Staff Assistant interview questions and answers
Use these sample Staff Assistant interview questions to test candidates’ administrative skills and hire the best people for your open roles.
Staff Assistant Interview Questions
Staff Assistants provide administrative support to a company’s employees. They organize, maintain and retrieve company data and assist with a range of projects.
Candidates for this role should have solid understanding of basic company procedures, like inputting a new hire’s information into company databases and arranging travel and accommodations. Previous experience in administrative roles will give candidates an advantage, as they’re likely to require less training (e.g. on office equipment use.)
The Staff Assistant handles paperwork and maintains a large number of records, so look for highly organized people who have a keen attention to detail. The best candidates will be able to work under minimum supervision and prioritize the most important tasks. They’ll also be good team players and happy to help as needed, since they’ll work on multiple projects with employees from various teams.
Operational and Situational questions
- You booked a venue for a company conference, but a day before the event, you learn that there has been a mix-up and it’s not available. What do you do?
- What information would you ask for from new hires in order to update the company’s employee records?
- If you have no specific deadlines, how do you prioritize work from different departments?
- Your manager assigns you with a task you’re not familiar with and doesn’t give you clear instructions. How would you approach this?
Role-specific questions
- What’s your experience with office equipment? (e.g. printers, scanners and fax machines)
- How do you keep digital and physical records organized and how often do you update them?
- How do you organize your daily workload? Which time management and/or calendar tools do you use, if any?
- How do you create a report on expenditures in Excel?
- How do you check your data-entry work for accuracy?
Behavioral questions
- Have you ever been on a team with a difficult coworker? Tell us about the situation. How did you handle it?
- Describe a time you helped complete a project before its due date and under budget.
- What keeps you motivated during repetitive tasks?
- During a project, do you prefer working on a team or individually? Why?