Have you ever considered working in administration? Administrative positions often come with a variety of perks, like higher pay, better benefits (excellent vacation package, anyone?), and more authority in the workplace. If these perks sound like something you’re interested in, take a look at these 5 fields with administrative opportunities that could be right up your alley.

Educational Administration

The educational system has changed numerous times just since the turn of the century. I’m not just talking about No Child Left Behind or Common Core, either. The educational system is finally starting to recognize that not everyone learns the same. While standardized tests are unfortunately still a thing, there’s at least more emphasis being placed on teachers teaching to an array of learning styles, from kinesthetic to auditory to visual.

Many millennials were either raised under this focus or recognize that it was (and is) a problem. Guess where you can make more of a difference? Within the field of higher education administration. With an EDD in higher education, one can pursue leadership and administrative roles, like director, dean, principal, assistant principal or someone working for the school district. People in these positions have more control over curriculum, focus, and funding. These people make sure schools run efficiently. You’ll be able to make a change from the inside. And if you want to pursue a position with higher education, you’d be able to affect things at a collegiate level.

Business Administration

If you already have a business degree, you could go back to school to get an MBA, so you can pursue a career in business administration. Business administrators tend to work in offices of major corporations, though many medium-sized corporations could use someone an administrator as well. Most businesses run on the backs of administrators. They schedule necessary tasks and follow-up every day to make sure everything gets done.

There’s a lot of paperwork (digital or physical), and it generally takes a lot of technological know-how, since you need to harness various computer programs to schedule everything or track inventory. Still, if you’re looking for something more technological where you can feel like you’re making a difference, a business administrator might be perfect.

Human Resources Administration

If you’re more interested in human resources, there are a number of administrative positions involved in HR. For example, timekeeping administrators pay attention to paying employees and hours worked. That’s for companies who still use paper time sheets (yes, those exist), so someone has to process those time sheets. For companies moving to more digital and environmentally-friendly methods of clocking in and out, HR still needs technology- and math-savvy individuals approving timecards, as well as dealing with employee benefits and other employee relations with the company.

Sports Administration

Athletics have played a role in collegiate administration for decades, but their role now is even greater due to social media. Fans can follow along with their favorite athletes and teams via social media groups to see what they’re up to. When teams play other colleges nearby, some colleges even have rental cars students who live on campus can rent by the hour. This helps those students get to nearby games and support their team.

Millennials are often more in touch with sports than most other generations—after all, we grew up in public schools where the emphasis was on sports more than almost anything else. This knowledge about sports make millennials ideal as sports administrators, who help market teams and individual athletes or even manage their own team. Athletic administration is a wide field. If you like sports, there’s certainly something that will appeal to you.

Healthcare Administration

Taking care of your health is an ever-popular topic in the news, with more diseases and conditions diagnosed and obesity rates on the rise. Thanks to the growing media presence in healthcare, more young adults are aware of their health than in past generations. That knowledge about health can put millennials on a path toward a healthcare administration degree. If you think this job is all about paperwork, think again. While paperwork is involved, healthcare administrators make sure everything medical is conducted according to the law. They work in hospitals, clinics, and doctor’s offices. If you’re a more rules-focused person and enjoy health or healthcare, you might find your perfect career in healthcare administration.

Administrative positions could be right for you

Many industries need administrators who are passionate about that industry. Administrative positions are often overlooked as a career path for millennials. While those positions might seem more suited for older people, that’s not the case. The opportunities are many. Not only are the benefits packages better than many jobs on the market right now, many of the fields are slated to grow faster than average over the next 7 years. Choose a direction by starting with your interests and passions. You may well discover a career path at the administrative level you’d never considered before.

Updated on February 24, 2022.