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Career Resources >> Browse Articles >> 5 Steps to Becoming An Administrative Assistant

STEP 1: Research the Field

Look before you leap – be sure you have an understanding of what administrative assistants do to see if there’s a good career fit. Luckily for you, AdminSecret did the research for you.

The Job

Joan Burge, an expert consultant to administrative professionals, outlines the most essential “Twelve Key Competencies” of an admin in her book, Become an Inner Circle Assistant. Below are the twelve roles and responsibilities a quality admin must know.

1. Appointment Coordination. This is one of the most vital parts of an admin’s job. If appointments were not scheduled for the right day, time and place the entire business would be in disarray.

2. Manager Support. Supporting your boss is a two-way street – there must be communication and teamwork for you to do your admin job successfully. This involves, but is not limited to, coordinating calendars, organizing and prioritizing correspondence (email, packages, calls, etc.), arranging travel, greeting and hosting visitors, and more.

3. Managing Office Technology. Burge starts this chapter off with, “Office technology proliferates, and if we don’t manage it, it will probably manage us.” Sounds funny, but it is true. You must be willing and capable of handling all aspects of equipment and technology – emails, telephones, copy/fax machines, climate control, media, etc. You might have an IT department to help you but many times, your managers will rely on you to be competent with managing office technology.

4. Meeting Preparation & Coordination. Today’s admin must not only schedule the meeting but must facilitate, coordinate, and prepare meetings for the team. Read more on “Meeting Planning 101” (http://www.adminsecret.com/training/articles/117-meeting-planning-101)

5. Office Communication. Nothing would get accomplished in any organization without constant and accurate communication. This includes verbal communication between people inside and outside the office as well as nonverbal communication. It also takes careful and tactful speaking – with more listening than speaking. Read more on “Communication Tips for Today’s Admin.”

6. Office Organization. Maintaining a well run, clean, and efficient workplace cannot be accomplished without organization. It is an admin’s duty to ensure office areas – their bosses’ and their own – are totally organized and easy to navigate. See our section on “Organization Skills”

7. Problem Solving. If it isn’t one thing, it’s another that admins must overcome. It is an old idea that your managers should handle all office issues – the modern administrative assistant steps up to the plate and implements solutions.

8. Professional Behavior & Image. Administrative assistants are the first people most employees and clients see when they walk into an office. You must embody and demonstrate the appropriate image to everyone. This includes everything from the way you dress, to your voice over the phone, to an inviting smile. Appearance and attitude are essential aspects of an assistant’s job.

9. Professional Development. It is important to remember that even though you are supporting management, you should be in control of your career. Joan Burge suggests many ways to “take charge of your own career,” but a few tasks are setting goals, taking risks, listening actively, and impressing people.

10. Supporting Multiple Managers. Supporting one than one manager can sometimes feel like you are juggling balls of fire… on a moving train. Some admins assist 4 to 5 managers, while other might organize an entire team of 30 plus! See our article “Juggle Your Work For Multiple Bosses.”

11. Task & Project Management. I think that administrative assistants tend to have exciting and fun projects, such as organizing a party or arranging a month-long business trip for your boss to China. They might seem daunting, but with enough organization and communication, super admins can do any task in front of them.

12. Time Management . This is a critical element of being an admin that is often overlooked or dismissed. The key is to prioritize and organize your time. No administrative assistant should be wasting time finding a stamp for tomorrow’s package when they must find one for today’s! Don’t be on time with tasks – be early.

Joan expands on each of these twelve competencies in her book Becoming an Inner Circle Office Assistant.

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