The following exercises can help you assess the skills of administrative assistant candidates in your interviews. Feel free to modify them for your needs.
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What do administrative assistants do?
Administrative Assistants work in various industries and take on a wide range of tasks. This is usually a junior role that provides general support to an entire group of, or a selection of managers. Administrative Assistants organize meetings, compile reports, arrange travel, communicate with employees consistently and make sure company operations run smoothly. Successful Administrative Assistants are good at:
- Organization: They are able to parse larger projects into smaller, achievable goals. They maintain physical organization of papers, data and office supplies.
- Communication: They are confident and at ease when sharing and exchanging information with employees of varying seniority levels.
- Time management: They have an innate sense of which projects to prioritize, and might be keen keepers of to-do lists.
- Software use: They are proficient with most mainstream office software, including:
- G Suite (Google Docs, Sheets, Slides)
- Microsoft Office (Word, PowerPoint, Excel)
- Email and calendar scheduling tools (Outlook, Google Calendar)
- To-do list and project management software (Todoist, Trello)
This role does not typically require a college degree. This position is often confused with Executive Assistants – who serve highly specialized support to a smaller group of executives. Candidates with experience working in office settings will have an upper hand in this role.
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Ways to test administrative assistant skills in interviews
Combine interview questions with hypothetical scenarios, exercises and technical tests on software that administrative assistants might use in your workplace.
Here are some specific exercises you can use to assess the skills of administrative assistants:
1. Organizational skills assessment
Exercise: Organize the following data in any way you see appropriate. Feel free to include comments on further questions/ideas you might have.
XYZ Company customer and revenue data report
Company A, 100 employees, customer for 10 years
Company B, 20 employees, customer for 1 year
Company C, unknown, customer for 5 years
Tech Industry, five companies, $300,000 revenue
Retail Industry, eight companies, $1M revenue
Healthcare Industry, 20 companies, $35M revenue
Company B, 20 employees, customer for 1 year
Company C, unknown, customer for 5 years
Tech Industry, five companies, $300,000 revenue
Retail Industry, eight companies, $1M revenue
Healthcare Industry, 20 companies, $35M revenue
Comments: ___________________________________________.
What to look for: This assignment tests candidates’ ability to link and organize different data points. Candidates should be able to parse the data and organize it into two separate tables or spreadsheets, because they represent two different sets of data.
Red flags: Candidates who group all the data into one spreadsheet or table may not have adequate experience organizing and recognizing differences in information. Note that one data point in this list has criteria labeled “unknown.” Candidates should still include this data point – and provide comments that ask for further clarification on this.
2. Communication skills assessment
Exercise: You provide administrative support to two executives and the entire office of 15 staff. Executive A understands that your time is split between another executive and the office staff. Executive B demands a workload that prevents you from supporting Executive A and the rest of your office staff comprehensively. How would you handle this?
What to look for: Candidates who tactfully establish boundaries with Executive B show that they are realistic about the demands placed on them, and aren’t afraid to communicate with managers. A good response might be: “I would ask Executive B to meet and discuss the limitations of my role as it relates to his/her needs, while noting that I serve other employees as well.”
Red flags: An “I can do it all” approach is a red flag and potentially a toxic work habit in the making. Screens 4 3 1 – access your computer remotely. Employees who indicate that they will go on with the workload as is, or don’t plan to address Executive B about their unrealistic demands show that they may be averse to uncomfortable confrontations – which are sometimes needed in this role.
3. Time management skills assessment
Exercise: You receive a large shipment of food for the office that needs to be stored in cupboards and the kitchen fridge. At the same time, an executive approaches you and asks you to file an urgent report due today. How would you proceed?
What to look for: This exercise tests how candidates manage their time when confronted with the unknown.The food is the priority here — it can go bad if it’s not refrigerated right away. The report should be filed after the food is stored. Candidates who acknowledge this in their response show that they are capable of thinking big-picture while prioritizing projects, managing their workload and answering demands on deadline.
Red flags: Candidates who panic and drop putting the food away to start working on the report may not be able to think strategically about their time.
4. Software use skills assessment
Exercise 1: Using [Google Sheets/ Microsoft PowerPoint], create a presentation in five slides or fewer describing either:
- Your previous role
- A hobby
- A volunteer/school project
Exercise 2: Using [Google Docs/Microsoft Word], in 300 words or less, please describe why you’re a good fit for this role. Once finished, please share the assignment with the following email addresses: [[email protected], [email protected], [email protected].]
Exercise 3: Create a calendar invite using [Google Calendar/ Microsoft Outlook] inviting all the managers at our company to a fictional offsite management meeting. Add details about the meeting within the invite.
Exercise 4: Take the data here and organize it into spreadsheets using [Google Sheets/ Microsoft Excel.]
