How To Hire Administration Staff

Hiring employees who have the talent and drive to deliver excellence in their roles is crucial for maintaining a healthy company. When your business needs to hire administration staff, your want to hire employees who are highly reliable and skilled because these individuals handle a vast portfolio of tasks, from filing to handling customer complaints and even arranging travel for the CEO. Recruit poor job candidates, and the glue that holds your business together can fail, leaving you on the wrong side of compliance or witnessing falling motivation.

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However, you can’t spend forever finding the perfect job seeker, nor can you blow your annual recruitment budget hiring the first employee of the year. To avoid recruitment woes, you need to deploy effective recruitment solutions appropriate to your business and industry. This is the focus of our administration staff hiring guide, where we discuss:

Preparing To Recruit Administration Staff: Your Employer Brand & Company Careers Page
Writing An Administration Job Description & Job Advert
How To Hire All Administration Jobs
Advertising Your Admin Department Positions: Referral Schemes, Social Media, & Job Boards
Reducing Administration Staff Hiring Costs And Time: Recruitment Companies & ATS
Screening Job Seekers & Conducting Interviews
Presenting A Job Offer & Onboarding Administration Staff

Preparing To Recruit Administration Staff: Your Employer Brand & Company Careers Page

Before you begin to advertise externally for administration staff, you should review all your existing candidate touchpoints to ensure you are promoting a positive employer brand. You will ultimately only secure the best candidates if you show that you are a highly desirable employer where quality candidates will want to work.

The initial step is to consider how you portray your company culture, company values, and your business success, along with other elements such as supporting further training and career development. In our Guide On How To Hire, we explore deeper the topics of Why Should SMEs Build An Employer Brand and What Should Be On A Company Careers Page.

Writing An Administration Job Description & Job Advert

Updating The Previous Version Of Your Administration Job Description

You can only write an accurate job description and job advert once you have examined your business’s administration needs. It will make a big difference in the long run if you speak to key decision makers in the hiring process, including the position’s line manager:

Administration Job Descriptions

Writing a job description for an administration role will help your hiring manager save time and speed up the recruitment process. The best practice is to have one on file for all company positions, which can be quickly updated and used to create job postings whenever recruitment needs arise.

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For Search Engine Optimisation, it is a good practice to integrate keywords and key phrases that top candidates might search for in a search engine. The job specification should have a clear message to attract the most suitable candidates. It also helps to refrain from using excessive punctuation and too much industry jargon.

When writing a job description for administration staff, consider:

Identifying and outlining typical company-wide requirements
Collating today’s minimum technical skills, qualifications, and experience
Reviewing what your competitors are saying when they post jobs
What your new hires should look like
How you want your brand to be perceived

Our Job Description Templates can help you get started; we appreciate writing this content can be a challenge. You can discover the most popular Administration Job Descriptions here.

Further useful resources include How To Define What People Do In Their Jobs, Preparing Job Descriptions, and Key Roles And Responsibilities In Administration.

Administration Job Adverts

Your admin job descriptions form the basis of your new job ad. There are other things to add to attract the perfect candidate with appropriate skills, so ensure your admin job ad includes:

An accurate job title – office administrator, executive assistant, office manager, receptionist, secretary, etc
An opening statement – saying why applicants will want to work for your company
The job’s description
A list of responsibilities – drafting letters, filing, data entry, booking travel arrangements, office visitor support, purchasing office supplies, etc
Qualifications, personality traits, working knowledge and specific skills – T Level in Management and Administration, Level 2 or 3 Business and Administration, Level 2 International Computer Driving Licence Certificate in IT User Skills, communication, organisation, etc
Job location – office-based or remote
Salary range and employee benefits – check the average salary for all admin jobs
Next steps – potential candidates should email xxx or apply via your careers page

We recommend that medium and small businesses use a job advert template to get down the basics and then fill in more detail on the unique aspects of your company, team, jobs, and ideal candidate.

How To Hire All Administration Jobs

HOW TO HIRE AN OFFICE MANAGER

To hire an Office Manager, create a job description that describes the office’s size and nature, including the team’s make-up. The Job advertising should mention enticing duties such as hiring, training, and coaching staff, providing motivation, ensuring daily tasks are completed, overseeing budgets, and ensuring all actions align with company goals.

To hire employees that are a good fit, state your must-haves, including a degree in business administration or previous leadership experience.

Office Manager Job Description Example

Post An Office Manager Job

HOW TO HIRE AN ADMINISTRATOR

To hire an Administrator, create a text that explains the company’s focus, mission, and values. Administrative duties that will attract candidates include operating as a first point of contact for customers, face-to-face, over the phone, or via email. Further responsibilities include supporting the management team, filing or retrieving documents, and data entry.

Often a role that doesn’t require qualifications, a good standard of English and numeracy are necessary. Communication skills and previous experience are a definite advantage.

