The Importance of Administrative Support in a Business

Administrative professionals are responsible for handling day to day administration for an individual or a team. They serve as the “eyes and ears of a business.” They are always expected to make critical business decisions.

Administrative professionals should have the following basic skills:

1. Excellent communication skills

2. Computer literacy

3. Personable phone manner

4. Excellent organizational skills

5. Excellent time management

6. Attention to detail

7. Ability to work in a fast-paced environment

8. Strong work ethic

9. Has initiative

The role of an administrative assistant can be demanding. Typical tasks include drafting letters, managing schedules, paying expenses and organizing meetings and travel itineraries.

Hiring a great administrative assistant is crucial to the success of your business. Apart from the skills already listed above, here are other skill sets that you should be looking for:

• Leadership

A great administrative assistant should be able to exhibit leadership skills when working alongside business owners and leaders. He or she is not there just to wait for orders from his or her boss. All decisions made by the top management of the organization will affect the entire company. Executives should be able to rely on proactive and progressive support of their administrative staff.

 

• Willing to take risks

Every organization or business has limitations, especially when it comes to finances or other resources. A great administrative assistant knows how to weigh the risks against the benefits whenever an organization needs to invest in new business, purchase new materials or add new personnel.

 

• The ability to think critically

One must-have of administrative personnel is attention to detail. This works well with leadership skills as well as the ability to think critically. A great admin is thorough and can identify potential problems or weaknesses of an organization. Critical thinking is key to finding the correct solutions to these problems and/or weaknesses.

 

• Professionalism

The most important skill or trait of a great admin is professional integrity. Administrative personnel are privy to an organization’s human resource issues, financial statements and many other confidential information. It is imperative that the person/s you hire has/have been proven to be trustworthy and beyond reproach.

An ideal administrator would have all these qualities. If you find one or more from your list of candidates who have most or all of these qualities, you are on your way to success.

 

 

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