On the other hand, in a number of firms the change in this job profile seems to have been reflected in the "title". Still now all the mundane errands and tidbits tend to comprise the job profile of an administrative assistant's whole workload.
According to the US Department of Labor, the duties of an Administrative Assistant include:
• It is the responsibility of the administrative assistant to take care of a varied range of administrative and clerical jobs indispensable for running an organization.
• The administrative assistant serves as the communication and information manager for an office.
• He or she is supposed to plan and schedule meetings and appointments.
• Conduct research and manage the projects and distribute information through phone, fax, emails, websites and mails.
• They may also need to attend guest arrangements along with the managing of travel.
Requirements
The academic qualifications necessary for administrative jobs need to have a compulsory post-secondary education. Right now there are a few special schools that offer focused programs and courses that educate each prospective candidate to become a well-trained and apt administrative assistant. So what you can do is find a few of these schools and do a graduation program from there. This seems to be growing fast as one of the most significant criteria for administrative jobs.
Skill Sets
The job profile of an administrative assistant involves the following criteria or skill sets:
• The potential administrative assistant needs to have a considerably impressive typing speed.
• The candidate needs to possess skills of word processing and office software as well.
• Individuals looking for an administrative assistant job should have quality aptitude in spelling, writing, verbal communication, and grammar.
Training
One of the main training that is required is in typing skills with a minimum typing speed of 40 wpm that is usually required. Some basic and necessary IT skills are also required, so training would be mandatory. In case the candidate is not a native English speaker, he or she may also do a course in Spoken English as well.
Prior Experience
Some experience or job shadowing with real life working secretaries can prove to be handy for administrative jobs. This will significantly help in giving the individual an idea about what it is like to be an administrative assistant and what the functions are that he or she needs to perform. Maybe at a point you will not really seem to like all the details. You may even start hating it, but no matter what, this is a worthwhile opportunity that will help you broaden your horizon, even if you finally choose not to pursue a profession in the body of administrative jobs.
On the other hand, getting a job or volunteering for experience will appear rather favorable to the future employers, as they'll know that the candidate or the potential administrative assistant's capable enough and can be given responsibilities. That way getting reference letters will become a lot easier. And in the process you will actually gain a lot of practical experience and some handy contacts in an administrative job that will prove helpful for further jobs.
Employment Outlook
Career prospects (globally)
Career prospects for this traditional yet evolved job opportunity of the administrative assistant is and will be on a positive edge as long as businesses run around the world.
Salaries
The Median Hourly Rate for the services of a full fledged administrative assistant by the index of number of years of experience is $11.57 for 1 year, $12.65 for 1 to 4 years, $14.13 for 5 to 9 years, $14.94 for 10 to 18 years, and $15.58 for more than 20 years of experience.
The key detail to an administrative assistant job is to say that the job is synonymous to knowing how a particular office runs. Though all offices appear the same on the surface each one of them is absolutely different from each other in layers.
It is the skilled administrative assistant who knows, for instance, which are the important faxes, what junk mail can be in one piece discarded; which are the e-mails that need to be forwarded to the boss and the rest that he or she can deal with. The administrative assistant at times also deals with the various public interactions and is a source of general information about the organization.
