Office Administrator

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.”

☛ Can you describe a typical day(week) in this department?

☛ What are the responsibilities of this position?

☛ What are the strengths in this department? What are the weaknesses?

☛ What would your past assistants say was the best part of working for you? What would they say was the worst?

☛ What direction do you see the company going in the next five years? Do you feel that there are any threats to its success?

☛ Why did your last assistant leave the position? What were his/her strengths? What were his/her weaknesses? What is he/she doing now?

☛ What characteristics did your best assistant have? What about your worst assistant?

☛ How often are performance reviews performed? Who conducts them?

☛ What skills are most important to you in an administrative assistant?

☛ How do you reward and encourage the people who work in your department?

☛ Are there any ongoing production issues in this department?

☛ How have you dealt with personnel problems in the past?

☛ What are some of the biggest challenges for a person in this position?

☛ What is the most rewarding aspect of this position, in your opinion?

☛ Do you (Does the company/department) support memberships in professional associations, and continuing professional development?

☛ What would you describe as the role of the administrative staff in this office?

☛ Are overtime or weekend hours expected?

☛ What do you like most about working for this company? Are there changes you would make?

☛ What do you like least about working here?

☛ Do you encourage the department to work as a team, or concentrate more on individual contributions?

☛ Which departments did you support at your current/previous job? How did you support them?

☛ If you report to multiple people, how do you prioritize your projects?

☛ What were the most common administrative tasks you executed at your previous job?

☛ Recall a time you had to consult your supervisor for advice or support.

☛ What software programs do you use on a daily basis?

☛ What tools do you use to stay organized?

☛ Provide examples of spreadsheets you’ve had to create in Excel.

☛ How would you rate your skills on preparing presentations?

☛ How did your current/previous team handle expense reports?

☛ Describe your experience with calendar management.

☛ Recall a time you worked with a team to complete a project under a tight deadline.

☛ Recall a time you had to communicate with a client or senior manager on behalf of your boss.

☛ In what ways have you contributed to improving efficiency at work?

☛ Who would you consider your most challenging customer? (Internal or external)

☛ Recall a time you had to resolve a problem with a difficult colleague. How do you handle it?

☛ How important is it to “manage up”?

☛ Tell me about your previous work experience as an administrative support person.

☛ What were your primary responsibilities?

☛ Tell me about a complex project you were tasked with completing under deadline.

☛ Talk about a project that you were particularly proud of managing.

☛ What sort of reporting structure did you work within in your previous admin jobs?

☛ What type of interactions did you have with other departments?

☛ What has been your experience in working with clients and vendors?

☛ Have you had to interact with the general public?

☛ Tell me about your computer skills.

☛ What technologies are you an expert with using?

☛ What other technologies have you utilized in your admin work?

☛ What type of documents and formats have you generated in the past?

☛ What have you done at your present/last company to increase revenues, reduce costs, or save time?

☛ What makes you a great fit for this position?

☛ What do you know about our company and products?

☛ What type of schedule are you looking to work?

☛ Would you be available to work extra hours if needed?

☛ What computer programs are you most familiar with?

☛ What is your average typing speed per minute?

☛ How do you keep yourself organized?

☛ How comfortable are you handling multiple phone calls on multiple phone lines at once?

☛ How are your math skills?

☛ How are your written communication skills?

☛ You are asked to organize a meeting. What steps do you take to ensure everyone attends?

☛ What do you consider to be the most important skill for an office manager?

☛ Are there any tasks you are not comfortable performing?

☛ Tell me about a time you gave outstanding customer service.

☛ Tell me about a time you made a mistake with your customer service.

☛ How do you keep track of [items, documents, stock, etc.]?

☛ Are you comfortable taking orders from multiple supervisors and associates?

☛ How comfortable are you dealing with confidential information?

☛ There may be times that you are asked to provide help for projects outside of your job description. Are you comfortable providing assistance where needed, even if you have not ben trained?