30 Administrative Assistant Interview Questions and Answers

Here are Administrative Assistant interview questions and answers for freshers as well as experienced office executive and admin assistant candidates to get their dream job.


1) What is administrative assistant?

An administrative assistant is a person responsible for performing various tasks. These include assisting in keeping records, making appointments, and doing similar tasks. The person who wants to work as an administrative assistant is also working for typing, filing, and office related activities.

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2) What are the most important qualities needed to become an administrative assistant?

The important qualities needed to become an administrative assistant are:

  • Coordinating the team: It is an activity that ensures that the right action is taken at the right time.
  • Time management quality: It is a way how a candidate plans and manages activities.
  • Meeting scheduling quality: This quality includes tasks related to organizing business or project meetings.
  • Communication quality: This quality includes both verbal and non-verbal conversation among office colleagues.
  • Knowledge in word processing: It is needed to make the report, creating and editing documents, etc.
  • Dealing with emails and telephone calls: The emails and calls can be of office colleagues and clients.
  • Creating and maintaining records in the system: This can be important information related to business that admin should manage.
  • Arranging appointments: It includes activities related to the appointment of client candidate and other resource of the organization

3) How to handle multiple supervisors as an admin assistant?

Admin assistant can handle multiple supervisors by providing the needed support. It can also include the distribution of a work portion to co-workers. In case if any priority tasks come up, then the admin assistant should address them.


4) How to work as administrative assistance when faced with pressure?

When administrative assistance faced with pressure, it can be managed using:

  • organizational skills
  • Redirecting stress energy into useful creative energy.

5) How can administrative assistance manage the daily Task?

Administrative assistance can manage the daily task by:

  • Making a to-do list.
  • Ranking the list from the most important to least.
  • Putting the to-do list somewhere where the employee can see.
  • Avoid tasks that are not required.
  • Set the deadline for priority tasks.
Administrative Assistant Interview Questions
Administrative Assistant Interview Questions

6) Explain the basic software needed for the administrative work

The basic software needed for the administrative work are:

  • Scheduling Software: Outlook and Google Calendar.
  • Email Apps and Software: Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, etc.
  • Spreadsheet Software: Excel and Google Sheet.
  • Presentation Software: Microsoft PowerPoint and Slideshare.
  • Document creation software: MS Word, Google Doc.

7) Why verbal communication is important in administrative assistance jobs?

Verbal communication is important in an administrative assistant job because:

  • Administrative assistants need to support the entire workplace. The person corresponds with managers and co-workers regularly.
  • It is helpful when having a conversation on the phone or with a person who is participating in the meeting and conversing with customers.
  • Verbal communications include listening and responding appropriately. It can be done using the correct tone for the situation.

8) Who is the office manager?

An office manager is someone who ensures office duties are completed effectively as well as efficiently. This person also allocates the Task to other members of staff.

Administrative Assistant Interview Questions


9) What are the advantages of having an administrative assistant?

The advantages of having a specific administrative assistant are:

  • An administrative assistant can free up the mind.
  • The person who works as an administrative can streamlines clerical duties.
  • Welcome other people are coming in the office.
  • It can fill the weakness or gap of business.

10) How to juggle competing assignments in an administrative assistant role?

Administrative assistance can juggle competing assignments by properly managing the time and prioritizing work. A person can also do this by involving more members from a team to complete the assignment.


11) Why adopting adaptive skill in administrative assistant is important?

Adopting adaptive skill in administrative assistant is important because:

  • It provides flexibility in changing and adjusting work accordingly.
  • A person can manage and order conflicting priorities in a composed manner.
  • It gives administrative assistants a positive attitude towards their Tasks.

12) What are the common challenges faced by administrative assistants?

The common challenges faced by administrative assistants are:

  • Deal with various work strategies:

It refers to the plan of work where different situations require different strategies to complete.

  • Interruption in work:

Co-workers of the company expect to be available at all times. Many times administrative assistant receives emails at all working hours. This situation might lead to an interruption in completing important tasks.

  • Adopting new project work:

An administrative assistant has to provide many services to different people of the business. Therefore, in this scenario adopting new project work and priorities tasks can become challenging.

  • Lake of privacy at the office:

Administrative assistants rarely have their office space, which is personal. Generally, they have to sit near communal spaces. So there are high chances of a lake of privacy at the office.


13) What to do if one employee did not get on with other co-workers?

In case if one employee did not get on with other co-workers, then look at the actions to see doing anything that can contribute to the current situation.


14) What is touch typing?

Touch typing is an ability in order to use memory without using sight sense to find keyboard keys.


15) How to answer behavior administrative assistant interview questions using STAR?

