How to become an officer of non-governmental organisations
Official title: Officers of non-governmental organisations
Also called: Officer, Admin officer, Union officer, Regional officer, Development officer, Trade union officer, Administration officer, Administrative officer, British council officer, Governor support officer, Branch development officer, Secretary of charitable organisation
Officers of non-governmental organisations perform a variety of administrative and clerical tasks in the running of trade associations, employers’ associations, learned societies, trade unions, charitable organisations and similar bodies.
Main tasks
- Maintains and updates records of membership details, subscription fees, mailing lists, etc.
- Circulates and reports information of relevance to members and interested parties
- Arranges meetings, conferences and other events and circulates agenda and other relevant material
- Receives and responds to written correspondence and telephone enquiries from members and other organisations
- Assists with fund raising activities within a specified geographical area
- Prepares and provides measures of organisational activity for senior officials
How to become one
Some roles may require GCSEs/S and pre-entry experience is usually necessary. Some organisations only employ their own members, although evidence of related work within pressure groups, the voluntary sector, trade unions or other organisations is generally sufficient.
Ways in
- Apprenticeship (England): Trade union official (level 4). England. Typically 18 months. Skills England standard ST0815.
- University: Arts & Humanities degrees, Offered by 27 universities in the UK
- University: Business & Commerce degrees, Offered by 27 universities in the UK
Pay · Outlook
- Median full-time pay: £31,008 a year
- About 56,800 people work in this job now, and about 54,000 are projected by 2035. (-5%)
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Questions people ask
How do I become an officer of non-governmental organisations?
Some roles may require GCSEs/S and pre-entry experience is usually necessary. Some organisations only employ their own members, although evidence of related work within pressure groups, the voluntary sector, trade unions or other organisations is generally sufficient.
How much does an officer of non-governmental organisations earn in the UK?
Median full-time pay is £31,008 a year (Office for National Statistics).
Is an officer of non-governmental organisations a growing career in the UK?
Employment is projected to fall 5% by 2035, from about 56,800 to about 54,000 people (Department for Education).
Do you need a degree to become an officer of non-governmental organisations?
Usually. 61% of people in this job hold a bachelor's degree or higher.
Sources
- Office for National Statistics: Annual Population Survey: employment by occupation (April 2025 to March 2026), OGL v3.0, retrieved 2026-10-03
- Office for National Statistics: SOC 2020 Volume 1: structure and descriptions (2026-08-27 edition), OGL v3.0, retrieved 2026-10-03
- Department for Education: Skills Imperative 2035: employment projections by occupation (2021 to 2035 (Warwick IER / Cambridge Econometrics)), OGL v3.0, retrieved 2026-10-03
- Office for National Statistics: Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, Table 14 (2025 provisional), OGL v3.0, retrieved 2026-10-03
Updated 2026-10-03
Graduate outcomes: Discover Uni dataset, HESA (www.hesa.ac.uk), licensed under CC BY 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0). Aggregated by subject and adapted by Peernovo.