How To Hire A Senior Administrative Assistant
Complete with job descriptions, skill profiles, and interview templates. Use this Senior Administrative Assistant hiring guide to help you make the right decisions, fast.
Senior Administrative Assistant Recruitment Guide
What does a Senior Administrative Assistant do?
A Senior Administrative Assistant provides assistance in more sophisticated and complex clerical tasks in an office. Usually they support senior managers and executives as they are more experienced with their daily tasks.
Day to day tasks of a Senior Administrative Assistant
- Greet and attend to visitors.
- Answer phone calls and connect them to the appropriate department, if necessary.
- Arrange and set meetings; take detailed minutes of the meeting to be distributed to the attendees.
- Schedule appointments and update the calendar.
- Set travel arrangements and reservations for managers.
- Write correspondences like announcements, invitations, and memos.
- Create presentations and other reports as requested.
- Maintain a filing system–both digital and physical.
Senior Administrative Assistant definition
A Senior Administrative Assistant’s primary responsibility is to provide a more complex support in administrative and clerical tasks. Depending on the department, they usually support senior managers or executives as they are considered more experienced in the field of administrative support.
HIRING PROCESS
Senior Administrative Assistant Hiring Process
Build the ideal candidate profile
Skills needed for a Senior Administrative Assistant
A Senior Administrative Assistant must have outstanding communication skills and organization skills. Providing support to senior managers and executives requires a more sophisticated approach in interacting with them.
- Organization
- Leadership
- Communication
Pro Tip
For senior administrative roles, you’re still likely to receive entry-level administrative profiles. Ensure to highlight the skills needed for this role, and be clear with the expectations so applicants will know if they are fit.
WRITE A JOB DESCRIPTION BASED ON SKILLS
How to write a Senior Administrative Assistant job description
Once you’ve determined the skills required for the role, you can write the job description to advertise for your position. Here’s what to include in your Senior Administrative Assistant job description:
Job Title: What position are you hiring for?
Summary: What makes your company unique? What would it be like to work for you?
Responsibilities: An overview of the role’s day-to-day activities, and how the position contributes to the organization
Requirements: Skills a candidate must have to perform the job successfully
Benefits: Details of compensation, benefits, and any perks on offer
Pro Tip
In building your candidate profile, remember you’ve already identified what skills are needed to succeed in the role. Here’s where to list your “must-have” skills and maybe a couple of “nice-to-have” skills. For example, a Senior Administrative Assistant must have excellent organization skills, but it would be nice to have knowledge on digital filing systems.
SELECTING THE IDEAL CANDIDATE
Sample skill tests for a Senior Administrative Assistant
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Question 1
Leadership
Question Type: Text
Describe how you would communicate your performance expectations to employees.
When answering, think about the steps you take to communicate expectations.
How would you ensure that the person understood the importance and impact of his/her role?
How would you ensure that he/she fully understood his/her responsibilities?
What was the outcome?
Question 2
Communication
Question Type: Video
What administrative projects are less interesting for you?
How do you overcome your disinterest in order to do a good job?
Question 3
Organization
Question Type: Text
Organizational skills are the abilities that let you stay focused on different tasks, and use your time, energy, strength, mental capacity, physical space, etc. effectively and efficiently in order to achieve the desired outcome.
What resources and processes do you use and have in place for yourself, that you use in the workplace on a daily basis?
INTERVIEW TOP PERFORMERS
How to interview a Senior Administrative Assistant
Once your Vervoe skills assessment has surfaced the most qualified people for your open role, you can focus on interviewing these candidates. The interview should focus on any skills that require development that were highlighted from the skills assessment.
Now you know that candidates can do the job, the interview becomes more of a relationship building exercise where you can get to know the candidate on a more personal level, understand their motivations, and how they would fit in with the team.
Making An Offer
How much does it cost to hire a Senior Administrative Assistant?
The US average for a Senior Administrative Assistant is $60,673 as reported by Salary.com, while on Glassdoor.com, it amounts to $50,511. These numbers widely depend on several factors such as education background, years of experience in the field, additional skills, and location.
Senior Administrative Assistant Salary United States
Senior Administrative Assistant average salaries in the United States range from $50,511 – $60,673. The lowest recorded is at $40,000, while the highest is at $161,000. Aside from the factors mentioned above, some other things to consider that affect the salary is the provision for bonuses, incentives, or profit sharing, all depending on the company.
Source: Salary.com, Glassdoor.com
Senior Administrative Assistant Salary United Kingdom
Senior Administrative Assistant average salaries in the United Kingdom range from £22,350 – £24, 619 (GBP). The lowest amount recorded is £18,000, while the highest is at £33,000 (GBP).
Source: Glassdoor.com, Payscale.com
Senior Administrative Assistant Salary Australia
Senior Administrative Assistant average salary in Australia is $71,621 (AUD). The range usually starts at $59,982 and can reach up to $84,591 (AUD). This depends on the educational background, additional skills, years of experience in the profession, and the location.
Source: Salary.com
