6 common examples of administrative responsibilities
1. Answer and direct phone calls
A common administrative responsibility is answering and directing calls professionally. This task may require you to provide customers and clients with information about the business or resolve any queries they may have. Your ability to perform this task professionally is important because it can be the first impression a caller has of the business. Answering with a professional greeting and speaking clearly with a positive tone can be an effective way to perform this task.
2. Send emails to clients
Sending emails to clients is an important task you may encounter as an administrative professional. Email is an effective way to convey information to a client. It can help a business communicate in a cost-effective manner and keep a permanent record of correspondences for future reference. You may use email daily for tasks such as providing business or service information to a client, scheduling or rescheduling meetings, dispatching automated notifications and responding to client queries. Having knowledge of email templates and possessing strong written communication skills can help you perform these tasks.
3. Perform data entry
As an administrative professional, a common task you may encounter is data entry. Data entry involves entering electronic or raw data into a company’s software application or database. This can include tasks such as updating customer information, reviewing data and eliminating errors, merging data from different systems, entering accounting records and entering phone conversations into a database.
When performing data entry, you can experience large volumes of information daily. Companies often require this information to be organised correctly and kept confidential. Having technical knowledge of transcription and computer software can help you perform data entry tasks.
4. Schedule appointments
Another common task you may encounter as an administrative professional is scheduling appointments. Scheduling responsibilities might involve managing an employer’s calendar, planning weekly schedules, making phone calls to determine client appointment times, scheduling patient referrals and follow-up appointments and booking venues or meeting rooms. To perform scheduling tasks efficiently, it can help to have good verbal communication and reporting skills.
5. Use office-related technology
The ability to use office-related technology is a common requirement for completing administrative duties. In your workplace, for example, there may be maintenance tasks that require a knowledge of printers, scanners and fax machines. There might be other occasions where you’re tasked with updating a company’s website or blog, which can require an understanding of publishing software. You might also encounter tasks where you’re responsible for preparing online conferences, which may require knowledge of video conference software. Keeping up to date with technology and software can help you perform administrative duties.
6. Onboarding new team members
As an administrative professional, helping to integrate new employees into an organisation can be another common task you may encounter. Onboarding tasks can include introducing new employees to management and connecting them with colleagues, demonstrating how to use relevant software, showing them where they can find documentation records and files and other tasks and procedures necessary for helping a new employee adjust. Developing your interpersonal skills can help you communicate with new employees and help them integrate into their new working environment.
Examples of administrative skills
There are many hard and soft skills required to perform administrative tasks effectively. Here are some of the key skills you might consider when writing your resume or cover letter:
Communication
When performing administrative responsibilities, having communication skills can be crucial. Many tasks require an ability to listen and respond carefully to queries and instructions. For example, taking phone messages, sending emails, greeting visitors and communicating with management. Having verbal and non-verbal communication skills can also help you develop relationships with colleagues and present information to groups.
Organisation
Organisation skills are important for an administrative professional because they can help you maintain an orderly workspace and complete tasks promptly. Many administrative duties require organisational skills. For example, you may perform tasks such as taking regular inventory of office supplies, staying up to date on payroll tasks, organising office files and reports and scheduling calendars for upper management.
Teamwork
There can be many administrative positions where you’re required to work in a team environment. Having teamwork skills can help you collaborate more effectively on administrative projects, agree on common goals, provide support and encourage team members to deliver outcomes more effectively. Having strong teamwork skills can also help you be more empathic to others’ needs and communicate more effectively.
Time management
Having time management skills can help to ensure you complete your administrative duties on time. Many administrative tasks can require time management skills. For example, processing financial reports weekly, prioritising schedules and work tasks, setting goals and managing resources. As an administrative professional, you can be responsible for not only organising your own schedule but also organising the schedule for upper management and other members of an organisation. This is why having time management skills is so important.
Problem-solving
Problem-solving skills are an important part of being an administrative professional because there can be many workplace instances where you’re required to provide a solution to an office-related problem. For example, you may have to reschedule travel itineraries for upper management at the last minute or a conference room you booked may no longer be available.
When unforeseen issues like these arise, you can employ critical thinking and troubleshooting skills to rearrange alternative plans and provide a timely solution. Problem-solving skills can also help you develop employee relations by providing you with the ability to resolve workplace conflict and provide solutions to team-related problems.
