Business Operations Specialist, All Other Career Assessment
A catch-all category — read this before you chase the title
Welcome
"Business Operations Specialists, All Other" is not really a job. It is the leftover box the government uses for business jobs that do not fit any other code.
This page explains what is actually inside that box, what the numbers mean, and how to search for the real jobs instead.
This takes about 15 minutes.
What is a Business Operations Specialist, All Other?
Every job in the country gets a code. When a business job does not match any of the specific codes — accountant, buyer, human resources specialist, logistician — it lands in this catch-all box. O*NET says it plainly: this code covers business operations specialists "with a wide range of characteristics" that do not fit elsewhere, and O*NET does not publish task or skill data for it. Four real jobs O*NET does break out under this code are business continuity planner (planning how a company keeps running after a disaster), sustainability specialist (reducing waste and energy use), online merchant (running a store on the internet), and security management specialist.
The Reality: Here is the straight version. You will never see a job ad that says "Business Operations Specialist, All Other." Nobody is hired into this title. It is a counting category, not a career. Inside it are jobs like business analyst, operations coordinator, contract administrator, grants specialist, program coordinator, regulatory affairs specialist, energy auditor, and dozens more. They need different skills and pay different money. So do not chase this title. Pick the real job title you actually want, and search for that. Use this page for one thing only: to see that business operations work in North Dakota is common and pays decently, and then to go find the specific job underneath it.
Your Responsibilities:
- Coordinate work across several departments
- Track projects, budgets, and deadlines
- Pull data into spreadsheets and reports
- Write and manage contracts or grant paperwork
- Improve how a process runs and write down the new steps
- Answer questions from staff, vendors, and customers
- Prepare reports for managers and boards
- Fill whatever gap the organization has that month
You are the person who makes the parts of a business work together.
A Day in the Life
8:00 AM — Check email. Three departments need something from you.
8:30 AM — Update the project tracker and flag two tasks that are late.
9:30 AM — Meet a department head about a process that keeps breaking.
10:30 AM — Write up the new steps so everyone follows the same ones.
12:00 PM — Lunch.
12:45 PM — Pull numbers into a spreadsheet for the monthly report.
2:30 PM — Review a vendor contract and note what needs changing.
4:00 PM — Send your summary and set tomorrow's priorities.
Desk work with a lot of interruptions. No two of these jobs look alike.
Training in North Dakota
A business degree is the usual door, but the real answer depends on which job you pick. Because this is a catch-all box, there is no single training path. What most of the jobs inside it share is a business background: a two-year or four-year business degree, plus experience in the industry. Pick your real target job first, then read its ads and let them tell you what training it needs.
Training Pathways:
- Two-year degree (2 years): A business or management associate degree, then an office coordinator or administrative job. Many people move up into operations work from here without a four-year degree.
- Four-year degree (4 years): A business administration or management major. This is what most of the higher-paying jobs in this box ask for.
- Move up from inside (varies): Take any job at an organization you like and volunteer for the project and process work nobody wants. This is how a very large share of these jobs are actually filled.
Where to Train in North Dakota:
- North Dakota State College of Science (Wahpeton and Fargo) — Business Management, AAS (Administration and Finance), 61 credits. NDSCS lists administrative support, business information systems, general management, human resources, operations, accounting, banking, and insurance as the pathways it prepares you for. Face-to-face in Wahpeton or Fargo, some classes online — catalog.ndscs.edu
- Bismarck State College (Bismarck) — Business Administration, Associate in Arts, on campus or online, and it transfers into a Bachelor of Applied Science in Organizational Management and Leadership finished on the BSC campus through agreements with Minot State or Dickinson State — bismarckstate.edu
- Minot State University (Minot) — Management, BS, 120 credits, on campus, online, or AU-ABC format. Minot State names administrative services and facilities managers among its graduates' career paths — minotstateu.edu
- Valley City State University (Valley City) — Business Administration, BS, with concentrations in Human Resources and Management, Managerial Accounting and Finance, Marketing, and Agribusiness, on campus or online — vcsu.edu
- North Dakota State University (Fargo) — Business Administration, BS, minimum 120 credits — catalog.ndsu.edu
- University of North Dakota (Grand Forks) — Business Administration, BBA, 120 credits, on campus or fully online — und.edu
Before You Start: High school diploma or GED. You need to be organized, comfortable with spreadsheets and email, and good at juggling several things at once. Strong writing helps in every version of this job.
