Secretary Interview Preparation Guide

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A secretary, personal assistant, or administrative assistant is a person whose work consists of supporting management, including executives, using a variety of project management, communication, or organizational skills. These functions may be entirely carried out to assist one other employee or may be for the benefit of more than one. In other situations a secretary is an officer of a society or organization who deals with correspondence, admits new members, and organizes official meetings and events.

A secretary has many administrative duties. Traditionally, these duties were mostly related to correspondence, such as the typing out of letters, maintaining files of paper documents, etc. The advent of word processing has significantly reduced the time that such duties require, with the result that many new tasks have come under the purview of the secretary. The duties may vary according to the nature and size of organisation. These might include managing budgets and doing bookkeeping, attending telephone calls, handling visitors, maintaining websites, and making travel arrangements. Secretaries might manage all the administrative details of running a high-level conference or arrange the catering for a typical lunch meeting.

Job of a secretary has a steady place on the list of most popular positions amongst women in the United States. Many people do not understand it, because they do not grasp the real quality of this job. They believe that all she has to know to do is making good coffee and answering calls with smile on her face…

In fact, this is very far from the truth. A modern secretary has an important role in a company and often manages the entire office. She does lot of administrative work, prepares a schedule for the boss and takes part on meetings. All of this is reflected in a job interview. What more, she is often the one responsible for the good atmosphere in the office, which is crucial nowadays. Good companies need good secretaries and they do they very best to hire them in an interview.

► Why do you want to become a secretary?
► Why do you want to be an assistant here, and not somewhere else?
► What do you want to accomplish on this position?
► Where do you see yourself in five years time?
► Can you tell me a little bit about your past working experience?
► What makes from you a better personal assistant than other applicants?
► How do you imagine a typical day in work if we choose you for this position?
► Tell me about a situation when you needed to work under pressure. How did you handle that?
► Can you work with MS Office?
► How would you rate your skills with typical Office software components?

► What are your strengths and weaknesses?
► Would you mind working overtime?
► Would you mind accompanying your boss on business trips?
► How would you cope with an angry customer or business partner?
► Have you ever prepared a weekly schedule for someone?
► Can you cook?
► When are you able to start?
► Do you have any questions?

We could continue and write an entire new website about how to win the hearts of your recruiters in an interview for secretary position. But this information should not be available to everyone - then nobody would have an edge in the interviews… Not everyone is willing to sacrifice something and put an extra effort to his interview preparation. Well, not everyone can succeed… If you want to know more than the other job applicants, have a look at our Secretary Interview Package. It's a best possible last-minute interview preparation for secretaries.

Use the information you gathered from your background research to prepare for this interview question, this way you will stand out from the other candidates for the secretarial vacancy. Find something specific about the company and position that attracts you.

What does motivate you will depend on your background and experience but try to make it relevant to what this position and company provides. Different motivators include challenge, increased responsibility, team involvement, interpersonal interaction, task complexity, learning opportunities and growth.

Focus on three or four strengths that refer directly to the secretarial job requirements. Potential examples include organizing and planning, adaptability, information management, attention to detail, problem-solving, reliability, initiative , discretion, multi-tasking, prioritizing, good judgment and communication and interpersonal skills. Back up your answer with specific examples that demonstrates your strength in the work context.
It is best to refer to one or two true weaknesses and then to detail the steps you have taken to try to overcome the weakness.

Look at this from the employer's point of view. Focus on the aspects of your experience and any formal or on-the-job training that apply to the tasks and responsibilities of this secretary job and the needs of the company.

Analyze the secretary job posting to determine the key skills required for the job and detail your experience in each of these areas - examples include writing and editing correspondence, scheduling, dealing with inquiries and information management.