer.gov.au/

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  • Jimothy Wongingtons on 20/08/2026 - 14:48

    don't have experience in SAP Xero etc but I'm sure I could easily pick that up with training if that helps

    Competition high, applicants numerous. If the jobs you want require these skills Iā€™d prob recommend looking at getting up skilled so you can market yourself as ready to hit the ground running.

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  • blldzd on 20/08/2026 - 12:43

    I went through a recruitment/temp agency when I was first trying to get my way into office work. Started out as a day here or there at different places as relief, then a couple of weeks at a place, then got a 6 month contract somewhere and never looked back. It's a good way to shop around if you aren't too worried about money right now.

    • 1
  • Wiadro on 20/08/2026 - 11:28

    We are praying for you šŸ™
    Jail sounds nicer than your admin issue.

    • 0
  • plmko on 20/08/2026 - 11:57

    Why dont you take control of your life and go back to a formal education. I know people who did customer service/entry work, crystalised it with education and converted it to professional work. They aren't young either and at least have a moat from AI unlike many basic admin work you seem to be aiming for.

    If anything I've heard even basic roles require education/work experience these days because employers can choose from 100s of quality candidates due to a lack of work and many wanting to use it as a pseudo grad role.

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  • mailbox on 20/08/2026 - 12:31

    I have no experience related to office admin specifically but a few things I've picked up on if it helps and you're struggling but it sounds like you are getting interviews so maybe you're good.

    • Use AI whenever you can to save time but do your best to make sure it's not a straight copy and paste otherwise people will see straight through it.

    • You may need to glorify or slightly embellish certain parts of your work experience. Don't lie about a skill if you literally can't do it but it's not illegal to embellish the things you did or change things nobody can really track. You will be competing against people who will do this and it's better than being unemployed. You said you have skills with senior operations and project management but never had the title, this is probably an area where you can explore that and if you can't change the title definitely raise these skills in an interview or on your resume if you get the chance. You were a rockstar in those roles and lead multiple successful projects that lead to fantastic outcomes, you even regularly delivered training to your teammates to assist in upskilling their own professional development.

    • Don't be afraid to do the odd LinkedIn connection or message.

    • Don't be against applying for roles that you might not be 100% for because if you do you're never going to grow.

    • I saw or read something once about someone switching from .pdfs to .docx and apparently they got more success with the recruitment software, something to do with the way OCR reads it but I dunno something to keep in mind since I've never tested it.

    • You're in charge of your own career. Nobody will try as hard as you can at getting what you want!

    Goodluck!

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