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Office Assistant Interview Questions To Ask

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What Type Of Supervisor Brings Out Your Best Performance

Office Assistant Interview Questions And Answers

    Why the Interviewer Asks This Question

    When the hiring manager asks this question, they want to know the most effective way to get your very best every day. The hiring manager knows the strengths and weaknesses of the existing office management and wants to know what style of leadership will bring out your best.

    Written by Luke Duggan on January 27th, 2022

    What You Should Say

    Demonstrate your awareness of what you need from your manager by explaining how past supervisors have supported you and what you learned from those experiences. Explain that you need guidance to understand the manager’s expectations.

    Written by Luke Duggan on January 27th, 2022

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What Are Your Salary Expectations

The number one rule of answering this question is: Figure out your salary requirements ahead of time. Do your research on what similar roles pay by using sites like PayScale and reaching out to your network. Be sure to take your experience, education, skills, and personal needs into account, too! From there, Muse career coach Jennifer Fink suggests choosing from one of three strategies:

  • Give a salary range: But keep the bottom of your stated range toward the mid-to-high point of what youre actually hoping for, Fink says.
  • Flip the question: Try something like That’s a great questionit would be helpful if you could share what the range is for this role, Fink says.
  • Delay answering: Tell your interviewer that youd like to learn more about the role or the rest of the compensation package before discussing pay.

What Kind Of Strategies And Mindset Are Required For This Role

To excel in this role, I believe that the basic strategy is to know how to prioritize. Every day its a race against time because a lot of people are depending on the information that I have so I have to be efficient in passing out the right information to sort out the day. While office assistants are scheduling and completing the data entry tasks at work, they should remain passionate throughout the day. One wrong gesture can disturb the whole cycle that you have maintained so a positive mind is the best mindset required for this job.

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Possible Answer To Walk Me Through Your Resume

Well, as you can see from my resume, I took a bit of a winding road to get to where I am today. In college, I double majored in chemistry and communications. I found early on that working in a lab all day wasnt for me and at some point I realized I looked forward to the lab class I TAed the most.

So when I graduated, I found a job in sales for a consumer healthcare products company, where I drew on my teaching experience and learned even more about tailoring your message and explaining complex health concepts to people without a science background. Then, I moved into a sales training role at a massive company where I was responsible for teaching recent graduates the basics of selling. My trainees on average had more deals closed in their first quarter than any of the other trainers cohorts. Plus, I got so much satisfaction from finding the right way to train each new hire and watching them progress and succeed. It reminded me of my time as a TA in college. Thats when I started taking night classes to earn my chemistry teaching certificate.

What Are Your Computer And Technology Skills

Executive Assistant Interview Questions

Piggybacking off typing, its important to understand a candidates skills with computers and technology. You can ask them with experience with certain programs like Microsoft Office and Adobe Suite, and you can also find out their troubleshooting capabilities with computers. Though you may have an IT team to deal with major technology issues, having an assistant with basic computer troubleshooting skills will probably help save you and the IT team tons of time.

If you have candidate who describes themselves as illiterate with computers, they might not be a fit for the role if it requires a lot of interaction with technology.

Sample answer:

Im very comfortable using a computer, and I have experience with a variety of software programs, including Microsoft Office Suite and Google Docs.

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Administrative Assistant Interview Questions To Ask The Employer

It is important to have a list of smart questions to ask in your interview. Asking insightful questions indicates a strong level of interest in the job and demonstrates that you have spent sufficient time thinking about the job opportunity.

Good sample questions to ask include:

  • What will be the recruit’s main focus in this job for the first couple of months?
  • Can you describe the immediate challenges in this position?
  • What are the essential qualities of a successful employee in this department?
  • How is job performance evaluated?
  • What sort of management style can a new employee expect?
  • What do you enjoy most about working for this company?

Administrative Assistant Interview Questions to ask the interviewer about the job opportunity, the company and management.

QUESTIONS TO ASK

Where Do You See Yourself In Five Years

    Why the Interviewer Asks This Question

    The hiring manager wants to know if you plan to be with the company long-term or if you consider this position a stepping stone. They want to know that you will be content working in this role for as long as they need you as an office assistant.

    Written by Luke Duggan on January 27th, 2022

    What You Should Say

    Demonstrate your enthusiasm for the position. Describe your long-term goals and explain how they align with the company’s vision.