Tip: Start with financial aid, scholarships, and any help an employer offers — that is where the money starts. After that, ask a career counselor or Job Service North Dakota whether WIOA or other programs can help with what is left over, like training, tools, work boots, or exam fees. What can be paid for depends on the program and on your own situation, so ask before you sign up rather than after. Registered apprenticeships let you earn a paycheck while you learn — see jobsnd.com/job-seeker/apprenticeships for ND programs.
Certification & Licensing
No license exists for this category, because the category is not a real job. There is nothing to get licensed in. Once you pick the specific job you want, that job may have its own certificate. Here is how to figure out which one, without wasting money.
How to Find the Credential That Actually Matters:
- No license needed — nothing legally stops you from applying for these jobs today
- Step one: name the real job — business analyst, operations coordinator, contract administrator, grants specialist, program coordinator, energy auditor, online merchant. Pick one
- Step two: read ten job ads for that exact title in North Dakota. Write down every certificate and software name they mention
- Step three: count — if a certificate shows up in most of the ads, it is worth money. If it shows up in one, skip it
- Step four: ask before you pay — many employers will pay for the certificate once you are hired. Ask in the interview rather than buying it first
The Exams: There is no exam for this category. Exams belong to the specific certificates you may choose later.
Cost: Nothing to pay here. Do not buy a certificate before you know which job you want.
Keeping It Current: Nothing to renew. Any certificate you pick later will have its own renewal rules.
Salary & Job Outlook
North Dakota Business Operations Specialist, All Other Pay (May 2025):
- Starting out (bottom 10–25%): $24.94–$30.35/hour ($51,870–$63,130/year)
- Middle (median — half earn more, half earn less): $38.70/hour ($80,500/year)
- Experienced (top 25–10%): $49.59–$63.28/hour ($103,150–$131,620/year)
What that means: The middle worker in this North Dakota category earns about $38.70 an hour, or about $80,500 a year, close to the national middle of $39.93. But read this number with real caution, because it is the most misleading figure on this page. It is an average across dozens of unrelated jobs — a grants coordinator at a nonprofit, a business analyst at a bank, an energy auditor, an online store owner. None of them earns "the median for this category." The spread tells the story: the bottom tenth is about $24.94 an hour and the top tenth about $63.28, which is a very wide gap for one code. Use this only as a rough sign that business operations work in North Dakota pays reasonably. For the job you actually want, look up that title's own wage data instead.
Jobs in North Dakota: About 1,930 people do this work in ND today. By 2034, that should be about 2,000 (about 4% growth). Expect about 180 job openings every year in ND from growth and people retiring or changing jobs. Across the U.S., the change is about 3% growth — average.
Outlook: Steady. North Dakota is projected to go from about 1,930 to about 2,000 of these positions, with about 180 openings a year. That openings number is large because the category is large, not because any one job has 180 openings. Spread it across dozens of different job titles.
Who Hires in ND: Banks and credit unions, hospitals and health systems, energy and pipeline companies, farm co-ops, colleges, nonprofits, tribal governments, city and county offices, North Dakota state agencies, and almost any business large enough to have departments.
Work Setting: An office or a home office. Many of these roles can be done partly remote. A few, like energy auditing, include site visits.
Physical Demands: Low. Mostly sitting at a computer. Eye strain, back strain, and wrist strain are the real risks. A good chair, a sit-stand desk, and screen-reading or magnification software are common and reasonable requests.
Sources: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, North Dakota, May 2025 (SOC 13-1199); North Dakota and U.S. long-term employment projections 2024–2034, via O*NET OnLine. Numbers are rounded.
Where This Leads
Path 1: Office or Administrative Assistant — A very common starting point.
Path 2: Operations Coordinator — You keep projects and schedules moving.
Path 3: Business Analyst — You study processes and data and recommend fixes.
Path 4: Contract or Grants Specialist — You manage agreements and funding paperwork.
Path 5: Program Manager — You own a whole program and its budget.
Path 6: Operations Manager or Director — You run the department.
The Real Talk
What's Great:
- Lots of positions across North Dakota
- Pay near the national middle
- Skills transfer to any industry
- Many paths in without a four-year degree
- Often partly remote
- You see how a whole organization works
What's Hard:
- The title itself is not real — you must pick a specific job
- The wage number mixes very different jobs
- Job duties vary wildly from employer to employer
- Constant interruptions and shifting priorities
- You often absorb work nobody else wants
- Hard to explain your job to other people
Be Honest: Are you willing to do the work of picking a specific job title instead of a vague one? Can you stay organized when five people need different things from you? Can you handle a job where the duties change every year?