Administrative Assistance is now expected to do less secretarial duties but instead is taking on the role of information and communication managers.

Primary Responsibilities:

• The Administrative Assistant is required to perform coordinating an office’s administrative activities and storing, retrieving, and integrating information for dissemination to staff and clients.
• The Administrative Assistant must perform a variety of administrative duties along with clerical duties to run an organization efficiently.
• The Administrative Assistant serves as information and communication managers.

The Administrative Assistant is in charge of electronic files, manages projects and does research as required by the executive that is in charge of her activities. The Administrative Assistant must be able to properly use the telephone, mail services and web sites in order to complete her job functions. The Administrative Assistant is usually put in charge of travel and guest arrangements. She may make reservations for airlines, hotels, and restaurants.

The Administrative Assistant is required to use a variety of office equipment, such as the fax machines, photocopiers, scanners, and videoconferencing. The Administrative Assistant needs to be able to use different types of telephone systems along with email programs. In addition, Administrative Assistant needs to be able to handle computers to do tasks such as:

• The Administrative Assistant needs to be able to create and manage spreadsheets.
• The Administrative Assistant must be able to compose correspondence to clients and inner office personnel.
• The Administrative Assistant must manage databases.
• The Administrative Assistant may be asking to create presentations, reports and documents using desktop publishing software and digital graphics.

The Administrative Assistant negotiates with vendors for items that the office needs. The office often has equipment that is leased and she must be able to maintain the equipment. Also the Administration Assistant is in charge of the lease agreements on the office equipment. The Administration Assistant is the one who purchases supplies, manages the stockrooms and maintains the corporate libraries. The Administrative Assistant retrieves data from various sources.

The Administrative Assistant provides more services to the executive staff than they use to do but there is less dictation and word processing required in their job function. Specific job duties vary with experience and knowledge of office equipment. The level of administrative support for an office and for the top executives of an organization has greatly improved because of the capabilities of the Administrative Assistants duties. The Administrative Assistant may arrange the conference calls and even conduct if the executive she works with so desires. The tasks may require that she is in charge of supervising other clerical staff members. Some executives require their Administrative Assistant to review incoming memos and answering them whenever applicable. They also prepare agendas and make arrangements for meetings of committees and executive boards. Administrative Assistants work in schools, hospitals, corporate settings, government agencies, or legal and medical offices. They are required to sit long periods of time on a computer. They find that their biggest problems come from eyestrain, stress, and repetitive motion ailments such as carpal tunnel syndrome. Most Administrative Assistants work full time but a few do job share to break up the work load and amount of time behind the keyboard.

The Administrative Assistant is required to know word processing, writing and communication skills .Many employer require them to have software knowledge such as desktop publishing, project management, spreadsheets, and database management. The Administrative Assistant must have a high school diploma to get an entry level position. The training must be in programs that teach office skills and typing. Most Administrative Assistants go to a Community College to learn business skills in order to get ahead and have a higher position in the office. The Administrative Assistant who works in a legal or medical office must take higher educational training. In order to work closely with executives the Administrative Assistant must have a degree in the business industry. Once the Administrative Assistant is hired they acquire skills that they need by on the job training. The job outlook for this position is very promising it is expected that the need for Administrative Assistants will increase a good nine percent which is a fast average for this position. The growth of the industry increases as the growth of different industries grows needing the workers.