Back Office Jobs - What Are They and How to Get One

Back office jobs focus on the support of a company's administration. Back office workers often perform data entry, monitor information about the location, record noteworthy events, and otherwise work to support the internal operations of the business. In this field, you may also participate in overseeing regulatory compliance, managing settlements, and monitoring front-office operations. Some back office employees monitor employee performance, help with employee development, and provide recommendations for when to recruit new employees. In effect, back office jobs focus on the day-to-day administrative operations of a company, particularly as it relates to processing paperwork and handling other tasks. Despite the name, many back office positions work outside of the company's headquarters, so it's common to find work from home positions for these roles.

The primary qualifications for a back office job depend on position, as almost any role that does not interact with customers can count as back office. Qualifications vary from a high school diploma to a master's degree with several years of experience. The key difference is that most back office jobs focus on business operation skills, such as programming or data entry, while front office jobs focus on customer service skills. Fulfilling the duties and responsibilities of a back office job requires communication skills, the ability to follow company procedures for managing operations, and the ability to work in a deadline-driven environment.

The primary difference between back office jobs and front office jobs are that back office jobs have little or no direct interaction with customers. The term comes from the common business design where a reception desk is set up front to handle client-facing duties, while other administrative roles work in the back. Some companies use "back office" to describe any position that does not generate revenue. Under this definition, positions like security are back office even if they interact with customers. Front office jobs include secretaries, customer service and support personnel, and anyone else who interacts directly with customers. In this regard, many management positions are technically front office because they are responsible for dealing with problems that the regular staff does not have the authority to handle.