Administrative assistants help managers, directors, vice presidents, and c-level executives with a variety of tasks, including scheduling, communications, document production, travel, and clerical work. They may also be able to help an entire department with these tasks. The hiring manager will typically ask questions about the candidate’s hard skills, soft skills, previous experience, and personal work style during an interview.
Word processing and spreadsheet programs, light accounting skills, and some writing skills are all common administrative assistant hard skills. Certain jobs may necessitate the acquisition of additional skills. An administrative assistant to a dean of education, for example, may need to be familiar with academic publishing rules, and an assistant to a hospital’s chief executive officer may need to be familiar with basic medical terminology. Interview questions for administrative assistants are frequently designed to reveal the interviewee’s expertise in these areas. The candidate may also be asked what kinds of computer programs she has used or how many years of experience she has in a particular skill area.
Administrative assistant interview questions that probe the candidate’s soft skills will also be asked by hiring managers. Organization and interpersonal communication are examples of this. A departmental administrative assistant, for example, may be responsible for managing the schedules of several people with various functions and work styles. In this case, the hiring manager might inquire about the candidate’s ability to elicit needed information from both over-communicators and under-communicators with minimal workplace conflict.
The past provides proof of a candidate’s abilities, so many administrative assistant interview questions revolve around it. These questions could pertain to either hard or soft skills. A high-ranking research and development officer, for example, will require an administrative assistant who can be trusted with sensitive or confidential information, so he may inquire about the candidate’s previous experience with similar information. A newly formed position or department may require an administrative assistant to create a workable filing system from scratch, so the hiring manager may ask the candidate to describe a time when she completed a similar task.
Managers and their administrative assistants frequently collaborate closely to achieve a common goal, so complementary work styles are essential. A manager who is aware of his lack of organizational skills will frequently seek out an administrative assistant who is extremely organized and unafraid to keep him on track. A manager who is temperamental or has poor communication skills will frequently choose an administrative assistant who is unaffected by his moodiness and can’smooth feathers’ of those with whom he may be at odds. A manager who travels frequently will require an assistant who can work effectively with little supervision.
Candidates should expect to be asked questions about their personal motivations and work style preferences during their administrative assistant interview. This is so important that it will frequently be the deciding factor between candidates who are equally qualified. It’s possible that a candidate with a complementary work style will be chosen over one with more experience or education.