    Written by Luke Duggan on January 27th, 2022

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What Management Style Do You Respond Best To

    Why the Interviewer Asks This Question

    When the hiring manager asks this question, they want to know how to get your best every day. An office assistant who needs constant direction will excel working for a boss who wants frequent status updates.

    Written by Luke Duggan on January 27th, 2022

    What You Should Say

    Think about which of your former bosses you would work for again and list the reasons why. Your favorite boss may have held you accountable so you were ready for the next promotion, or she may have taken you under her wing and given you more responsibility.

    Written by Luke Duggan on January 27th, 2022

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Tell Me About A Time When You Encountered An Unhappy Client Or Customer As An Office Assistant How Did You Handle The Situation

Office Assistant Interview Questions And Answers

An interviewer may ask this question to assess how you handle difficult or stressful situations. Be honest in your answer, and include how you felt in the situation and how you handled it. Similarly, you can answer this question with how you would handle a stressful situation if one were to occur if you have no prior experience diffusing a conflict in the workplace.

Example answer:As the office assistant at Save Financial, I once dealt with a frustrated customer on the phone. The customer was stressed and angry that a seemingly unwarranted charge had been made to their credit card. I did not interrupt the customer even though they were yelling at me, and I reminded myself how worried and anxious they must be to be acting out that way.

After acknowledging the customers feelings, I asked the customer for their membership information and continued to explore the problem. It turned out that the customer forgot the due date for their membership. Once we solved the problem, the customer was calm and apologized to me. We ended our conversation talking about the weather and my three-month-old puppy. I always strive for patience and empathy when working with clients, as I would want my experience to be the same.

Read more:Interview Question: How Do You Handle Stress?

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Do You Have Any Questions About The Office Assistant Position

If this question comes up during your interview, use it to your advantage. Ask questions that will help you assess if the company would be a good fit for you, just as the interview is assessing your fit for the company. Consider the following examples of questions that you could ask the interviewer in answer.

Example answers:What more can you tell me about the day-to-day tasks and responsibilities of the office assistant job? What are your expectations of your administrative team? How do you measure achievements and success? Why did the last office assistant leave the company? Are there any continuing training or professional development opportunities offered by the company to help develop my administrative skills further?

Video: Top 10 Questions YOU Want To Ask In a Job Interview

Jenn explains why you should ALWAYS ask questions, how to ask them and gives you the list of top 10 questions to ask hiring managers during an interview.

Please note that none of the companies mentioned in this article is affiliated with Indeed.

Describe A Time You Failed In This Role And The Lesson You Learned

In my internship, I was assigned a task to update the team about system updates via emails. One day, I rolled out an email regarding the update but I missed the key detail information. The email created a lot of confusion between the teams and there was a major disruption at work due to back and forth communication. When I realized the mistake, I immediately informed my reporting manager. He immediately called a meeting to clarify the changes. I apologized to the team for my mistake and ensured that I will not be doing this mistake again. Being the youngest of all at work, the team was very kind to me overall.

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Possible Answer To Can You Explain Why You Changed Career Paths

Ever since my brother was diagnosed with a heart condition, Ive been training and running with him in your annual Heart Run to raise money for your organization and help support patients with expenses not covered by insurance. Each time, Ive been struck by how truly dedicated and happy to be there your employees have been. So when I saw this posting for a fundraising role, it felt like it was meant to be. For the last 10 years of my career Ive been an account executive for various SaaS companies, and Ive really honed my skills when it comes to convincing organizations to make regular payments for something over the long-term. But Ive been looking for a position in fundraising where I can use these skills to really help people and Im highly motivated to do that with your organization.

What Skills Are Essential For This Position

Questions To Ask Interviewee For Office Assistant

    Why the Interviewer Asks This Question

    The hiring manager asks this question to make sure you understand the role of an office assistant. Ideal skills for an office assistant position include organization and communication.

    Written by Luke Duggan on January 27th, 2022

    What You Should Say

    If you are an experienced office assistant, you know that communication is a critical skill. You will need to be pleasant, articulate, and informed because you will interact with colleagues, managers, and possibly clients or people in other offices of the same organization.

    Written by Luke Duggan on January 27th, 2022

    1st Answer Example

    “Communication is a critical skill because the office assistant interacts with the management, senior leadership, clients, and visitors. I do my best to be pleasant, helpful, and well-informed every day.”

