How To Hire An Office Assistant

Complete with job descriptions, skill profiles, and interview templates. Use this Office Assistant hiring guide to help you make the right decisions, fast.

OFFICE ASSISTANT RECRUITMENT GUIDE

What does a Office Assistant do?

An Office Assistant provides organizational and clerical support tasks. These tasks include, but not limited to, making appointments, processing invoices, data entry, receiving guests in the office, preparing correspondences, and filing and organizing files.

Day to day tasks of a Office Assistant

Coordinate activities in the office as needed.
Attend phone calls and other communications.
Receive guests and help them navigate the office when necessary.
Organize and manage the filing system.
Update documents or files as needed.
Record information in the system or database when necessary.
Assist in maintaining the cleanliness and orderliness of the common areas.
Assist in preparing travel arrangements especially in booking vehicles or reserving a venue.

Recruitment guide role overview illustration

OFFICE ASSISTANT DEFINITION

An Office Assistant’s primary responsibility is to provide general clerical support in an office. They will be handling phone calls, emails, and other communications. They also handle managing files and other documents and paperwork. Because of this, they must be organized and have attention to detail.

HIRING PROCESS

Office Assistant Hiring Process

1
STEP 1
2
STEP 2
3
STEP 3
4
STEP 4
5
STEP 5

STEP 1

Build the Ideal Candidate Profile

To find the best person for the role, you need to understand what the role involves. You can complete this with the hiring manager to define the role, its contribution, and the skills needed.

STEP 2

Write A Job Description Based On Skills

Once you understand the requirements for the role, you’ll need to understand the skills for success. You can then write an effective job description to promote your role.

STEP 3

Selecting The Ideal Candidate

See which applicants have the right skills for the role. Send all your applicants a Vervoe skills assessment from the expert library, or customize one for your organization.

STEP 4

Interview Top Performers

Your skills assessment results will identify top performers. Focus your time on interviewing those that have met or exceeded your requirements. Assessment results will also help guide which skill areas to focus on in the interview.

STEP 5

Making An Offer

Once you assess your candidates against these skills, you’re ready to offer the top performer(s). You should base your offer on the value that the candidate would bring to your team and your business as a whole. It is also important to ensure your compensation and benefits packages are competitive in the industry and help you attract and retain the top talent.

BUILD THE IDEAL CANDIDATE PROFILE

Skills needed for a Office Assistant

An Office Assistant must be well-versed in most clerical tasks and have good communication skills. This is because they will support the office operations by handling most of the administrative items from phone calls to welcoming guests to filing and organizing documents.

Multitasking
Communication
Team Player

WRITE A JOB DESCRIPTION BASED ON SKILLS

How to write a Office 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 Office 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

Use our sample Office Assistant job description

SELECTING THE IDEAL CANDIDATE

Sample skill tests for a Office Assistant

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Question 1

Team Player

Question Type: Text

Being in a busy office, you will often have multiple teams needing your assistance at the same time.How will you deal with this?What will you do to spread your time across multiple teams efficiently and fairly?

Question 2

Communication

Question Type: Audio

One of the Directors, Hillary, has asked you to manage her phone calls for the day while she is in a conference and she is not to be disturbed. One of her clients calls and says that it is urgent.Record your response to the client.

Question 3

Multitasking

Question Type: Text

You've been asked to assist your colleague with a number of tasks with an urgent deadline. You also have to book your director’s last minute business trip (travel, accommodation and client dinner) for this evening. How would you manage your day so that you ensure you complete all your tasks before the end of the day?

INTERVIEW TOP PERFORMERS

How to interview a Office 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 Office Assistant?

The US average for an Office Assistant is $32,405 according to Glassdoor.com. Meanwhile, Salary.com reports it at $37,916. The lowest reported salary is at $27,000, and the highest at $120,000. Some companies can offer higher pay or additional pay through bonuses, or incentives, or profit sharing schemes.

United States

Office Assistant salaries in the United States range from $27,000 - $120,000. The average falls between $32,000 - $38,000. Salaries can still vary depending on education, additional skills, years of experience in the field, and the location.

Source: Source: Glassdoor.com; Salary.com

United Kingdom

Office Assistant salaries in the United Kingdom range from £15,000 - £34,000 (GBP). The average falls between £20,000 - £24,000. Salaries can still vary depending on education, additional skills, years of experience in the field, and the location.

Source: Source: Glassdoor.com; Talent.com

Australia

Office Assistant salaries in Australia range from $36,000 - $109,000 (AUD). The average falls between $46,000 - $75,000 (AUD). Salaries can still vary depending on education, additional skills, years of experience in the field, and the location.

Source: Source: Payscale.com; Talent.com