assistant manager

Usually, the most important responsibility as an assistant manager is supervising your team. As an assistant manager, you should expect to:

• Organise team schedules
• Handle staff queries
• Take disciplinary action
• Authorise holidays and leave
• Evaluate employee performance
• Create and carry out training and development programs for the staff

In addition to the above, other duties and responsibilities include: 

• Employee support: you may have to support employees to maintain their efficiency and keep them satisfied by making sure the company meets their needs. To do that, you need to be an effective intermediary between the management and the employees. You have to make sure your superiors receive important feedback from the employees to keep the relationship between both sides healthy. You should also expect to make critical changes to the workplace workflows, as well as develop and implement relevant business policies to keep the employees comfortable.
• Stand-in for the management: as an assistant manager, you work together with the manager and assume their duties temporarily when they're absent. To do that, you have to understand the main aspects of the manager's job and take up those duties as necessary. Most employers, when filling this position, usually look for someone with the willingness and ability to be creative as they need to step in for the manager as needed.
• Assist unhappy customers: in any organisation providing services or goods, there will always be one or more unhappy customers, regardless of the industry. As the assistant manager, a typical employer will require you to be the first person to assist these unhappy customers in order to maintain your company's reputation. In this case, your job will be to listen to and calm down the customers and address their complaints effectively. To be successful in this position, you'll need tolerance, resilience and very strong communication and interpersonal skills.
• Make sure projects are successful: one of your biggest tasks as an assistant manager is to lead one or more teams on different set initiatives. In this regard, you have to act as a project manager and make sure all the assigned projects get done as expected. One of the things you'll have to do is define the scope of the project clearly. You'll also have to organise the necessary resources to accomplish the goal, manage budgets, develop schedules and prepare reports.

The typical work environment for an assistant manager comprises the regular office space and other areas of the business premises, such as warehouses. To make sure your team/teams are on track and ensure your projects are successfully completed, you may also need to travel from one location to another on a regular basis. On top of that, assistant managers usually work in both the private and public sectors.

Being an assistant manager, you will always be working closely with the manager of your department or organisation. Beyond this constant, your colleagues in the role can vary significantly depending on what kind of assistant manager you are. If you are assistant to the general manager, you will work with a wide range of colleagues from across the company. If you are an assistant to the marketing manager, you will work with sales professionals, and so on. Your role is essentially to lighten the workload of your manager, taking some of the more routine tasks off of their hands, which often includes liaising with the relevant departments.

An assistant manager's work schedule usually depends on the specific industry and organisation. Most assistant managers work the entire 40-hour week. Of course, shifts vary depending on several factors, one of which is the location. You can also expect to work on weekends, holidays, and during the night, particularly if there's an urgent project underway with a strict deadline.

There are many opportunities you have as an assistant manager to accelerate your career. After working under a manager and achieving considerable successes in your work, the next step should be to fill the shoes of your manager. You can also get a managerial job at a different company or industry altogether since the duties and responsibilities of a manager are largely the same across industries and sectors. You can become a general manager, a middle manager, and eventually a top-level manager if you stick to your line of work.

Finding your assistant manager job through Randstad provides important advantages such as:

• a wide variety of training and development opportunities
• an experienced contact person to provide help if needed
• a range of opportunities in your area
• get paid on a monthly basis
• temporary and permanent contracts

Want a permanent contract? A temporary job as an assistant manager is often a stepping stone to an attractive permanent job. Every year, thousands of people earn a permanent contract with great employers thanks to a temporary job found through Randstad. What's more, many companies recruit their permanent employees through Randstad too!

An assistant manager is responsible for making sure a department, team or organisation runs smoothly by performing certain managerial tasks. Some of the most important of them are scheduling employee work times, evaluating employee performance and making sure the customers are attended to and listened to. Generally, the assistant manager assists the manager to ensure the flawless running of the organisation's everyday operations.

Yes. Being an assistant manager comes with many benefits. For one, this is one of those jobs that provides variety. It also brings a sense of ownership to individuals, particularly in regard to some of the most critical business aspects. Many assistant managers enjoy a high level of job satisfaction that comes with being able to make a difference to an organisation.

Besides having high school or college qualifications, most companies currently require applicants to have a bachelor's degree or relevant post-high-school training. One of the areas you need to be well-versed in includes management and business administration. Most organisations provide training to their employees for this position. They also promote staff from within to the assistant manager's role; therefore, the education requirements tend to vary.

Within a company, an assistant manager is usually one level below a manager, and they have the authority to conduct most of the manager's functions when the manager is not available. In most cases, the assistant manager is the link between the top management and the employees and customers. You can get promoted to a manager or a deputy manager, depending on the organisation you're working for.

Applying for an assistant manager job is easy: create a Randstad profile and search our job offers for vacancies in your area. Then simply send us your CV and cover letter. Need help with your application? Check out all our job search tips here!