On a daily basis, you'll find Saunoa Pau, Junior Legal Secretary at Holland Beckett in Tauranga, preparing of a wide range of legal documents, managing a database of hundreds of clients, researching legal documents and fulfilling necessary day-to-day administration duties that require her to multi-task, yet remain super-focused for the most part of every day.

Saunoa is an unsung hero of the corporate world.

In a fast-paced world where businesses change and grow at the speed of light, and where senior executives need to be more focused than ever to scaling their businesses, administrators such as Saunoa need a broad, dynamic skill set that allow them to be the behind-the-scenes backbones of the modern workplace.

Their duties may range from calendar management, event management and payroll administration, to website content management and client service.

According to Saunoa, who studied the New Zealand Certificate in Business (Administration and Technology) (Level 4) at Toi Ohomai, the course allowed her to refresh her skills after working in retail for 7 years and helped her secure a job as a as a Junior Legal Secretary at Holland Beckett Law.

'Business administration is not what I thought it was. I've learned so many skills but the best thing is that I've learned about myself. It's helped me build confidence, skills and helped me figure out what the path is that I want to forge for myself,” says Saunoa.

Debbie MacRae, Toi Ohomai Senior Academic Staff Member, says that business administration is becoming more popular for students like Saunoa, as well as first-time students and even mums wanting to re-enter the workplace.

As the nature of the workplace is changing, many companies offer flexible working hours, growth opportunities and the opportunity to work in new, exciting industries.

'We see many students with other qualifications come back to study business administration to get a broader range of skills to be able to take on different roles or to help support their current roles. Our business administration courses (Level 3 and 4) teach students the essential technical skills, as well as skills such as critical thinking and client service.

'There are so many options for working in business administration, and so many ways to get your foot in the door, that motivated people can rise to the top and make lasting, positive contributions to business,” says Debbie.

According to Debbie, hands-on learning makes all the difference when it comes to business administration, as it allows students to practice working in simulated office environments and helps equip them with the broad range of skills they need to fulfill demanding and dynamic administration roles.

'Hands-on learning makes up about 80% of our courses,” says Debbie.

'This becomes really important as students get to experience what it would be like in the workplace, juggling multiple jobs while answering phone calls, basically doing everything from project management to health and safety – they are playing such a major role in keeping the day-to-day operations up and running.”

Toi Ohomai's business administration courses are now open for 2019 applications. For more information call 0800 86 46 46 or visit www.toiohomai.ac.nz