Follow the following process to answer interview questions using the STAR technique.

  • Find an appropriate example.
  • Make a layout that can easily describe a particular situation.
  • Highlight the Task in which the person was involved.
  • Share what action a person took.
  • Share the result administrative assistant got.

16) Explain about a team player

A team player is a person who can easily work with a member of a group or team. Business teams require team players in order to accomplish their goals.


17) Explain the characteristics of a team player in administrative assistant work

The characteristics of a team player in administrative assistant work are:

  • Understand the role: Team members of organizations should provide good results and profitability performance. This can clear about the expectation about the goals.
  • Taking decision: An administrative assistant is responsible for deciding whether the team would be functional, dysfunctional, or high-performing.
  • Committed to the team: The team a group of competent and dedicated people. The leader of this team should obstacles related to the skills, training, and performance management.
  • Future-focused and optimistic: The team should view their self as optimistically. A good team approach can work strategically and anticipate various actions for business growth.

18) What is a legal admin assistant?

Legal Assistants are professional people who support lawyers in a legal environment.


19) Mention the important characteristics of legal admin assistant

the important characteristics of legal admin assistant are:

  • The legal admin assistant performs legal analysis and research.
  • Interpret rulings, laws, and regulations in the documents.
  • Create, proofread, and revise legal document drafts.
  • Record keeping with hard copy and an electronic copy of documents.
  • Obtain needed information from other agencies or companies to complete the Task.
  • Create and manage information, and also generate reference tools that can make work easy.
  • Make and format legal reports related to management.
  • Regularly maintain and update tracking systems and databases.
  • Respond to queries that are related to a legal case.
  • Make sure effective and efficient administrative information and assistance.

20) What are the requirements for a legal administrative assistant?

The requirements for legal administrative assistant are:

  • Analytical thinker and research skill.
  • Ability to understand and interpret documental that used for legal purposes.
  • Good organizational skills.
  • Ability to meet deadlines.
  • Should be work independently or as part of a team.
  • Written and communication skills.
  • Proficient in Lexis-Nexis, USAO, Microsoft Office, and scheduling software.

21) What are the best project management applications needed for the admin assistant?

Best project management applications needed for admin assistant are:

  • RationalPlan: RationalPlan is an easy to use software suite used to plan, manage, and track business project. It is a desktop application developed by Stand By Soft.
  • Trello: Trello is a web-based project management tool created by Fog Creek Software in 2011. This collaboration tool helps the admin assistant to organize projects on board.
  • Airtable: It is a project management solution which is suitable for organizations and businesses of all sizes. It offers organization and collaboration functionalities in an effective and mobile-friendly Table solutions
  • Backlog: A backlog is an excellent project management software that is feature-rich while being easy to use. The plans are cost-effective with multiple subscription options and are billed per company rather than per user. Both cloud-hosted and on-premise versions are available, as well as a free plan.

22) How to anticipate business needs?

Admin assistant can anticipate business need by:

  • Taking the initiative to support a business instead of waiting for direction or approval.
  • Completing the crucial assignment without needing to ask anyone.
  • Learn how to solve problems and their complications.

23) Explain resourcefulness

Resourcefulness refers to the ability to overcome difficulties. The person who likes to work as an admin assistant should know the things that are needed to adopt. The business requirements change at a rapid pace, and therefore, a person needs to adopt them quickly.


24) Explain the importance of emotional Intelligence in admin assistant job

The importance of emotional Intelligence in admin assistant job are:

  • It helps the person to work with other co-workers of the company easily.
  • Emotional Intelligence can allow a person to understand the emotions of others.
  • It enables the admin assistant to manage the emotions of colleagues.
  • Emotional Intelligence can help the admin assistant in finding and manage the stress.

25) Explain effective communication

This is an important question asked by the interviewer. Effective communication means communication between persons in a way that message is:

  • Properly encoded and received
  • Deliver through proper channel
  • Correctly decoded as well as understood by the recipient.

In a business, communication is called effective when the data or information shared among employees leads to business success.


26) Mention the qualification needed a legal administrative assistant?

The qualification needed legal administrative assistant are:

  • Paralegal certificate.
  • Bachelor’s certificate in law.
  • Experience in a legal environment.

27) What do you mean by faxing documentation?

Faxing documentation refers to either transmitting or receiving word documents by a fax machine.


28) What is the meaning of screening a call?

Screening a call is the process of evaluating the phone calls before deciding whether to answer or not.


29) Why diary management is important?

Diary management is important to keep track of events or appointments.


30) What is Microsoft Excel?

MS Excel is a grid program that is used to create a grid of formulas, numbers, and text specifying calculations.

These interview questions will also help in your viva(orals)

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