How to Thrive in Your Career

The admin profession is changing fast. Are you keeping pace? We talked to Robert Hosking, executive director of the administrative and customer support practice at Robert Half, about top skills and trends from the 2025 Salary Guide.

Recorded at APC 2024 and produced by the American Society of Administrative Professionals - ASAP. Learn more and submit a listener question at asaporg.com/podcast.

Leah Warwick: Hi, everyone. I'm Leah Warwick, and you're listening to "The Admin Edge." Robert Half has released their 2025 Salary Guide, which includes salaries and trends in the administrative and customer support profession. My guest today is Robert Hosking, Executive Director of the Administrative and Customer Support Practice at Robert Half. I sat down with him at APC 2024 after his keynote presentation to talk about what stood out to us from the Robert Half Guide, and what skills are needed today to continue thriving in your admin career.

00:00:43

What are some of the top changes you're seeing in skills that admins need to stay ahead of the curve? 

Robert Hosking: You know, that's a great question because the profession is changing so rapidly, it feels. Every day, there's something new, whether it's technology or whether it's AI that's building into the role of the administrative professional. That makes it tough to really be able to keep up with those changes and to be able to stay ahead of things. But it's also interesting that soft skills are incredibly, incredibly important for individuals.

If you think of things like adaptability, adaptability [is] being able to do what needs to be done, be able to move and navigate quickly and meet those changes that are coming at individuals, be able to pick up new projects quickly and really work, in many cases, with multiple people across multiple departments and different teams as well. So that leans into the ability to be able to be collaborative, a high level of communication. 

00:01:41

You think about – we're always communicating, and the world continues to change from that perspective, where there was a time when many people were working remotely. Now, many people are working back together again, and you're communicating in different ways via technology, face-to-face, in meetings, in writing. And so there's lots of different skills that are constantly, again, evolving that individuals need to stay really on top of and focus on. 

Leah Warwick: Yes. Admins tend to be people connectors – even when you're working with systems, they're usually systems of people that you need to be communicating with and making sure they're all on the same page. So what you're saying is totally spot on.

Robert Half recently released their 2025 Salary Guide, and I saw, in the section on administrative and customer support salaries, that companies are looking for candidates with "strong technology skills who can use emerging tools, like AI, to improve customer service, streamline routine tasks, and automate reporting that aids decision making throughout the business." 

00:02:41

Since admins are so important to maintaining strong systems throughout companies, what would you say to admins who are worried about AI completely replacing them in this work? 

Robert Hosking: It certainly is a fear. I absolutely understand that. I think that AI is new, and it can be a little scary for many. At the same time, I think it's really important that administrative professionals embrace AI and make it their friend. It may sound silly, but, at the end of the day, it's: How can I use AI and integrate it into my job to be more effective and more efficient in what I do?

00:03:17

There are so many applications or ways of using AI, so play around with it and get to know it a little bit. We're definitely not seeing roles necessarily being eliminated, but there may be functions that are changing. It's those functions that once AI is integrated into them and they're taken away – and again, someone's embraced them and is able to use it. Then they can focus on things that are more interesting in many ways. 

If you think about the ability for AI to take notes from a meeting – let's say a Teams meeting – and be able to integrate those very, very quickly. You can send them out quickly. All of a sudden, now somebody doesn't have to do that. That time can be better spent on more strategic things within their role and being able to be more proactive in what they do. 

00:04:01

So it can help to elevate and help individuals thrive in many cases in their role, and organizations are really seeing the value of that, which is a great thing. 

Leah Warwick: Yes, we've heard that quite a bit at APC, about use AI to free up time for you and look at all of the other wonderful things you can do for your company that maybe you spending too much time doing a task that can now be automated is not the best thing for the organization. It could be a good win-win. Also, I want to quote again from the Salary Guide: "Talent shortages and added responsibilities, among other factors, are contributing to pockets of higher compensation increases." So we've seen this in our research as well at ASAP, that admins are rapidly increasing their responsibilities and skills, and salaries are going up. Those seem to be tied together.

00:04:50

At the same time, we're facing a generational shakeup, a big one. Many Baby Boomers in this profession have and will continue to retire. For organizations that have a more outdated view of admin professionals in the workplace, that old view of what a secretary is that doesn't really match today's admin professional, and they might be looking at the Robert Half Guide and thinking as an organization: Maybe we're not ahead of the curve here because these admins that we're interviewing are not like the admins of the past. How would you advise them? 

