Administrative Assistant Interview Questions

So your job application for the post of administrative assistant has been fruitful enough to get you an interview call from your future employer. Well, at the outset, I'll congratulate you for that. Certainly your interview would be your first and probably your last chance to prove yourself as the 'right choice' for the post.

However, how prepared are you for the interview? Have your groomed yourself perfectly according to the requirements of the job? And most importantly, do you know what are the possible interview questions? Well, if you are an experienced person having worked for a considerable amount of time, you certainly will be all set for the interview.

But if you are a fresher and do not have an idea of the questions that may be asked, here are some of them compiled for you.

Administrative assistants are the key members of any organization, as they are responsible for looking after administrative operations. It therefore becomes necessary for the employer to make a wise choice, after putting the interviewee to tough tests, and interview rounds that would examine the interviewee's intellectual and working ability.

Interview for an administrative assistant might be carried out in interview rounds that examine the candidate on social, technical, and personal aspects. However, it should be noted that the interview techniques vary from organization to organization depending on the job details and duties and responsibilities involved in it.

Questions asked in the social intellectual generally test the candidate's working ability and response in a social environment. This is because apart from handling administrative workload, administrative assistants also have to maintain good public relations with the employees as well as the clients and vendors.

Accordingly, this round might include the following questions,

• What type of work environment did you have in your previous organization?
• Are you a team player or do you believe in teamwork?
• How do you respond to a person yelling at you?
• Did you ever have any conflict with your colleagues and why?

• Are you assertive enough to resolve conflicts between employees working under your supervision?
• How will you deal with an angry client?
• In what ways do you maintain contacts and business relationships with clients and vendors?
• How will you explain work to the people working under you?

The scope of duties of an administrative assistant is very wide. They have to look after many things in the office.

Some of these duties include answering internal as well as external telephone calls, keep tabs of office supplies and equipment, handling paperwork and maintaining various office related documents, etc. Obviously, employers would prefer a person capable enough to look after all these duties properly and therefore they might ask the following questions.

• What type of office applications and systems did you use in your previous organization?
• Will you be able to work on advanced office organization management software?
• Can you handle multiple phone calls at the same time?
• What type of calendar programs and messaging systems did you use?

• Can you prepare purchase orders and deal with accounting tasks if required?
• Are you aware of the applications of modern office equipment and systems?
• What kind of fax machines, printing machines, and copiers have you used till today?
• Are you able to prepare data graphs, spreadsheets, and work on macro applications?

• How comfortable are you in handling confidential documentation?
• Can you assist the human resource management personnel in the recruiting process?
• How effective and accurate are you in managing your workload and daily schedule?
• How do you identify priority work and what technique do you use to finish it?

• Have you ever worked for customer service and complaint handling?
• Have you ever worked on training and induction programs?
• How expert are you at working on computer applications such as MS-Word, MS-Excel and MS-PowerPoint?
• Have you ever dealt with the arrangement of meetings and company get-together?

Moral values and overall personality often have a strong influence on the person's working style. Therefore, employers would always look forward to know you personally, what is your outlook towards different things in life and accordingly judge, whether you are capable enough to work in their organization.

For some questions, the answer might be immaterial, but they'll be keen to see your first reaction on hearing the question. Personal interview rounds might include the following questions.

• How do you describe yourself?
• What are your merits and demerits?
• What is your primary thought about this organization?
• How do you deal with criticism?

• Are you ready to work beyond the call of duty?
• Are you ready to work on weekends?
• How often will you require a leave?
• From 1 to 10, where do you rank yourself, with regards to work?
• How often do you accept challenges?
• Why should you be a leader, what leadership qualities do you have in you?

• How do you strike a balance between work and personal life?
• Why should we recruit you?
• Why did you choose our organization to work?
• What are your salary expectations?

These were some common administrative assistant interview questions. There are many more questions that the employers would ask you during the interview. Nonetheless, these questions depend on the type of organization and most importantly the expectations of the employer from the candidate. So be prepared and prove yourself.