What questions to ask potential Admin Asst?

Question

We're hiring an administrative assistant, but this will be the first time i'll be interviewing potential co-workers....

Any advice?

The basics on job history and education I've got covered, but what else??

to PatV--I want to consentrate on personality!!! In my ad, I asked for a cover letter-if your cover letter is engaging your in my interview pile, because we want someone who has a great personality, they must fit in here!! I promise if you have a cover letter that's engaging your resume will get looked at.

For those respondants who didn't follow instructions, i.e. attaching resume in word or pdf and including cover letter...you know what I do? If there is no cover letter and the resume wasn't attached in word, then I skim the resume and if nothing jumps out at me, it's in the discard pile (FYI: when submitting resumes through careerbuilder, it'll convert to text and what the employer sees is the text only with no formatting).

If a cover letter IS attached, I read that in full and thenn skim the resume.

I don't know what things are like in TX, but I've gotten about 85 resumes for this position and on average everyone gets about 30-45 seconds...

Answer 1

Good question! When you are finding someone to fill a job, you first need to look at what this person will do and HOW you want them to do the job. For instance, you may want someone to do filing. That means they have to be organized and able to stay on a sometimes boring task. Your interview questions could be:
Tell me about another job you had where you did filing? Did you enjoy it? If not, how did you make it interesting so filing didn't pile up?

Remember, past performance dictates future performance. What they've done before they can do again. So, ask them to talk specifically about past job tasks, both good and bad. People do make mistakes but if they learn from them, that's the kind of person you want to hire!

If you want them to use Excel, what kinds of things in Excel must they do? Do they need to use macros? Formulas? Pivot charts?

If you want them to answer phones, do they have a pleasant voice? Also ask: Tell me about a time when you had to deal with a difficult person on the phone.

See what I'm getting at?

Best wishes.

Answer 2

1) Ask why they left the last job

2) have a co-worker interrupt you with a problem with say (eg) formatting on MS Word. see if a) new person offers to help b) If they can solve the problem c) If they can solve the problem quickly

3) Ask them if you needed them late one night would they trade that for hours off another day? Flexibility is important.

4) Ask them what is the most horrible work situation they have been in and what they did about it

5) Ask them a moral dilemma. eg if the got to be really good friends with someone in your work place and then they found out that person took drugs at work "just a few to get through the day" Check the integrity of the answer.

a)If they say tell on them straight away they are probably lying saying what you want to hear. Ask them if they are in the habit of getting friends in trouble.

b) If they say nothing, you don't want them.

c) If they say challenge them to rehab or they will be told on or something like that then at least they have thought about it.

6) Ask them if you give them the job and in a few months time they hate it, what would they do. You are looking for someone who will communicate, not someone who will vanish and leave you in an awkward position.

7) Ask them if they could fix one major problem in the world, what would they fix? See what they are passionate about. Also see how easy it is to knock them off their stride in an unusual situation.

I'll think of more .....

Answer 3

1)What does this person know about your company? Their impressions of your business goals,etc...
2)What their professional goals are and how they see this position fitting into those goals.
3)Training or self-taught information that might not be included on their resume ( for example, genealogy research uses microfiche, delicate materials, handwritten documents; volunteer work might include confidentiality, fundraisers, distributions, etc..)
4)Do they know anyone who has ever worked with your corporation?
5) Where do they see themselves in 5 yrs?

As someone who is looking for this type of position (in TX), I wish companies wouldn't concentrate so much on the resume/application and take the time to really interview me.
Anyway, good luck...

Answer 4

See if he/she pays attention to detail. To be an Admin assistant, the person must be very meticulous..

Answer 5

What do you see as the unique strengths and abilities that you would bring to our company?

Answer 6

look for someone who's a good brown noser & back stabber~that's what ALL companies love !!!

Answer 7

What would you say is your best asset?

What is your worst asset?