Learn about the crucial skills and qualities required of a well performing administrative assistant.

8 crucial administrative assistant skills and qualities

Being an administrative assistant means ensuring that the office is running efficiently and giving support to the executive. Due to the diverse nature of their duties, administrative assistants need to possess various crucial skills and qualities that will enable them to have exemplary performance. These includes:


Technological skills

An administrative assistant needs to have technical know how such that they can send email, create PowerPoint presentations, and arrange virtual meetings among other roles that require the use of technological equipment. It would also be an advantage to have knowledge of accounting, HR, and payroll applications as well as social media.

Professionalism

Professional appearance and attitude are some of the qualities needed of an administrative assistant. Other than sticking to a professional dress code, one should exhibit professionalism on how they deal with colleagues, clients, and executives as well as in the body language.

Problem solver

Providing solutions is more valued than just noting problems. Problem-solving is a crucial quality an administrative assistant should have considering the many issues that arise in an office.

Time management skills

Administration assistants are required to attend to many office matters in a day. Punctuality is therefore required to ensure that the office functions run smoothly which means one should have excellent time management skills.

Being organized is also a desirable quality in an administrative assistant since it ensures that one can deal with various tasks such as scheduling meetings, taking minutes, organizing files among other duties, and still have all the details intact.

Communication and interpersonal skills

One of the roles of an administrative assistant is to provide clear and concise communication, both written and oral. Therefore, excellent communication skills are essential for administrative assistants considering that they deal with other employees, clients, and suppliers. They relay information to colleagues, answer calls, and assist clients. Their role also demands that they have strong interpersonal skills.

Diplomacy

An office set up is likely to have office politics. An administrative assistant should know how to handle them diplomatically. He or she should try to avoid discussing personal matters and gossiping with co-workers.

Confidentiality

Most of the communication in an organization should only be shared on a need to know basis. An administrative assistant is usually privy to sensitive information and therefore should be able to keep it secret and not entertain gossip. The superiors need someone they can trust and rely on when sharing information.

Customer focused

In some organizations, an administrative assistant is usually the first contact a customer has. Therefore, it is important that one should be customer focused and be a good reflection of the organization.

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