Secretarial Interview
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Secretarial jobs require a broad base of skills and competencies. The questions asked in the interview for a secretarial or administrative professional job will vary depending on the employer, the level of the job and the candidate's experience. This is a sample of the questions that are most commonly asked in secretarial recruitment.
Secretarial Interview Questions that Explore Skills and Experience
Describe how your work experience relates to this job?
Look at this from the employer's point of view. Focus on the aspects of your experience and any formal or on-the-job training that apply to the tasks and responsibilities of this secretary job and the needs of the company. Analyze the job posting/ad to determine the key skills required for the job and detail your experience in each of these areas - examples include writing and editing correspondence, scheduling, dealing with inquiries and information management.
What software packages are you comfortable with?
List the packages you are familiar with. Discuss how much experience you have with each package, describe the functions you regularly used and the type of work you have generated. You can support your interview answer by taking along some work samples.
What sort of documents have you produced on Excel? What is the most complicated thing you have done on Excel?
Detail your knowledge of Excel. Relate your data management skills to the job requirements. Use examples of the functions you are familiar with such as creating, modifying, formatting spreadsheets, to support your proficiency level.
What sort of word documents have you been responsible for typing?
Be detailed and demonstrate your familiarity with the functions. "I performed tasks such as creating and editing tables, columns and charts as well as sorting table data and performing calculations in tables. I created and formatted forms ......."
What experience do you have with planning meetings
Detail the actions you have taken to set up and coordinate meetings like organizing the venue and times, informing participants, preparing agendas and organizing documentation. Go on to describe your experience in taking minutes, typing them up and distributing them (this is another opportunity to provide a work sample. Focus on your efficiency and planning skills - essential secretarial skills
Describe how you handled your manager's work schedule?
Detail how you kept yourself informed and up to date with your manager's commitments and co-ordinated his or her appointments and meetings. What systems did you use to manage schedules and calendars? How did you follow up?
How have you gone about prioritizing your work?
One of the key secretarial interview questions. Explain how you schedule and prioritize your tasks and activities appropriately. How do you decide which are the most important tasks? Focus on key aspects like finding out the urgency of the task, determining deadlines, working out how long the task will take and setting realistic targets for yourself. When do you develop your list of activities to be completed- at the start of the day or before you go home ready for the next day? How do you reshuffle your priorities as situations arise that demand a change in your priorities?
What sort of correspondence were you responsible for generating?
Detail the types of correspondence you were responsible for and focus on your written communication skills, accuracy, spelling and grammar ability. Highlight the level of responsibility you were given - reports, letters, memos etc. Refer to the methods you used to send and distribute correspondence.
What kind of inquiries did you have to respond to?
Secretaries and administrative professionals are expected to have good communication and interpersonal skills.
| Describe the type of interactions you had with colleagues, management and clients. Highlight how you used your knowledge of the department, organization and business to respond efficiently to these queries. |
Describe what record-keeping you were responsible for.
Secretaries or administrative professionals serve as information managers for the company. They are responsible for objective and detailed record keeping. Explain which record keeping you were entrusted and how you made sure these records were updated and accurate. What methods did you use - electronic or manual? Highlight your attention to detail and accuracy.
What sort of confidential information did you have to deal with?
Confidentiality and discretion are key skills for a secretary. Expect secretarial interview questions that explore your ability to handle confidential information. Detail the sort of sensitive information you had access to. Explain how you made sure the information was kept confidential. - for example, how was the information stored and destroyed?
What cash handling experience do you have?
Explain what types of transactions you handled - check, cash, bankcard - and what procedures you used to process and document these. How much money was involved? Focus on accuracy in terms of collection, receipting, reconciliations and banking.
Tell me about the manager/s you worked for?
When answering secretarial interview questions about previous managers avoid saying anything that can be seen as negative. It sends up a red flag about your attitude to authority and supervision. Find positive aspects to highlight. Focus on the areas in which you worked well together. Find help with Typical Interview Questions about your manager or supervisor.
Prepare for these Secretary Interview Questions that explore personality and motivation for the job. Prepare winning answers using the sample answer guidelines.
Asking the right questions in your interview is important. Go to this list of questions to ask in your Secretary Interview to prepare good questions for your interview.
Prepare for Standard Interview Questions using these interview answer guides.
5 Common Interview Questions you are likely to be asked.
Example Answers for Interviews
Administrative Assistant Interview Questions
Executive Assistant Job Description
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Prepare for your Secretarial or Administrative Professional job interview and have the winning interview answer ready when asked these secretarial interview questions.
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