Download our “Job Interview Questions & Answers PDF Cheat Sheet” that gives you word-for-word sample answers to the some of the most common interview questions including:
administrative specialist interview questions
The STAR interview answer technique
The STAR interview technique is a method of answering behavioral interview questions clearly and concisely using real-life examples to support your answer. STAR stands for situation, task, action and result. When using this technique to answer an interview question, you need to clearly define a specific situation you have experienced that is relevant to the interviewer’s question, describe what your role in the situation was, explain the actions you took to overcome the situation and describe the final result. Using this method helps you answer the question using a specific example.
Read more: How to Use the STAR Interview Response Technique
Administrative assistant interview questions
What Are Interviewers Looking for When They’re Hiring for Administrative Assistant Roles?
For entry- and mid-level administrative assistants, companies seek candidates with great soft skills, more so than a predefined number of years’ experience or technical background.
In general, hiring managers are looking for candidates who communicate effectively, solve problems creatively, and stay on top of endless details to support the team and help everyone move the business forward.
The main things hiring managers are looking for are:
- Communications skills: As an administrative assistant, you’ll interact with employees at all levels across the company. Communicating in a collaborative, professional, and effective way is key. Hiring managers search for a candidate with those strong communication skills above all else because they know that how well an administrative assistant communicates can make a massive impact on the organization.
- Organizational skills: In this role, you’ll be responsible for managing calendars, planning events, project managing, and otherwise hitting deadlines. The small details are vital. When your executive misses a meeting, money could be on the line. An admin staying organized helps the business meet its goals.
- Collaboration skills: As an administrative assistant you’ll work with your manager or managers as well as folks in other departments to keep everything running smoothly and deliver on projects. You need to be able to do this effectively.
- Computer skills: Much of an administrative assistant’s role is on the computer, whether that be reviewing or writing emails, managing calendars, or crafting PowerPoint presentations. However, you can gain computer skills on the job, whereas communication skills are much harder to teach. So if this is your weak point, don’t panic! You can still land a great position if you show you’re willing and able to learn.
Keep these skills in mind as you prepare to answer questions for your administrative assistant interview. Working them in where it makes sense can help solidify you as the best candidate in the mind of a recruiter or hiring manager.
What Tools Do You Use to Stay Organized?
Hiring managers look to administrative assistants to be the most organized person in the office. Whether it’s scheduling meetings, hitting deadlines, or having documents ready at a moment’s notice, staying organized is essential to executing the role well. Organizational tools—from Google Calendar to Asana and other project management software—can help you excel in this role, so don’t be afraid to tout that you have experience with these.
Staying organized goes beyond making sure you know where every file is. “It may sound simple to manage calendars, but it makes a huge impact on an organization and can be complex. The admin must exercise good judgment and drive the right priorities,” says Treena Diebolt, Peloton’s VP, Global Talent Attraction.
By Mike Simpson
They say behind every successful business executive is a good administrative assistant secretly running the show.
While the statement is meant to be funny, there’s a pretty solid core of truth to it.
A competent, qualified, and enthusiastic administrative assistant is worth their weight in gold and hiring managers utilize precision administrative assistant interview questions in order to weed out unqualified applicants on their quest for the best of the best.
Ok, so before we get started we wanted to let you know that there are over 100 other difficult traditional interview questions you could be asked in your job interview. Sounds stressful right? Well don’t worry, because we created a free PDF that outlines the most common questions and gives you word for word sample answers that you can use at your next interview. Click the link below to get your copy now!
