Can I work in an office if I dont have a degree or profession?

I have a college degree in education. However, I ended up going a different direction, and worked in customer service in a variety of positions. The one thing that helped me the MOST, in the end, was the fact that I could type. I learned that skill in 9th grade. And I’m good with computers. Self taught. And I have an excellent work ethic.

So, yes. You most certainly can work in an office without a degree.

Most administrative staff jobs here only require a H.S. diploma or GED

You totally can. In fact, for some of those desk jobs it is preferred. People without options are loyal and work cheap. If your admin has a degree they are probably looking for better options during their lunch break.

Yes indeed. Both my secretaries lack college degrees and both make good money and one makes near 6 figures.

What you need to succeed in an office job is office skills. You should be computer literate, and able to use most office suite programs: Word, Excel, perhaps some presentation software or database software.

You can answer phones, open mail, be a receptionist, type, set up conferences, keep lists of things, make copies, help with inventory and ordering of office supplies, stuff like that.

Agreed. Office jobs require office skills, which certainly don’t need anything like a college degree, and it’s true they may prefer someone who isn’t going to leave.

@Zaku Exactly!

Certainly, you can.
The smaller the company, the better your chances of being employed.

In a small company you have to keep the customers happy.
In a multi-national company you have to keep peace with the other employees.

See, that’s the trouble with words like career and profession. If you spend 40 years working the grill at Burger King, that’s your career, and you must certainly be regarded as professional at it.

As long as you know computers and can type and spell you are on your way. I worked my way up in the accounting profession with two years of high school accounting classes and a diploma in travel and tourism that gave me excellent customer service skills. I was running small business offices sole charge with a salary of 56,000 New Zealand dollars a year. By the time I was 30.

I think the idea behind that isn’t that if you don’t have a degree you won’t have a life, but that it’s still better if you have a degree, because it will boost your chance of getting a good job. Sure, a lot of people can do without it, but can you be sure you will be among those people?

After you’ve been with whatever company for however long, they’ll start entrusting you with things that are more important that just filing and making lists, as @jca said. In the end, the secretaries damn near run the place.

Absolutely. You can start out temping if a job doesn’t come along easily. Sign up with Manpower, Robert Half, Ranstad, or a local company. Often their positions are temp to perm.

When you go for your appointment with the temp company you should wear a suit, have a resume prepared, have references both personal and work typed up too. You will likely only meet with them once, so the first impression is very important. They might ask you to take “tests” for your computer proficiency, so plan 2–3 hours when you make your appointment.