master permanent recruitment for top administrative support talent.

An army of steadfast administrative support talent is at the heart of every flourishing business. While the C-suite leadership often steals the limelight, the administrative support talent is the impetus for an organization’s operational efficiency. Yet, a role that commands such heft can lead to bleak outcomes when attempting to find professionals in this niche.

Admin and support staff are the operational core of any business. Moreover, they’re imperative to run everything that makes a business an organization. From segregating swamped schedules to managing essential communications, your administrative support staff leaves no stone unturned to keep your business afloat.

Despite their indispensable role and great need, most professionals steer clear of taking up these roles. The reason? Learn from this article, the hiring hurdles of scouting and securing permanent admin and support staff and how you can vanquish them with an intelligent talent strategy.

hurdles on your way to elite administrative support talent.

Your lookout for an infallible administrative support team presents significant barriers. From a shifting talent perception to rapidly evolving business needs, you’re bound to navigate several stumbling blocks on your way to securing your perfect prospective workforce.

This section introduces you to the most discouraging hurdles on your course to securing elite administrative support professionals.

1. the perception problem.

Regardless of the monumental role your admin and support teams play in strengthening your operational resilience, professionals often look down on these positions. A majority of professionals perceive these roles as low-skill temporary career prospects.

In addition, this wrong assumption is time and again reinforced by lackluster job updates and job descriptions that hold no weight to attract potential talent. Inescapably, the challenge is not only drawing in skilled talent but shifting this perception, which is an uphill battle.

2. constant and costly churn.

Recruiting administrative support talent is a recurring challenge. Draining time and effort, addressing this constant churn disrupts business operations, retards delivery deadlines and exhausts the overall stability.

Given that most professionals in this domain are unenthused due to a misconception of a stalled career trajectory, there’s a good chance of widening the disgruntled population. This, in turn, transposes a once stable workplace into a highly volatile one.

What does this mean for your business? Misallocation of resources, pointless effort, and lost business opportunities are caused by blurred focus on business operations. Additionally, the morale of your current employees deals with a serious blow, with a dangerously unstable work environment.

3. soft skills fabricate a new hiring predicament.

Hiring administrative support talent calls for a keen eye to evaluate more than just qualifications but also soft skills. Abilities that present emotional intelligence, such as problem-solving, time management, communication and customer service, are fundamental to deciding whether a candidate is the right fit for the role you offer.

Having said that, it’s quite taxing for your recruitment personnel to assess and source such notably adept administrative support talent. The gap? Intangible qualities such as the ones aforementioned are ambiguous to assess. To top that up, most recruitment teams are unaware of structured methods to assess expertise that conditions emotionally intelligent talent.

Additionally, inattention to behavioral interviews and interview change management also make a substantial impact on the way you assess prospective administrative support talent. Why are these skills indispensable? Owing to the duration of being people-focused, these professionals must carry exceptionally high patience and endurance levels, strengthening your workplace engagement as a derivative.

4. the right administrative support talent fit.

Finding well-suited talent differentiates a workplace booming with operational efficiency from one that’s off the course. Your administrative support teams are deeply embedded in daily business operations, cementing collaboration and cross-functional efficiency.

On the contrary, ill-fitting employees hold the potential to create friction between well-oiled teams and disrupt tuned and automated processes. To boot, this stream of talent is the easiest to find. For instance, admin professionals accustomed to rigid and stern workplace ecosystems might not comprehend a start-up-like workplace culture.

On the other hand, most recruitment teams feel the absence of standard operating procedures to assess candidate behaviors and work styles. While in-house training and hands-on experience could ingrain a culturally sound value system, onboarding a set of emotionally equipped professionals is one of a kind.

best practices to secure top administrative support talent.

Administrative support professionals are vital for an organization’s functioning. However, finding and securing top talent entails a thoughtful approach. Explore this section to discover hiring best practices to refine your approach and make a real impact.

1. spot the true influence of administrative support talent.

Despite the undeniable provision the administrative support talent brings to your organization, you still might be fractionally close to losing such great talent. The reason? Defining their roles with extreme vagueness.

When you can’t present a candidate's contribution through an effective job description, it means that you’re silently denying their competence. This perception brings us to the essential question of how to do better here.

Notably, present how much you appreciate having talented administrative support professionals in your organizations through articulate job descriptions. Transform your job posts from being mere website real estate elements to supremely conversational constituents of your recruitment process.

Additionally, your job descriptions should include clarity on the progression of administrative support roles with operational heft. Communicate how flamboyant, zestful and dynamic administrative support positions are and how your organization supports their career advancement—all on the job description.

2. leverage competitive pay as a talent magnet.

Most organizations undervalue the credibility built by a secure and well-fortified administrative support talent. They nourish allegiance and commitment in your workplace. Now, recognize the risk of losing this wealth of talent for an incompetent salary and benefits structure. Then, you’re set to make an obscure business move.

Dismiss a perpetual rehiring conundrum absolutely, with a comprehensive compensation framework—one that pays well and indicates your commitment to employee growth and wellbeing. Start with thorough market research to grasp the two sides of the coin—industry benchmarks and their gaps.

Structure a compensation architecture with a carefully composed salary skeleton augmented by a well-thought-out benefits design. How does this framework elevate your talent acquisition efforts? It equips you with a positive employer perception from your prospective talent leads and strikingly converses with them on the points they find relatable. Furthermore, it attracts well-aligned candidates remarkably.

3. turn administrative support roles into career destinations.

More often than not, administrative support job posts don’t accentuate professional development, a strategic task to improve employee retention rates sustainably. This deficiency translates into a misconception that global administrative support professionals carry: a lack of employee commitment. Now, realize how detrimental this could be for your employer brand.

Exercise social media platforms are your tools to display how your efforts as an employer engage in the career progression of your workforce. Gestures such as this bind your employees in the name of your employer brand. As a consequence, the administrative support roles from your organization carve a lasting impact on your prospective talent as growth centers.

Furthermore, invest in domestic and external mentorship workshops, internal mobility options, skill enhancement programs and structured training modules. This endeavor doesn’t just bolster your employer brand image—it takes your organizational productivity to the next level.

4. remodel employee recognition as a hiring advantage

When you believe that administrative support talent is the backbone of your business operations, bring that thought to the focus and display it prominently. Begin with simple initiatives such as personalized ‘thank you’ notes and financial incentives as an appreciation for good work.

Amplify this appreciation with monthly awards, public praise and memorable employee presents that strike the chord. These little actions make an unfading impact on your employees’ minds, translating your efforts into soaring retention numbers.

Here comes the trick question. How do these efforts ease your talent acquisition efforts? When you actively celebrate employee achievements, you’re pushing the envelope of what’s considered employee centricity. Employee recognition mimics a strategic advantage and naturally attracts talent that values workplaces recognizing these contributions.

let randstad be your guide to secure exceptional talent.

Recruiting and retaining extraordinary administrative support talent requires experience, expertise, and a well-thought-out talent strategy. Randstad’s expert talent consultants are just a call away, ready to help you every step of the way. Talk to us to make remarkable headway with your talent acquisition action agenda.