Auction Assistant Interview Questions And Answers

Besides time management and cleanliness, an office assistant has excellent verbal and written communication skills to effectively coordinate activities between the office manager and his business colleagues, present reports, send and answer emails, etc.

In this role, you will probably have a lot of people needing your assistance to get things completed, and that can get stressful. The interviewer wants to make sure that you know how to handle this type of environment. Think of what you do in your everyday life to make things more manageable.

“I can honestly say that I’ve gotten comfortable handling stress and high pressure situations. The thing that seems to work best for me is to list out everything that needs to be done, put it in order of importance and then cross out the task as soon as it’s completed. I don’t only do this at work, but also in my personal life. This sounds small, but something as simple as list-making really keeps me on task and focused.”

Your relationship with your boss will be very important as an administrative assistant. Think of any specific times you went above and beyond to help your previous employer.

“In addition to being told that I’m super organized, I’m confident that my former boss would tell you that I am one of the hardest workers they have had as an administrative assistant. You could always find me staying late to make sure everything has been completed and I would sometimes come in on the weekends if necessary. Also, I was often praised for my ability to handle multiple presentations at once and was recognized by the corporate office for my reporting skills.”

Typical interview question and answer structures often open with a question like this. Avoid sounding arrogant or conceited by keeping your answer concise, but be sure to cover at least a couple of major strengths that are especially relevant to the role in question. Illustrate each of them with an example of how you were able to apply the strength in a way that made a tangible contribution to the success of the organisation.

It is important to have at least one example to hand that allows you to present how you applied your skills to achieve something that is particularly relevant to an Accounts Assistant role. Improvements that led to a tangible success for your employing organisation are going to be of particular interest.

Be ambitious but realistic and make sure your answer is about your career, not your life in general.

Keep it brief and focus on your attributes that are most relevant to the role in question and the employing organisation.

As an administrative assistant, you will have to juggle multiple projects and responsibilities at the same time. Even if you don’t have any direct administrative assistant experience work, you can pull from times in your life that you’ve had to prioritize different tasks and come up with a game plan on completing them.

“In my previous position I was tasked with handling all travel from the sales team, organizing the calendars of multiple people and managing the office. In this role I had to quickly get used to tasks being handed to me last minute and that were all high priority. I would really have to write down everything that needed to be done to see which had the biggest impact and which was the most important. Often times the hardest project was the most important, so I found that it all came down to time management and prioritization.”

Communication is key to any job that provides support and assistance in an organization. Your answers should clearly demonstrate your ability to express yourself effectively both verbally and in writing as well as your ability to listen actively and understand the communication taking place.

This might feel like a trick questions, but it is not. The hiring manager’s job isn’t simply to hire the most qualified professional. He or she must find someone who will fit into the existing company environment. Understanding what kind of superior you work best with helps him or her decide if you will work well in the enterprise.

Time management is crucial for any office assistant, who successfully coordinates and carries out many tasks simultaneously. Office assistants are often actively involved in managing the time of other office staff and managers. To be able to do that one must be able to manage his/her own time.

As a starting point, it is important for someone looking for an accounts assistant job to mention MS Excel and Project, as well as PeopleSoft and Team Design software, and how you have applied these in a practical sense.

Avoid the temptation to say “this one”, but adopt the interview tactic of tailoring your answer so that it reflects, to some extent, the role in question. In general terms, you can talk about the need to be challenged, to make a tangible contribution, to try new things, to have the opportunity to fully exploit your skills, and grow yourself professionally.

☛ Tell me about your previous work experience as an office assistant.
☛ What were your primary responsibilities?
☛ What type of duties did you handle in previous positions?
☛ What type of reporting structure did you work within in previous jobs?
☛ What skills do you consider to be your greatest strengths?
☛ Do you have experience maintaining office equipment? If so, what type of products?
☛ Tell me about a complex project you were tasked with completing under deadline.
☛ What type of documents and formats have you generated in the past?
☛ What have you done at your present/last company to increase revenues, cut costs or save time?
☛ Tell me what you’ve done to improve your skills as an office assistant.
☛ Why do you think you’re a great fit for this position?
☛ What type of schedule are you looking to work?
☛ Would you be available to work extra hours if needed?

☛ Why do you think you’re well-suited for a position as an administrative assistant? For this job in particular?
☛ What special skills do you possess that will help you excel at our company?
☛ How would you describe your comfort level when it comes to [particular software program]? What is the latest version of this software that you have used?
☛ Give me examples of how you’ve used [particular software program] on the job? What advanced functionality are you familiar with?
☛ What would you consider your biggest professional accomplishment to date? Your biggest professional failure?

