What are the most effective ways to evaluate a new administrative assistant?

A good administrative assistant needs skills in organization, communication, and a positive attitude, but character traits like honesty, trustworthiness, reliability, respect, and a strong work ethic are also important. Evaluating a candidate's character can be done through behavioral-based questions and reference checks to ensure alignment with the organization's values. Ongoing evaluations should include assessing character for personal growth and a positive work environment.

Assessing administrative assistants involves evaluating their organizational, communication, time management, and software use skills. This can be done through exercises that test their ability to organize data, handle conflicting demands, manage their time effectively, and use office software proficiently.

One example of evaluating a new administrative assistant would be to pay attention to how that person can focus. In my opinion if they can focus without swaying away and in general know a lot about multi-tasking. An excellent administrative assistant must be able to demonstrate a positive outcome, focus on their employees and not just themselves. This makes a great mentor and leader.

Administrative Assistants are often the unsung heroes in a successful company. To set your organization up for success, set the Administrative Assistant up for success. This can be done by setting clear goals. I have been part of organizations that set clear expectations and others who communicate in a scattered and disorganized manner. The organizations where I have thrived as an assistant have come to me with projects that have a clear goal, a measurable or specific deadline, a list or set of expectations surrounding the project, key stakeholders that need to be contacted, give enough lead time, and the manager has not micromanaged. Setting these goals can be done visually with a project map, via an email/agenda, or verbally.

Evaluating a new administrative assistant effectively requires a focus on character evaluation. It is important to assess the candidate's honesty, trustworthiness, reliability, respect, and work ethic. Observing how they handle tasks, interact with others, and respond to challenges can provide insight into these traits. Additionally, asking the candidate to self-assess their performance and identify areas for improvement can reveal their self-awareness and willingness to grow. Soliciting feedback from colleagues, clients, and stakeholders further confirms their character. Skills and performance can always been acquired through training, but character is hardly acquired through the proposed approach as indicated in the paragraph above.

In my experience with this question is at my current job we have what's called walk in your shoes. Our leadership cones in and dresses in scrubs to actually observe and watch our everyday job. In return this provides feedback to us and gives our management a sense of understanding what we do in our job to protect our patients and staff.

I like using this method. By evaluating a new administrative assistant you can see how they work, their ethics, and how well they would benefit in this position.