Hiring guide
How to Hire an Office Manager
How to hire an office manager: sourcing channels, budget, facilities and people skills to test, a realistic work sample, red flags and onboarding tips.
The short answer
Hiring an Office Manager comes down to verifying office budget management, supplier negotiation and facilities and lease coordination before you commit interview time. The process below runs 5 stages, screens on evidence rather than résumé claims, and scores every candidate against the same criteria.
- Watch for: Has run an office but never owned its budget or chosen its suppliers
- Watch for: Cannot name the health and safety or fire safety duties they were responsible for
- Score on: Sensible priorities and cost awareness in the work sample
- Score on: Real experience owning budgets, contracts and compliance
Paste your Office Manager job description; Cohesyve finds, contacts and tests candidates on the real work and ranks them. Ten candidates free, no card.
Applying for a role like this? Practise the assessment free →When you hire an office manager, you are hiring the person who owns how your workplace runs: the budget, suppliers, facilities, health and safety, and often the employee experience for everyone who comes in. The role sits between operations, finance and HR, so the strongest candidates combine organisation with good judgement about people and money. This guide covers where to find them, what to test and how to set them up to succeed.
Why this role matters
An office manager shapes the daily experience of every employee and visitor and controls a meaningful slice of overhead spending. A good one negotiates sensible supplier contracts, keeps the building compliant and makes onboarding, events and hybrid working run smoothly. A poor fit leads to overspending, compliance gaps and a workplace that feels disorganised.
Where to find candidates
- LinkedIn and general job boards, targeting people who have owned an office budget
- IAAP members holding the CAP credential with its Organizational Management specialty
- The Institute of Administrative Management (IAM) in the UK
- IFMA (International Facility Management Association) for roles heavy on facilities and workplace management
- Experienced office administrators and executive assistants ready to take on budget and people ownership
- Workplace experience and operations communities where office and workplace managers share roles
Skills to look for
Red flags
- Has run an office but never owned its budget or chosen its suppliers
- Cannot name the health and safety or fire safety duties they were responsible for
- Describes conflicts with colleagues over space or spending without explaining how they resolved them
- Little interest in the employee side of the job, such as onboarding and workplace experience
- Relies on memory for renewals and deadlines with no system
The interview process
- 1
Screening call
Ask about the size of office and headcount they supported, the budget they owned, the suppliers they managed and whether they managed people. Confirm they have done the parts of the job you need most.
- 2
Office operations work sample
Share a scenario: the cleaning contract is up for renewal with a price rise, the team is growing and needs desk space, a fire risk assessment is due and a new starter arrives next week. Ask for a short plan with priorities, costs to check and messages to send. A job simulation of the real work is one option if you want each candidate to handle the same scenario.
- 3
Structured interview
Ask behavioural questions about cutting a cost without hurting morale, handling a complaint about the workplace and managing an underperforming administrator. Score each answer against agreed criteria.
- 4
Meet the leadership and team
Let them meet the people they will report to and those they will support. Look for a candidate who listens before proposing changes.
- 5
References
Ask former managers about budget discipline, supplier relationships and how staff felt about the office under their care.
Cohesyve
Start the Office Manager interviews from a ranked shortlist
Cohesyve takes your Office Manager job description, finds and contacts candidates and tests each one on an AI job simulation of the job, so the stages above start with people who have already done the work. Ten candidates free, no card.
How to evaluate
- Sensible priorities and cost awareness in the work sample
- Real experience owning budgets, contracts and compliance
- Understanding of the health and safety duties in your location
- People management and conflict handling
- Concern for employee experience as well as cost
- Organisation systems for renewals, deadlines and recurring tasks
Onboarding
- 1Hand over the office budget, supplier contracts, lease terms and renewal dates in the first week
- 2Walk the building together and review the latest risk assessments and maintenance records
- 3Introduce them to the landlord or facilities provider, IT support and key suppliers
- 4Agree spending limits and which changes need leadership sign-off
- 5Ask for a short review after the first month covering costs, risks and quick improvements
Common questions
What does an office manager do day to day?
An office manager runs the workplace: supplier and facilities management, the office budget, health and safety, supplies, onboarding logistics and often events. In smaller companies they also pick up HR administration and some bookkeeping.
Should an office manager have HR experience?
It depends on your size. In small companies without an HR team, experience with onboarding, records and basic HR administration is valuable. In larger companies the role usually leaves HR policy to specialists.
Is a facilities qualification needed?
Not usually. For buildings with complex facilities, a background in facilities management or IFMA training helps, but most office managers learn compliance duties on the job with specialist support.
How do I tell an office manager from a strong office administrator?
Look for ownership. An office manager has made budget and supplier decisions, set policy and often managed staff. Ask for specific decisions they made and the result.
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