If your job title is 'admin assistant' please tell me what your day to day is like and what software you use.

[WerkHorse]

Am thinking of applying for an admin job (have done office work in the past) please tell me what packages you use, what level of proficiency you have and what sort of things you have to do on a daily basis. Also best/worst parts of your job.

TIA

Admin assistants will do very different things depending on what company they work for so a generic list isn't going to be relevant.

Standard things will be telephones, emails, post. I imagine most use Microsoft Office so need to be proficient in Word, Excel and Outlook.

It's usually a busy role. Sometimes you are the go between between information received and where it needs to be passed to so if something gets missed, you can be blamed. Data protection is a massive part of it.

It's not for everyone. I've seen people struggle with the workloads involved. I've seen people fly with it because they are naturally good. IME the ones who have struggled have been younger tbh. Being naturally organised and efficient would stand you in good stead for admin work.

Thanks for replying. I know what an admin assistant does I suppose so not sure what I was looking for here. Someone else's take innit I guess. I've been outbid an office environment for a long time and was wondering how much things had changed; I get the impression that expectations are much higher these days - that admin assistants need a degree and an advanced knowledge of excel, possibly even be a whizz on all social media platforms and who knows what other things.

of it! innit

out of FFS clearly my attention to detail is lacking

I am an admin assistant and I do all the pp said. I use excel but I'm not a whizz, I am learning on the job! I also don't do any of the social media in my job. I work in planning so I need a basic understanding but that's all

Depends on the work place but
Normally you are using a specific operating system it's difficult to give experiences because operating systems are personal to each company!
The job includes:
corresponding with customers via letter, call or email
Helping other departments with any admin needs e.g correspondence to customers, filing, scribing for their meetings, organising relevant paperwork
Dealing with any complaints the company receives
Managing relevant databases.
Ordering products for other departments e.g stationary etc
Keeping accurate records

But you are expected to perform to a high standard. Have excellent English skills as in many cases you are representing the company.
There is lots expected of you and you are expected to be (at least in my experiences) a hub of knowledge

I agree with pp, Microsoft Office will be essential and then bespoke software packages for the company concerned. Depending on the scope of the role some knowledge of Quickbooks or Sage (if you are going to be entering expenses), and the ability to use the internet.
Most companies appreciate that you may not be familiar with how they do things or what they use so as long as you go in with a willing to learn attitude that will be fine.

I'd also say there's no standards for admin assistants and it will totally depend on where you work.

I can tell you that where I work you'd need to use word but not excel and some specific software that the business needs but I don't suppose that's very helpful as I know there aren't any jobs being advertised at the moment.

I agree with the above. That’s what would be expected in my place. And perhaps answering the phone to disgruntled customers, which is always fun....! If you are in at the lower end of the pay scale they won’t expect as much as if you’re a higher paid administrator.

I’m an admin assistant but it’s a tiny company (less than 10) and we are a really close team so I do lots of stuff that isn’t typical eg proofreading And testing work we are doing/managing smaller projects/transcribing/editing etc

Normal stuff I do/use:
Microsoft office
Wrike - project management software
Office management - stationery/supplies/utilities
Booking travel arrangements
Sage - accounting software
Sourcing all sort of items from a particular colour pen, branded coffee cups to finding a suitable room to film a video in on the middle of China/Brazil/Germany etc!

I have a really interesting and varied workload because we are such a small team/company, we all get on really really well and I’m trusted to do things like proofread/test a website one of the designers is working on etc

Other companies may have the role as much more boring and monotonous and you will be doing the same things day in day out.

Well when I was an admin assistant a few years ago I had to start by answer the phone, scan post, filing and archiving, photocopying

Then I had to take on the same tasks as my colleagues with the main work of the business whilst also having to do all the admin, answer all phone calls, but not get paid a higher salary!

I ended up with more work than everyone else in the office

Where I work, you're expected to use Outlook for emails and diary management, Excel for a range of things, Word less often; possibly PowerPoint. As with all Microsoft Office products, the exact requirements var. If you are the curious type you can quickly become proficient in a range of features which can set you apart. Make sure you mention them in applications, as people have very different views on what makes "advanced Excel skills" (many are not advanced at all - I speak from experience).