    Written by Luke Duggan on January 27th, 2022

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Putting It All Together

Making sure youre prepared to answer the administrative assistant interview questions means doing your research beforehand, putting yourself into the right mindset, and finding targeted examples to highlight your expertise. Of course, as a student of the The Interview Guys, this stuff should be a snap!

Good luck!

Have You Handled Any Marketing Tasks For Previous Employers

Administrative assistants often help with various marketing tasks, such as creating and sending emails, drafting proposals, and maintaining social media accounts.

An administrative assistant shouldnt be handling all of your marketing, but they may be asked to help with some level of communication. Use this question to gauge the candidates willingness to help with these tasks or learn how they can help if it isnt their strong suit.

Sample answer:

I assisted the CFO of my last company maintain regular posting on his LinkedIn. While I havent had experience sending out newsletters, Im more than willing to learn. Are there any resources you suggest where I can get started?

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Acing Your Administrative Assistant Interview

Administrative assistants are an invaluable part of any company. They keep the office running smoothly and ensure that everything is organized. When interviewing for an administrative assistant position, be sure to ask questions about the company culture and the expectations for the role. Remember that its a two-way interviewyou should also assess if the company is a good fit for you.

Our jobs board is updated daily with roles in over 50 job categories, including flexible administrative assistant jobs. Take the tour and discover all of the ways a FlexJobs membership can support your goals.

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How Do You Approach Work From Your Manager That You Feel Is Unnecessary Please Describe Specific Examples Of Times Youve Encountered This Situation

7 ADMIN ASSISTANT Interview Questions and Answers (PASS!)

As with any position in the office, administrative assistants may feel certain tasks are unnecessary. While they may disagree with the importance of a task, how they handle completing the work is important. Communication and compromise are key.

Sample answer:

In these situations, I try to talk to my manager and get a better understanding of why this task is necessary. In my previous job, my manager asked me to prepare a list of everyones favorite desserts. At first, I didnt see the point of this task. But after talking to my manager, I realized that she wanted me to prepare the list so that we could celebrate everyones birthday with their favorite treats.

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Describe Your Daily Routine As An Office Assistant

As an office assistant for some time, I always start my day with a to-do list. I always take a look at yesterdays to-do list so that I can prioritize the tasks for the current day. Once I know the tasks, I organize them according to Must do, Should do, and If I get time type of lists. The next thing, I do is to start checking my emails and deleting extra emails that are not worthy. Once all the emails are read, I start responding to them and add relevant tasks to my to-do list side by side.

After this, I start with the most demanding tasks in hand usually including important letters, reporting, and updating the database or file system. All this takes time till 11 or 12, thats when I get up from my desk and attend meetings and have some random discussions with the teams. I prefer not to eat lunch at my desk so that post-lunch, I feel refreshed. After lunch, I start responding to emails again and getting the work done on my to-do list. Once I am done, I start with basic data entry tasks including preparing mailings. After the basic routine tasks, I start sorting the ongoing tasks where I have to take an update from possible team members. As the day ends, I have sorted all sorts of tasks from the day and put on relevant reminders for the next day too.

Possible Answer To What Do You Like To Do Outside Of Work

Im a huge foodie. My friends and I love trying new restaurants in town as soon as they openthe more unusual the better! I love discovering new foods and cuisines, and its also a great activity to share with friends. I try to go out with the same group at least once a week and its a fun way to make sure we keep in touch and share experiences even when were busy with other things. We even took a trip to New York City and spent each day in a different neighborhood, buying something to share from a few restaurants.

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Possible Answer To What Can You Bring To The Company

As Jocelyn talked about in our interview earlier, PopCo is looking to expand its market to small business owners with less than 25 employees, so Id bring my expertise in this area and my experience in guiding a sales team thats selling to these customers for the first time. In most of my past roles, this segment has been my focus and in my current role, I also played a big part in creating our sales strategies when the business began selling to these customers. I worked with my managers to develop the sales script. I also listened in on a number of sales calls with other account execs who were selling to these customers for the first time and gave them pointers and other feedback. In the first quarter, our 10-person sales team closed 50 new bookings in this segment, and I personally closed 10 of those deals. I helped guide my last company through the expansion into small businesses, and Im eager to do that again at PopCo. Plus, I noticed you have a monthly karaoke nightso Im eager to bring my rendition of Call Me Maybe to the team as well.

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