Robert Hosking: It's very true that – particularly if somebody has been a role for a really long time within an organization, they really, in many ways, created the job that they're in. And now if they exit that role, there becomes a real gap in that organization and the need to be able to find somebody that not only has the skills of the person who left but the skills and capabilities to be able to continue to move it forward as well. And so that is what is driving that increase, in many cases, from a compensation perspective. Somebody may be looking and thinking: This is going to be a salary that is higher than the role of the person that ultimately left.

00:05:58

So I think, from an organizational standpoint, it's really just: Take a step back. Think about the role. What do you need this person to do? And what are some of those capabilities? What are some of the aptitudes? What are some of the responsibilities? Create a new job description because the role will look different today. 

And then once you've done that – and that may integrate other elements as well, things that the other person didn't necessarily do. That new job description can then be validated based on: Where do I need to be from a compensation perspective? It's very important. I would say from, let's say, a smaller or a midsized business or company – [they're] really struggling and continue to struggle today to find really great people, because they may not have the brand. They may not have the recognition. So creating a role that is appealing, that has elements that will stretch somebody and keep them motivated and keep them focused on the great work that they can do is really, really important. 

Leah Warwick: Yes. Here at ASAP, we like to say it is not a job; it's a profession. There are career admin professionals who are very highly skilled in what they do. They bring a lot to the table. So making sure that the job description fits everything they bring to the table is great. That's what you should be doing.

00:07:10

We have a listener question submitted by our community and they wrote: "I sometimes struggle with figuring out what thriving in my admin career looks like. What does it really mean to thrive, and how can I take steps towards achieving that?" What advice would you give them? 

Robert Hosking: Yeah, so to be able to thrive – think about the word "thrive." What does it really mean? It means prosper, like really enjoy or really feel great when you get up in the morning and you're excited to be able to go in and do your job and work with the team and work with the organization. A sense of fulfillment, a sense that you've contributed, a sense that you've really been able to make a difference in what you do, and that's not always the case. Sometimes it is a question of taking a bit of a step back and really thinking about the thing that you're excited about, the things that keep you motivated. Where do you get your energy from? Those responsibilities or the parts of your job that you feel best suited to, and really look forward to.

00:08:08

Everybody and every job is going to have elements that people don't necessarily like, and so that's a piece of it. It shouldn't be the majority, though. So to really be able to thrive is taking stock of those things, being able to take a step back and really thinking about it, and then moving forward to say, "Let's put something together." Talk to your leader. Have a conversation about those things. "Here's how I can be impactful in what I do. Here's how I can maybe take things to the next level. Here are some of the things that I've accomplished and the things that I've done. But I really think, if we can do this, or I can use this part of my skillset, I can really benefit the organization and I can really help things move forward." 

00:08:46

Generally, if people are excited about what they do and they're passionate, they do it really well, and they become highly productive. 

Leah Warwick: Yes. It's about having that room to grow and knowing you're not going to be stuck in a rut, saying, "Hey, this is the value I can add here," and having a project that can really make an impact. It's not just day in, day out, same old thing. That's one of the great things about being an administrative professional. It's a pretty diverse range of skills and the kind of job you can have. You could have one administrative assistant who does a certain type of work and another one who does completely different things. That's one of the great things about this career, so I really like what you said there about you can thrive by building it for yourself and finding opportunities. I love that answer.

Thank you very much for joining us on "The Admin Edge," Rob. Where can our listeners find you online? And where can they learn more about Robert Half and the Salary Guide? 

00:09:38                     

Robert Hosking: Yeah, so you can certainly find me on LinkedIn at Robert Hosking – last name H-O-S-K-I-N-G. I know sometimes that can be interpreted in different ways. And then www.roberthalf.com. Everything is there, and access to The Salary Guide and other tools as well.

Leah Warwick: All right. Thank you so much.

Robert Hosking: My pleasure. Thank you.

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Leah Warwick: Thank you for listening to "The Admin Edge," produced by the American Society of Administrative Professionals, original music and audio editing by Warwick Productions, with video and audio production at our events by 5Tool Productions. If you like this podcast, please leave us a nice review, five stars, and subscribe. If you'd like to submit a listener question, you may do so on our website at ASAPorg.com/podcast.