Apart from that you will use a range of job-specific packages, eg managing an online annual leave system, a finance system, a recruitment system, a costing system, a planning system, various databases and so on. Inputting data is usually a requirement, so attention to detail is essential. Being able to pull off standard reports may be necessary. If it's a more experienced role then you may be expected to analyse data from systems, and create bespoke reports - strong Excel skills can help hugely here.

I'd expect you to understand a range of local and corporate processes, and be able to advise other people on them. You may be purchasing goods and services and booking travel for others. You might be submitting their expenses too. More senior roles may have to help planning travel, and coordinate with diary management for senior staff.

Minute-taking is an under-rated skill and very transferable, especially if you are good at assessing the core message so that the minutes are concise and to the point, not verbatim.

I'd say an ability to keep things confidential is incredibly valuable. Both staff and managers need to be able to trust you. In these roles you often come across info before it's shared with all staff, and you don't want to get a reputation as the local gossip!

Best part - getting thanks for helping people.
Worst part - being taken for granted it's in the job description

I used to recruit admin assistants for a law firm, and we would expect basic excel, word, outlook and PowerPoint, anything else can be taught. BUT a high degree of common sense and attention to detail / literacy /numeracy was really essential, and a big part of the job was physical...boxing and unboxing deeds, dealing with post, taking stacks of documents to be copied, unpacking deliveries of stationery and putting it away, cleaning out cupboards etc. It's the most junior role in the department where I worked, and very busy and often time pressured.

This is all brilliant, thank you! It's a school position so the operating system would be SIMS - they state that it would be desirable to have previous expeeience of the system but not essential (I am very willing to learn!). I am very worried about my MS office skills. I could use word reasonably well and could do basic PP but excel is my downfall, only ever used to input numbers into existing spreadsheets and print off reports, never created my own with formulas and whatnot. No experience of outlook or Teams. All the other stuff they're asking for I've either done or have transferable skills.

Am VERY worried about taking a MS Office test (presumably they will ask me to sit one), cocking it up and then having to interview knowing I've fucked it up.

I haven't even applied for it yet let alone got an interview 😂

I’m an admin assistant within education. I think it hugely depends where you work. Our work is a nightmare. Six people have left in just over a year which given this is a term time and flexi hours job we should be keeping hold of people. I order books, write admin docs, organise training sessions. It’s very varied.

Right now, Teams, Zoom are the core of my day. OneDrive and SharePoint, and the relationships between them, would be a good thing if you can get watching a few training videos.
If there is any finance involved, then there will be a package to track that. If any contracting of freelancers or small external firms involved, definitely find yourself some GDPR and IR35/CEST information. This last one is undeniably the part of the job I like least.

I can use Zoom and have assisted DC with clicking on a button in Teams for school stuff if that counts?

Just looked at the school safeguarding policy. It's 24 pages long. 24!

Well, the safeguarding for a school will be a big deal (ours had a bit of an Ofsted 'issue' on the basis of poor filing rather than bad practice, so it pays to be very prepared).
The GDPR and IR35/CEST is more to do with the ways in which certain types of company are employed in the context of payroll or individual relationship for occasional work. It's due to change before long inews.co.uk/inews-lifestyle/money/ir35-changes-2020-hmrc-tax-rules-explained-self-employed-budget-when-date-394675

I have to book training and speakers - even those I have worked with for a long time have to go through this frequently when a new engagement is needed. If there's no contracting or finance involved, though, then hopefully this won't be something that takes hours of time for you.

Our Admin use the GSuite which is exactly like Microsoft Office but in the Google world so it's docs, sheets, forms, mail and drive etc.
Zendesk, Infusionsoft/keep, Zoom, Asana are also used day to day but it really depends on which industry and what you'll be doing.

RE Excel, and all other Microsoft stuff: there's loads on the web to help you.

I've learnt loads of Excel functions from the web, either just to pick up the syntax if it was simple, or watching a video where it was more complex. However you learn best, there is something out there to help you.

Some people who claim to have "advanced" Excel can't apply filters, or sort on more than one field,. One interviewee admitted she couldn't create a new spreadsheet - she'd only even updated existing ones. The bar is low OP, trust me, and it really isn't hard to stand out!

Good shout for those who mentioned GDPR. As an admin assistant you would be expected to follow existing procedures (I imagine), so just having a basic awareness of what it covers and how it affects your role might be enough. You need to know about keeping personal data (name, DoB, address) securely, about not sharing parents' email addresses with other parents when sending info out (eg by accidentally "cc"ing them all, when you should use "BCC" instead).