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Important Things to Consider When Hiring an Office Assistant

Office Assistant
Office Assistant
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An office assistant is a person who helps you keep the workplace in order so the boss can solely focus on the business aspect and doesn’t have to care for the small yet essential day-to-day tasks. Suppose you need an efficient office assistant; in that case, the procedures outlined here will aid you in finding an administrative assistant who will make your work easier, your team more effective, and your business stronger. Look at the following information to avoid any mistakes when hiring an office assistant. 

Identify and Prioritize the Duties

The first step in hiring an administrative assistant is to list the duties you need them to accomplish and the attributes and talents they’ll need to succeed. This exercise might help you decide whether to engage permanent staff or contract workers to complete specific tasks if the workload needs more than one person. Knowing about the business and duty needs can give you specific pointers to evaluate the candidate’s competency.

Software Skills

Before hiring an office assistant, admin, or bookkeeper, consider giving candidates Excel skills tests that will help you measure their skillset. Make use of an MS Office simulation to understand how prospects will perform on the job. A large part of office activities requires proficient command over the tasks that include data management using the software programs. They are supposed to be adept in a wide range of standard office applications, including the following:

  • Google’s Office Software (Google Docs, Sheets, Slides)
  • Intuit’s QuickBooks (Word, PowerPoint, Excel)
  • Scheduling tools for email and calendars (Outlook, Google Calendar)
  • Project management and to-do list software (Todoist, Trello)

Good Microsoft Excel abilities are helpful for a commercial enterprise operating with the Microsoft Office suite. From growing reviews to reading records and finishing calculations to graphs and visualizations, Microsoft Excel makes handling and monitoring primary records a breeze.

Communications

Candidates should be evaluated on their ability to communicate effectively in written and spoken form. Regarding communication, they should be confident and comfortable when dealing with personnel of all levels of seniority. Candidates’ ability to communicate effectively with clients by phone, email, or in-person and handle administrative activities using various computer systems should be evaluated beforehand.

The files prepared using excel and other data programs are also a form of expression which describes the information in an organized and comprehensive manner. A competent assistant who can interpret, prepare, and better represent these data files can be handy for the business.

Investing the time and effort into creating a job posting that attracts the finest, most suitable candidates and accurately describing the role and responsibilities connected with it is essential. You want to attract the best candidates for the job posts while deterring those who aren’t.

Evaluating the technical and personal skills accurately can help you save time on training and guiding the newly hired employees. A well-written administrative assistant job description will help your new worker succeed immediately by clarifying expectations and outlining the game’s rules up front.