Behavioral Auction Assistant Interview Preparation Guide

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It is tempting to adopt a common interview tactic by glossing over this, or to provide a fake answer by attempting to dress up a strength as a weakness. This is a mistake. The interviewer will want to see an example of self-awareness and a commitment to self-improvement.

When you are asked about your strengths, you want to relate your response to skills and abilities that are relevant to your prospective position. Perhaps you are excellent at speaking and working with clients or keeping the office impeccably organized. Either of these can be highly prized in the right environment. Frame your strengths as an asset to your prospective employer.

Again, these should relate to the role in question. A final interview tip is to make sure your goals appear clearly thought out and well articulated to demonstrate that this is a serious and ongoing consideration.

Office assistants typically write any or all of the following: thank-you letters, newsletters, labels, donor and annual reports, emails, messages, fax messages, etc.

Interview questions and answers like this are another opportunity to demonstrate that you have done your homework so instead of focusing on pay and benefits, talk about how the philosophy of the organisation impresses you and how you are excited at the prospect of making a contribution to its ongoing success.

Your prospective employer wants to know how you respond to setbacks. This reveals a lot about your drive and ability to learn from your mistakes. When you encounter administrative assistant interview questions and answers like this, it is imperative to keep your reply positive. Focus more on how you overcame the setback or issues. Furthermore, show how it made you a more effective professional.

Administrative assistants have to work effectively as part of a team or group. Your answers should highlight your ability to build relationships with other group members and show how you contribute to team success.

The example given should convey how a combination of technical expertise and personal characteristics enabled you to successfully deliver within very challenging constraints.

Interview guides recommend discussing your membership of any professional or academic institutions, reading blogs, articles and newsletters, and attending networking events. Also, mention your own professional network of fellow Accounts Assistants that you are continually growing and developing.

An office assistant is able to use various standard communication software, such as – emailing tools, Messenger, and Skype. Moreover, he/she is able to type and be proficient in Word, Office, PowerPoint, Excel, etc.

In most administrative assistant jobs you will find yourself using various computer programs. Make sure you are honest, as you don’t want to be asked to do something on your first day and have to admit that you lied in an interview. Think about classes you’ve taken and programs that you've used in previous roles.

“I have a lot of experience using all Microsoft Office programs like Word, Publisher, PowerPoint and Excel. In fact, I recently took a class at the community center to really get a feel for Excel and everything it has to offer. In addition, my previous roles had me putting together many PowerPoint presentations and I have basic PhotoShop knowledge.”

One of the best interview tips is to ensure you have a good understanding of the organisation and its products and services and be able to relay this clearly and authoritatively. There is no need to be an expert at this stage but you should be able to talk confidently about the history of the organisation as well as its place in the market and key people.

Depending on the size of your prospective employer, you make have to work with another or multiple administrative assistants. Together, you will manage the necessary administrative tasks to make the enterprise as effective as possible. Give an example of how you were able to delegate and focus as an integral part of a team. Keep the anecdote short, but make your point.

Focus on how specific elements of the role relate to your own skills and experience in order to highlight your strength as a candidate. Also, be sure to cover how the role aligns to your personal and professional development ambitions.

An administrative assistant has to provide support to a number of different people under a number of different circumstances. Your ability to adjust successfully to different individuals and task requirements is very important. Provide specific examples of when you had to adjust your approach and behavior in different situations.

Administrative assistant interview questions will explore your ability to gather and manage information. Detail the types and volume of data you had to manage and how you ensured your information management was up to date and accurate.

The risk here is to sound negative, and interview guides always recommend avoiding this, so focus on the positive without being glib. Highlight an area that you know to be commonly unpopular and discuss how you handle that so it does not impact on your performance.

It is important to ensure that your answer largely reflects your own education history. Cover academic qualifications, plus ongoing professional development, practical training such as mentoring or coaching and membership of any professional institutions.

One of the hallmark duties of an administrative assistant is answering a stream of telephone calls. You must remain courteous at all times and maintain a high level of efficiency. With these kind of administrative assistant interview questions and answers, the hiring manager wants to know that you are completely capable of this task.

Attending to and completing all the details results in accuracy. Give examples of when you have addressed mistakes in your or other people's work. Focus on following the correct procedures to complete a task and check your work.

Chances are you will be asked this question, especially if you are switching careers and haven’t had a job like this before. Think about the benefits of the actual position. You can go into why you want to work for the specific company in other questions.

“I am one of those people who really enjoys being super organized and finding ways to balance my time, which is why I started looking into become an administrative assistant. Actually, you can find me in my free time reorganizing my house and trying to discover the most efficient ways to maximize my time. Also,I truly enjoy making others happy and helping them succeed and I feel like this type of role would fit in with my personality.”

Besides duties like handling calls and other forms of communication, managing documentation, coordinating events, etc., an office assistant maintains an efficient and pleasant working environment by keeping it fresh and free of clutter.

Focus on scheduling and prioritizing activities. How do you decide which are the most important activities? Include criteria such as urgency of the tasks, deadlines to be met, available resources and setting realistic targets. Outline the tools you use to plan your day including the computer applications you have found helpful.

Remember when answering administrative assistant interview questions about customer service that your colleagues, supervisors and managers are your internal customers in addition to any external customers that you have to deal with.

In your interview answer focus on the following: - asking the right questions in order to clarify the customer's wants and needs - using your knowledge and skills to determine how to meet those needs. Describe how you went about providing the right service to meet the customer's needs.

☛ Do you consider yourself a patient person?
☛ Are you an introvert or an extrovert? Are you more outgoing or a private person?
☛ How do you describe your personality? Bubbly? Upbeat? Reserved?
☛ Do you speak any other languages?
☛ Are you able to multitask? Provide me with an example of what you might be juggling on an average day.
☛ What office equipment are you able to use?
☛ With your current employer, what has been your attendance record?
☛ How are you with understanding accents and working with individuals who are foreign nationals?
☛ Tell me about your customer service experience.
☛ Provide me with an example of a recent challenge you’ve faced with a visiting sales rep, vendor, customer. What happened and how did you handle?
☛ Tell me about your experiences working with your current manager. What do you find the most challenging?
☛ Provide me with a quick list of the last few projects you’ve worked on through the last 2-3 years.
☛ Do you like taking on ad-hoc projects? Or are you someone who prefers a set day-to-day schedule?
☛ If asked, what would your current employers say about you?
☛ Have you had any involvement with introducing new systems or technologies to help improve performance within the company?
☛ Any professional involvement with social media and online networking, including Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn?
☛ Do you help your current manager with maintaining his online presence?
☛ Lastly, do you like working on the front lines of a company? What do you think that is?
☛ Describe your ideal manager. What type of managers would help you deliver your best performance?
☛ How do you handle stressful situations?
☛ Are you capable of handling multiple inquiries simultaneously; staff, front door, customers, phone?
☛ What software are you comfortable using?
☛ Are you comfortable placing cold calls to leads and existing clients?
☛ Do you have experience making national and international travel arrangements?
☛ Are you willing/capable of traveling should we require you to accompany a manager or executive on a business trip?
☛ Would you be able to comply with our company’s dress code?
☛ How are you at handling as-needed projects? Do you mind unexpected tasks?
☛ Do you consider yourself a brisk worker, or one who is slower paced yet persistent and consistent?
☛ Outline the types of people or teams that you have supported over the years.
☛ Do you have experience managing an executive calendar and scheduling appointments? What software?
☛ How many phone lines are you comfortable handling?