☛ Can you walk me through a typical day in your most recent position? How do you prioritize what’s on your plate?
☛ How do you prioritize projects when you are juggling multiples tasks, all with similar deadlines?
☛ What is your first step when given a large project to manage? How would you organize it?
☛ Can you describe a challenging project you were assigned in the past and how you approached it?
☛ Are there any tools, equipment or procedures you would replace or change at your most recent/current job? If so, what changes would you make and why?

☛ How would you handle a boss who gave you assignment without complete instructions?
☛ How do you handle a situation where you found mistakes on an assignment someone else gave to you to type and/or process?
☛ How do you minimize interruptions on the job?

☛ What type of supervisor helps bring out your best performance?
☛ Can you share a piece of constructive feedback a manager has given you? What adjustments, if any, did you make because of that feedback?
☛ Have you ever reported to multiple supervisors at once? If so, how did you juggle each person’s priorities?
☛ Can you tell me about a workplace conflict you were involved in as an administrative assistant and how you handled it?
☛ Can you describe the most challenging colleague you’ve had to work with? How did you handle that relationship?

☛ How do you deal with tight deadlines?
☛ How do you deal with people who have angered or frustrated you?
☛ How would you handle a situation where someone is pressuring you for his or her work to be completed?

☛ How much rewriting do you usually do when working on someone’s proposal/report?
☛ When typing, what sorts of mistakes can you catch quickly and correct for the original writer?
☛ When typing a document, which things do you feel comfortable changing without needing to check with the one who has assigned you the work? What do you feel is necessary to ask about before changing or rewriting?
☛ What type of letters, memos, etc., can you set-up and write “from scratch”?
☛ How much writing have you done from incomplete instructions or notes? Explain.
☛ What formats or form letters have you had experience working with?

☛ What interests you about working in an administrative position at this company?
☛ What kinds of administrative projects do you like to work on?
☛ What administrative projects are less interesting for you? How do you overcome your disinterest in order to do a good job?
☛ How would you rate your computer skills?
☛ Describe your experience with calendar management.
☛ What kinds of documents have you made from scratch using MS Office programs?
☛ What is your experience with data entry?
☛ How do you ensure accuracy in routine tasks such as processing expenses and preparing reports?
☛ If you support multiple people at one company, how do you decide which projects to work on first?
☛ Have you ever been on a team with a difficult coworker? How did you handle it?
☛ Describe a time you worked with a team to meet a common goal. What was your role?
☛ Describe a time you suggested a way to save time, lower costs, or increase revenue.
☛ What does “managing up” mean to you? In what ways have you done that?
☛ Some of this work can be repetitive. What motivates you to excel in this role?

☛ Tell me about your previous work experience as an office assistant.
☛ What were your primary responsibilities?
☛ What type of duties did you handle in previous positions?
☛ What type of reporting structure did you work within in previous jobs?
☛ What skills do you consider your greatest strengths?
☛ Have you had experience in maintaining office equipment? If so, what type of products?
☛ Tell me about a complex project you were tasked with completing under deadline.
☛ What type of documents and formats have you generated in the past?
☛ What have you done at your present/last company to increase revenues, reduce costs, or save time?
☛ What have you done to improve your skills as office assistant?
☛ What makes you a great fit for this position?
☛ What type of schedule are you looking to work?
☛ Would you be available to work extra hours if needed?

☛ What's most important to you in a new position?
☛ What type of work environment do you prefer?
☛ What is a typical career path in this job function?
☛ Do you have the qualities and skills necessary to succeed in your career?
☛ Describe a time you were faced with stresses which tested your skills.

☛ What comes to mind when you think of our company? Why do you want to work here?
☛ What appeals to you about this particular job?
☛ How do you envision an administrative assistant being able to contribute to our firm?
☛ In which type of office environment do you excel most?
☛ Why did you leave your last administrative assistant position? (Or: Why are you looking to leave your current administrative assistant position?) What would have convinced you to stay?

☛ What would you say are your strong points?
☛ Give me an example that best describes your organizational skills.
☛ What was the most difficult period in your life, and how did you deal with it?
☛ Situation in which you had to arrive at a compromise.
☛ How have you changed in the last five years?

Emphasize benefits to the company.
A short positive response is best. It is meant to see whether or not you'll speak poorly of an employer.