An Administrative Assistant, or Administrative Aide, is a person responsible for helping an administrative professional to assist them to stay coordinated and do tasks that allow them to concentrate on more advanced responsibilities. Their responsibilities are organizing meetings for Administrators, greeting office visitors, and writing documents on behalf of Administrators. You can visit this website for a comprehensive administrative review. Also, in the continuation of this article, you can read the “How to start a Business? Learn Important Steps.” article to start your own business.
Administrative Assistant Duties and Responsibilities
The primary duties and responsibilities of an Administrative Assistant go around supporting others. Their job responsibilities may vary widely, not just from career to career, but from day to day at the same job. On any given day, they can do a variety of tasks, including:
- Answering phones and greeting visitors
- Scheduling appointments and maintaining calendars
- Scheduling and coordinating staff and other meetings
- Collating and distributing mail
- Preparing communications, such as memos, emails, invoices, reports, and other correspondence
- Writing and editing documents from letters to reports and instructional documents.
- Creating and maintaining filing systems, both electronic and physical
- Managing accounts and performing bookkeeping
What Does an Administrative Assistant exactly do?
Administrative Assistants usually work for organizations to manage routine and advanced duties for other professionals. They work with Administrators and other employees to sort out files, create correspondence and arrange reports or documents. Their job is to do various clerical tasks such as managing calendars, sorting mail, and preparing invoices. They might also be responsible for participating in event planning and meeting arrangements, and implementation.
Administrative Assistant Skills and Qualifications
In order to complete their various duties, an Administrative Assistant should show many varied skills and qualifications. The Administrative Assistant is a support career, meaning that communications and decision-making are predominant. A few of the important skills that all administrative assistants must possess are:
Decision-making: Administrative Assistants must make independent decisions daily, addressing the most efficient way to do specific tasks.
Communications and collaboration: An Administrative Assistant must regularly cooperate with other administrators and support personnel, management, and clients.
Organizational skills: Organization and prioritization are the main components of the Administrative Assistant’s responsibilities. You should know how to keep yourself, and others arranged and decide which tasks are the most significant in a given list.
Writing: Spelling, punctuation, sentence structure, and writing are necessary for an Administrative Assistant, who should be an expert in various styles, from imaginative to professional to technical to education.
Administrative Assistant Salary expectations
Administrative Assistants can make a good living, particularly as they advance in their job. While the primary salary for a brand-new secretary-level Administrative Assistant may be as low as $7.25 an hour, on average, an Administrative Assistant in the U.S makes about $15.42 per hour. At the top end of the range, executive Administrative Assistants with a lot of education and experience can gain as much as $30.25 an hour.
Administrative Assistant Education and Training Requirements
The lowest level of education for an Administrative Assistant is a GED or high school diploma. Temporary offices might also provide training in these fields. For those straight out of high school, courses in word processing and general office processes are offered at vocational schools and community colleges and could be very beneficial. Administrative Assistants with a bachelor’s degree are more salable, as they have a more well-balanced education that contains writing and mathematics, which can be helpful to the job.
Administrative Assistant Experience Requirements
While in advance experience is not needed for work as an Administrative Assistant, many employers value prior work in the field. This is because many office experts learn their primary skills through on-the-job training. A strong history of long-term work with other companies can display reliability and responsibility and that you have the required skills. Starting as a secretary and working up the ranks shows growing skill development and dedication.
What are the daily responsibilities of an Administrative Assistant?
On a typical day, an Administrative Assistant starts by checking their email and voicemail to answer missed messages from clients, employees, or Administrators. They meet Administrators upon their arrival, tell them their messages and report their schedule to them. During the day, Administrative Assistants answer phone calls and add appointments to calendars. They also sit in on formal sessions with Administrators, company Executives, and business partners to take notes and assist Administrators in arranging presentations.
After each meeting, Administrative Assistants use their notes to write meeting minutes. These documents help meeting participants remember what they discussed and actions to take moving forward. They review the document for errors before sending it to authorized people.
How can you use a resume to discover a candidate’s Administrative Assistant qualifications?
To discover if a candidate is qualified for your Administrative Assistant position, read these steps:
- Prepare a list of the responsibilities your Administrative Assistant should be able to take on.
- Check your job description and highlighted skills for the job.
- Compare the skills included on their resume to your job description to discover compatibility.
- Look at their work experience part. Old work experience as an Administrative Assistant or in a relevant role like a Receptionist or Office Assistant can be beneficent. Their related work experience could determine whether they’re fit for the position.
See if their educational background could contribute to their role as Administrative Assistants. For instance, a candidate with an associate degree in business administration and certifications in Outlook, Excel, and professional support suggests their eligibility.
Are Receptionists and Administrative Assistants different?
Although both jobs have clerical responsibilities in an office setting, their focus is much different. Receptionists respond to phone calls, transfer calls to specific employees and departments, and welcome visitors to the office. However, an Administrative Assistant assists a particular manager or administrative officer, giving messages to them, arranging their meetings and appointments, and completing clerical duties on their behalf.
What are the most common agencies that employ Administrative Assistants?
According to the U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics, the most common agency for Administrative Assistants is health care and social assistance, as well as educational services, professional services, and government religious/non-profit services. Moreover, most Administrative Assistants work in an office setting, but some can work distantly as Virtual Assistants.
