administrative assistant

As a legal administrative assistant, you assist lawyers and paralegals by performing various secretarial and clerical duties. You also file records and confidential documents, take notes during consultations and court proceedings and send and receive legal correspondence on behalf of lawyers.

if you are in a supervisory administrative officer role, you implement and oversee a range of administrative procedures. This includes establishing and delegating work, processing requests for information, allocating and disposing of assets, and assisting in budget preparation.

In a medical administrative assistant position, you perform many clerical and secretarial duties that help doctors, hospitals and other medical facilities. You schedule appointments, prepare medical reports, order supplies and take notes during meetings.

For executive assistant positions in large corporations and government departments, you support top-level executives or legislative members in their work. In addition to coordinating administrative procedures, you ensure members of the public receive the services they require, such as government-run utilities.

Some of the most common duties you perform as an administrative assistant include:

• managing the organization's documents and paperwork: managing the documentation can include creating, editing and filing documents about the organization's various departments. In addition, you ensure that all administrative procedures are completed within schedule.
• completing clerical and secretarial work: this includes handling telephone calls, drafting letters, and distributing mail between the organization's various departments. Other clerical and secretarial duties include scheduling meetings and appointments, organizing business trips and managing diaries for senior employees.
• bookkeeping duties: for this role, you record sales and purchase invoices, prepare financial statements, and ensure all accounting records are accurate and up-to-date. In addition, you are also responsible for managing the organization's petty cash accounts.
• human resource duties: your role involves assisting with onboarding new employees and ensuring all their paperwork is completed and filed. You also update the organization's records to simplify the payroll process.

The administrative assistant position is generally office-based, although you may be required to travel occasionally for work-related functions and business conferences. Sometimes, you must travel to an event to help managers remain organized. Therefore, staying in contact with a reliable travel agent is advisable.

You can find administrative assistant positions in many industries, including hospitals, schools, private companies, and government agencies. Telecommuting in this position is rare, and most administrative assistants complete their duties in the office. You will likely work with managers or executives and may share space with other secretarial staff. In some cases, remote work is available for virtual assistant positions.

Your work colleagues largely depend on the employer you work for. In most cases, you will share office space with other secretaries, typists, receptionists and personal assistants. You will likely work close to managers and administrators, and perhaps other specialist roles such as project managers, sales managers and VPs of finance (large enterprise). 

In this position, you typically work full-time from 9 am to 5 pm on weekdays. You are generally expected to be present during normal operating hours to meet clients' needs and fulfil all managerial requests. While most administrative assistant positions are full-time, smaller companies may have part-time positions. On average, this position requires 35 to 40 hours of work per week, although some positions may have flexible hours. This role generally does not require overtime or weekend work, although some projects may require you to work additional hours.

Every industry requires an administrative assistant of some type in order to function. That allows you to specialize in various industries, such as information technology, accounting and payroll. With additional training, you can become a legal or executive administrative assistant. You may even progress to supervisor roles and become a manager or administrator, particularly if you engage in managerial training.

Working with Randstad offers you a range of benefits:

• always a contact person you can fall back on and ask for help from
• many training opportunities
• a range of jobs in your area

The most common duties required of you as an administrative assistant include welcoming visitors to the organization, scheduling phone calls, and organizing documents and files. In addition, you may organize travel plans for executives and schedule meetings and appointments for supervisors.

The top three skills all administrative assistants need are communication, organization and time management. These skills will allow you to remain productive, complete all duties within accepted time frames, and improve the workplace's operational efficiency.

Administrative assistants manage and run the office. You schedule appointments, draft correspondence, organize files and take notes during meetings.

Complete secondary school and take a one- or two-year college course. A diploma or certificate in business administration provides you with the skills needed for this role. Other courses will offer specialization in fields such as law and medicine. Work experience and paid apprenticeships will also provide additional experience.

Secretaries are only required to do clerical tasks and often perform under the supervision of administrative assistants. Administrative assistants often perform clerical tasks but are also required to work on additional projects and have decision-making responsibilities.

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