XYZ Company customer and revenue data report
Company A, 100 employees, customer for 10 years
Company B, 20 employees, customer for 1 year
Company C, unknown, customer for 5 years
Tech Industry, five companies, $300,000 revenue
Retail Industry, eight companies, $1M revenue
Healthcare Industry, 20 companies, $35M revenue Declutter 2020 things in 2020.
Company B, 20 employees, customer for 1 year
Company C, unknown, customer for 5 years
Tech Industry, five companies, $300,000 revenue
Retail Industry, eight companies, $1M revenue
Healthcare Industry, 20 companies, $35M revenue Declutter 2020 things in 2020.
What to look for: These exercises are self-explanatory – they test the candidate’s knowledge of various administrative-related software. These types of software are key to most administrative roles, so look for candidates who demonstrate software expertise with the way they produce the assignments (e.g. keeping slides artful and engaging, using clean formatting in text documents.)
Red flags: Candidates who are unable to complete the assignment, or produce work that doesn’t meet the scope of the exercise (e.g. scheduling a meeting using Google Calendar, but failing to include a description of the event) may not be as well-versed in office software, which is a must for this role.
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When you are preparing for your teaching assistant interview, it’s a great idea to have a practice run or two. Before your interview, it's a good idea to try answering a wide range of questions that you might be asked at the interview.
This will help you to get used to drawing on your previous experience to explain why you might be good at the role. It will also help to remove some of the nerves you might be feeling about the interview itself.
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How do I answer teaching assistant interview questions?
It’s OK to wait a moment to consider your answer. Your interviewers will prefer a pause than an answer that isn’t thought through.
Try to draw on practical examples wherever possible. Your answers will mean a whole lot more when they’re backed up with previous experience.
Use the SAR technique to answer questions
S – Situation: Describe the situation you were in – this should be a specific example and can either involve work with children or can draw on other aspects of your experience.
A – Action: Describe what you did in the situation. You should be very specific in outlining exactly what you did, not what you might do, or what a team as a whole did, but what you did.
R – Result: Describe the results you achieved. What was the effect of your action, why was it successful, what might you do differently next time, if anything?
You will be given an opportunity to ask any questions you might have at the end of the interview. Use this opportunity to explore areas you are unclear on. It is a good idea to think up a question or two beforehand that you can ask at this point to show that you are interested in the school and the role.
Question bank for teaching assistants
Practise answering these questions with a friend and ask for feedback. Remember that the aim is to demonstrate your skills and experience, and to help your interviewers get to know you and understand why you’d make a great teaching assistant.
The role of the teaching assistant
- Why do you want to be a teaching assistant?
- Why do you think you would be a good TA?
- What do you think the role of a TA is?
- Why do you think the role is important?
- Do you think you would find a TA role fulfilling? Why?
- What do you think would be the challenges you would face in this role?
The school
- Why do you want to work at this school?
- Are you familiar with this school? What do you think makes it special?
- Would you be proud to be part of this school? Why?
Thoughts 1 2 4 – Information Assistant Resume
Your experience, skills and personality
- What’s your experience of working with children?
- Why do you enjoy working with children?
- Can you tell us about a time you successfully worked with a group of children?
- What experience could you bring from previous posts to your work at this school?
- Do you find it easy to communicate with children?
- Can you tell us about a time when you effectively worked as part of a team?
- Are you good at organising yourself and other people?
Communication and managing difficult situations
- Do you think you would be able to effectively communicate with parents?
- How would you manage conflict with colleagues or parents?
- What would you do if a pupil was disruptive in class?
- Tell us about a time when you were with a group of children and something went wrong: how did you remedy the situation?
- What would you do if a child complained that they were bored?
- Some pupils are angry and upset following a playground dispute. It’s affecting the lesson: what would you do?
- Tell us about a time you had to use your initiative to rescue a difficult situation.
Teaching and supporting teaching
Thoughts 1 2 4 – Information Assistant Duties
- How could you support pupils’ reading?
- How can you tell whether children have learnt something during the task they’ve just completed?
- Does learning have to be fun?
- How can we try to engage a demotivated pupil?
- What ideas can we try to help a pupil who is struggling compared with their peers?
- Do you have specific knowledge in any area, for example, a second language or a love of maths? If so, how could you use it in the classroom?
- How can we assess what pupils have learnt?
- Is it important to assess learning? Why?
- What makes a good lesson?
- How can we stretch our most gifted and talented learners?
- How can you encourage reluctant readers?
- Do you have any creative ideas for helping pupils who are struggling with numeracy?
- How would you support a pupil who was struggling with a specific task?
Child protection and safeguarding
- Have you ever felt uncomfortable about a colleague’s behaviour towards children in a previous job?
- What were your concerns, what did you do and how was the issue resolved?
- Safeguarding children is an important part of our work. Can you give me same examples of how you would contribute to making the organisation a safer environment for children?
- Tell me about a time when a child or young person behaved in a way that caused you concern. How did you deal with that? Who else did you involve?
Read our teaching assistant job interview advice for more tips on how to ace your interview.