Office Administrator Interview Questions And Answers

Answer that by staying organised and keeping a strict diary you find that stress does not become a real issue. As soon as you identify a possible delay due to high work volumes you raise this with your manager to see if the work can either be reallocated or given priority.

Being positive is important because often a person’s attitude to their work can come across in their writing and presentation. Administrators sometimes provide the first impression a customer has of a business, so a positive and professional outlook is needed at all times.

Strong successfully fielded this question by going with her gut. “My response was out of my mouth before I knew it: ‘Because I'm smart,’” she recalls. She followed that up by outlining the positions she’d previously had that gave her the necessary skills for the job.

This question allows interviewers to see how you react when put on the spot, which happens to administrative assistants all the time, and how confident you are in your abilities.

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.”

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.

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.

One of the top office manager interview questions involves the training process. Because proper training can lead to various kinds of positive results in the organization, it’s crucial to find out how the candidate trained employees. What specifics were employees trained for? Did anything go wrong later on that was, in fact, covered in your training process? A great office manager should have the ability to successfully train employees in his or her wheelhouse.

At my last job, I occasionally had to step in as office administrator when our administrator was on vacation, out sick or on maternity leave. A big part of her job was to set schedules and maintain the work facility, so I do have some experience with those tasks. My time doing these duties was short, but I think my attention to detail, analytical skills and communication skills helped me do well. My attention to detail will help ensure I do not overbook an office space or employee. My analytical skills will help me review procedures and schedules to ensure everything is set up in the best way possible. My communication skills will help me explain the schedule and what everyone has to do at a given time.

I am very well organized in my head which I can translate perfectly in actions. This strength alone has helped me secure a permanent position as an administrative assistant after going through training for just three months.

Yes, these timings are perfect for me and I am readily available and willing to work overtime and on weekends.

My career is my number one priority right now, so I would not have a problem putting in extra time to complete a project.

This is similar to the strengths/weaknesses questions - what you like least must be turned into a positive trait. Say that you enjoy the challenge of meeting deadlines and of working in a team environment. For what you like least, say that you do not like it when you see disorganised work and a poorly managed diary; you feel the need to help organise and manage the workload.

When Erik Lars Myers of Durham, North Carolina, was asked this question during an interview for an admin position, he wasn’t sure what to think. “The first thing I said was, ‘Can you repeat that?’” he says.

That request bought Myers some valuable time to puzzle out an answer. “I said, ‘So they don't fall in?’ which, incidentally, is the correct answer,” he says. “It was the only reasonable thing I could come up with.”

This interview question is asked to test problem-solving skills, which come in handy when the network goes down and your boss is hounding you for a report.

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.”

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.

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

An office manager assists in different ways for the whole office. He or she must also demonstrate to the interviewer that they’re a team player. How does the candidate ensure office operations go smoothly? In a prior role, how did he or she handle taking orders from associates as well as adjusting to individual working styles?

Administrative assistants keep the office organized while ensuring that the operations of every department run smoothly. They add efficiency to the business’s daily routine work. In fact, they liaise between departments and help in maintaining a smooth flow of information, provision of office supplies while maintaining confidentiality.

Yes. I have used all of these at the previous job as well as company’s own oracle based enterprise software application.

Yes, I possess current Houston State Driver’s license with no tickets.

Because the company shifted its head-office to Alabama where I was unable to shift my family to a new destination.

An insurance office manager has to have technical knowledge related to insurance and office management. I have a bachelor’s degree in business, which gave me some expertise in the administrative world. I spent three years as an insurance underwriter, which gave me a technical understanding of the insurance side of things. I then spent five years as an office administrator, which is where I learned how to use scheduling software and other important computer programs.

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.

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.

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.”