- Have you recently started in a new position or are you looking for an administrative role?
- Are you working in a voluntary capacity for your community or an association?
- No matter what your role is, these skills will help you to excel.
Customer service
Whether you interact with internal or external customers, effective communication skills are essential. In a busy environment with lots of people, listening and understanding customers is a necessity but it’s also important to tailor your approach to each person. Having a detailed knowledge of your business and available resources will help you to find effective solutions for customers.
Written correspondence
Many administrative roles involve the drafting of correspondence or taking minutes, so it’s important to have excellent written communication skills. You need to be able to adapt your tone to suit the recipient(s) of a letter, internal correspondence or instruction. Taking minutes also requires close attention to detail and quick typing or shorthand skills to capture all the details.
Organisation and time management
Being highly organised will make your life a lot easier! Use a consistent system to label folders both digitally and in hard copy so you know where to find important documents. For your own physical filing on your desk, try colour coding folders, and sorting alphabetically or numerically. To manage your time effectively, try to break up your day into set tasks where possible, so you’re spending a set amount of time on one task before moving on to the next.
Advancing your computer skills
You’ll want to be familiar with Microsoft Office and common email programs including Outlook. While you may use Excel from time to time, are you familiar with its more advanced features and how they help you organise data? And while many of us are back in the office, online meetings and video conferencing remains common in the workplace, so it’s important to be across these platforms and to be able to provide support to others if needed.
Looking to brush up your administration skills? How about trying one or more of these courses?
- Diplomacy and Influence in the Workplace
- Time Management: Get Organised for Peak Performance
- Taking Excel Further: Advanced
- The Minute Taker’s Workshop
- Business Writing That Works
- Business English: Speaking for Professionals