Testing Administrative Assistant Skills and Traits

Overview of the position

An administrative assistant is a key member in an organization, providing office support to individuals or a team. This position ensures that the office runs smoothly by fielding phone calls, welcoming visitors, organizing, developing, and maintaining a filing system, scheduling appointments, planning meetings, and often taking meeting minutes.

The administrative assistant supports staff by writing and distributing emails, correspondence, letters, faxes, and forms. They are also proficient in office support applications and know how to use them in ways that improve productivity and efficiency.

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Key skills and abilities

  • Interpersonal Skills
  • Leadership
  • Cooperative
  • Integrity
  • Attention to detail
  • Multi-tasking skills
  • Planning
  • Coordinating Activities
  • Time Management skills
  • Flexibility/Adaptability
  • Organizing
  • Computer Literacy
  • Logical Problem Solving
  • Numerical Comprehension
  • Ability to Analyze Data
  • Dependability
  • Communication skills

What makes a reliable administrative assistant?

The administrative assistant understands their value to the organization and the importance of maintaining a predictable, "on-time" work schedule and can evaluate and prioritize tasks that are important to the organization. Administrative assistants demonstrate integrity, are prompt, reliable, and discreet.

A great administrative assistant is driven by excellence and finds satisfaction in helping the company succeed in its' goals. They understand they are a key team member. By assessing administrative assistant skills, you can identify these traits and characteristics in job candidates before making a hiring decision.

What makes a reliable administrative assistant?

Which tests can you use to assess administrative skills and personality?

Hire Success® offers several pre-employment tests that can help you assess administrative assistant skills and determine whether a candidate is the right fit for the position.

Personality test

Assess a candidate's personality, character traits, and work ethic, and receive custom interview questions that are tailored to the candidates' responses.

Clerical skills test

Analyze the candidate's attention to detail by having them complete tasks such as comparing data sets for accuracy.

Logic test

Ensure your candidates have the problem-solving and decision-making skills needed for success in an administrative assistant role.

Reading comprehension test

Identify administrative assistant candidates with refined analytical and reading comprehension skills and ensure key details in communication don't get missed.

How to test for an administrative assistant position

After you have written a detailed job description, posted your job and started receiving applications, the next stage is to test for administrative assistant skills and personality. When candidates apply, you'll want to administer assessments for the necessary skills and review the results before moving into the interview process. From there, you can use the results to develop unique, open ended questions that allow you to gain additional insight into the candidate.

Risks you can avoid by assessing administrative assistant skills before hiring

Without robust assessment tools, it can be difficult to tell whether the person you're interviewing will be the right fit. The wrong candidate may not fit with your corporate culture or could be under-skilled or under-trained. This can result in potential loss of time and money for your company.

By assessing your candidate's skills and personality prior to hiring, you can better avoid hiring administrative assistants who:

  • Struggle to manage multiple tasks
  • Aren't adaptable to different types of tasks
  • Are unable to work well within a team
  • Frequently miss work
  • Have poor work ethic
  • Are under-trained using critical software
  • Lack the necessary vocabulary and hard skills
Risks you avoid by assessing administrative assistants before hiring.
How Hire Success can help with assessing administrative assistant skills.

Hire assistants that make your days smoother and productive

Hire Success® pre-employment testing gives you key insights into your new hires and provides them with a better understanding of what's expected in the role, helping to reduce turnover and ensure success.

Learn more about how Hire Success® can help you:

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