Do Your Research
Before pursuing a new administrative role, learn what the job entails. There are free online resources, such as the Bureau of Labor Statistics website, that will teach you the basic job duties and required skills, education, and experience for any given position. You can also find an industry or company that you’re interested in and connect with people who work there for informational interviews, Hocking says. “It can be especially helpful to get an insider’s perspective before you make the move yourself and may help you land a job, as well.”
For any job you want to apply to, you can find out what they’re looking for in a candidate by reading the job description thoroughly. Take note of any skills, experiences, or qualifications you have as well as any job duties for the position you’ve already done in a past job or elsewhere. Emphasize these points in your application materials. You should also use the same language as the job description whenever possible. So, for example, if a job posting says they want someone with Excel experience, don’t just say you’ve used spreadsheets. In addition to helping you land an interview, being able to pull out the most important pieces of a job description can show potential employers your attention to detail.
Craft a Tailored Resume and Consider a Cover Letter (Even If It’s Optional)
Once you’ve read the job description, highlight your most relevant skills, experiences, and qualifications in a well-crafted resume. Under your past experiences, write strong bullet points that highlight your achievements rather than just your job duties, and add numbers to quantify your experiences wherever possible. Emphasize what sets you apart from other candidates, Elliott says. Have you worked extensively with the software you’d be using every day in this job? Are you a native Spanish speaker applying for a receptionist role in an area with a significant Hispanic population? “Articulating your unique value proposition makes it easier for employers to choose you over other candidates,” Elliott says.
You can expand further on any of these attributes in a well-written cover letter. (Yes, employers still read them!) Even if a cover letter is optional, you can use one to show some more personality than your resume might allow and give possible employers a taste of your writing skills—both of which could show how you’d communicate and interact with others as an administrative employee.
And don’t forget to tailor your application materials for every job you apply to. In other words, make sure you’re editing your resume and cover letter to highlight whatever about you will be most important to the person reading it. Administrative roles can vary widely at each company, so be sure that you’re showing employers how you’re a qualified fit for this specific role.
How Do You Describe Administrative Skills on a Resume?
Once the office knows you as “the administrative person”, you’ll be expected to fix any and every problem in the office. Is it fair? Not quite, but since that’s the expectation, you need your resume to show you’ve got the administrative skills to handle whatever the boss will throw at you:
- Read the job ad carefully and highlight which administrative skills they are looking for.
- Create a list of all the administrative skills you have. You can reference the list above to get ideas.
- Compare the skills from the job description and your personal skills list. The skills that overlap are perfect keywords to put on your resume.
- Draw attention to your administrative skills by putting them in a separate skills section on your resume.
- Incorporate your skills throughout your resume, in both the work experience section and resume profile, by providing examples of them in action.
- Mention both soft skills and hard skills so you look well-rounded.
- Make sure not to lie on your resume, it will come back to bite you.
- List up to 10 and focus on the skills you’re best at. Ideally, skills that you can back up with relevant work experience.
Sample Administrative Assistant Resume Template
Professional Summary
Highly flexible administrative assistant with 3+ years of experience in office administration. Seeking the executive assistant position at Hill Group to remove administrative barriers and increase office productivity exponentially. Organized a company-wide retreat in record time and negotiated over $7,500 in office supply cost savings for previous employers.
Work Experience
Education
Skills
Languages
Diplomas and Certificates
- Figure out which type of resume is best for you. If you already know your way around an office, the reverse-chronological resume format will shine a spotlight on your work experience. If this will be your first time working in office administration, consider the combination resume template to have more space for your administrative skills. by putting a short resume introduction underneath your header to act like an elevator pitch. Write a resume summary if you have more than 2 years of experience. Otherwise, create a resume objective that highlights what you are bringing to the table.
- Craft an impressive resume work experience section by writing 5-6 bullets that detail your biggest achievements. Start each bullet resume action verbs like managed, coordinated, organized, created, etc.
- If you’re writing a resume for your first job, you want to include any work experience that you have, whether that means an internship or a side job.
- Be sure to include an education section. You should only put your high school on your resume if that’s the highest education you completed. Otherwise, include your college in your education section.
- Put any professional certifications and licenses in their own section, so they can pop out. with optional resume sections: language section, awards section, freelance work, projects, and hobbies and interests.
Thanks for reading! Now I’d love to hear from you. Which administrative skill do you think is most important? Do you have any interesting stories to tell of poorly-organized offices you’ve worked at? Let’s discuss in the comment section below.
Source:
https://au.indeed.com/career-advice/resumes-cover-letters/administrative-tasks
https://www.themuse.com/advice/administrative-jobs-careers-list-tips
https://zety.com/blog/administrative-skills
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