Administrator Job Description Example

Post An Administrator Job

HOW TO HIRE AN EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT

To hire an Executive Assistant, you should define if the role supports one or several executives and add a summary of your company story. AResponsibilities that will encourage applications include greeting visitors, conducting research for reports and presentations, taking meetings minutes, and organising the executive’s travel arrangements.

Your candidate profile might ask for expertise in problem-solving, organisation, and Microsoft Office, with good interpersonal skills and attention to detail.

Executive Assistant Job Description Example

Post An Executive Assistant Job

HOW TO HIRE AN OFFICE SUPERVISOR

To hire an Office Supervisor, discuss the business and office operations, the number of subordinates, and the office’s objectives. Your person specification might denote a detail-orientated individual with Word and Excel proficiency and a positive attitude.

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Job duties that draw candidates include supervising junior staff and delivering training and guidance, preparing business reports, ensuring all office actions are completed, running meetings, ordering inventory, and working closely with office managers.

Office Supervisor Job Description Example

Post An Office Supervisor Job

HOW TO HIRE AN ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT

To hire an Administrative Assistant, describe your office culture and business sector. Define the prospect’s responsibilities, such as answering telephone calls, responding to emails, creating reports, preparing presentations, and supporting colleagues and managers with clerical tasks.

To ensure candidates are a good match, list the individual’s desirable traits, such as good typing skills and attention to detail.

Administrative Assistant Job Description Example

Post An Administrative Assistant Job

HOW TO HIRE A RECEPTIONIST

To hire a Receptionist, write a job description that summarises all tasks and responsibilities. Duties that might encourage someone to apply include scheduling appointments, fielding incoming calls, greeting and directing visitors, tasking messages, and completing general administrative tasks.

Your applicant requirements might include excellent written and verbal communication skills, punctuality, attention to detail, and strong Microsoft Office skills.

Receptionist Job Description Example

Post A Receptionist Job

HOW TO HIRE A SECRETARY

To hire a Secretary, you should clarify if the new employee will support one or several managers or a team. Stating the business’s purpose may stimulate interest, and qualified candidates are more likely to apply when a salary range is included.

Secretarial duties include answering phone calls, scheduling meetings, document printing, welcoming office visitors, maintaining business calendars, and making travel arrangements for executives and managers.

Secretary Job Description Example

Post A Secretary Job

HOW TO HIRE AN ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICES MANAGER

To hire an Administrative Services Manager, it will help to define the team and its goals and objectives. A compelling job description will include responsibilities like working with HR to hire and train new employees, establishing office controls and best practices, supervising employees, optimising office efficiency, and scheduling or attending meetings.

You may ask for job candidates with previous management or supervisory experience. A proven track record and achievements on received CVs can be a clue to which individual to hire.

Administrative Services Manager Job Description Example

Post An Administrative Services Manager Job

HOW TO HIRE AN ACCOUNTING ASSISTANT

To hire an Accounting Assistant, relay your company culture and the benefits of working for your finance or accounting department. Your job advertising should define the applicant’s duties, including monitoring budgets, reconciling invoices, collecting due payments, data entry, and report creation.

Accuracy, numeracy, and multitasking are desirable accounting skills, and a relevant diploma or degree is often preferred or essential.

Accounting Assistant Job Description Example

Post An Accounting Assistant Job

HOW TO HIRE AN OFFICE ADMINISTRATOR

To hire an Office Administrator, your job ad should create a picture of the office and quoting training and development opportunities can increase applicant numbers. A link to your career page or social media provides opportunities for interested professionals to discover more.

Office administrator tasks include coordinating calendars, arranging meetings, ordering supplies and office equipment, drafting emails and letters, and entering data into documents and spreadsheets.

Office Administrator Job Description Example

Post An Office Administrator Job

HOW TO HIRE AN ADMIN

To hire an Admin, begin by summarising your business and explain why an applicant would choose to work for your firm. A general admin job will require excellent computer skills, attention to detail, and good communication and teamwork.

Admin responsibilities include ordering equipment and supplies, scheduling meetings, answering phone calls and emails, bookkeeping, and preparing documents.

Admin Job Description Example

Post An Admin Job

Advertising Your Admin Department Positions: Referral Schemes, Social Media, & Job Boards

Advertising To Attract The Best Candidate

With your job ad in hand, you are ready to find your new staff. Your recruitment strategy might include posting your jobs:

Internally (Employee Referral Schemes)

A non-incentivised or incentivised employee referral scheme is extremely valuable when you want to hire an administrator. You will turn your existing staff into motivated recruiters, sharing that you are hiring a new employees across their social and professional networks and with other contacts(LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter).

Employee referral schemes often bring in promising candidates, with your team’s connections including like-minded professionals and industry contacts. To engage this business hiring strategy, share your job descriptions with your team and reward referrals from existing employees.

You can discover a few tips on employee referral schemes by reading Introducing An Employee Referral Scheme.

On Social Media

Hiring an accountant through social networking sites is effective, with free and paid advertising options. The best tips for success include ensuring your social network messaging is consistent with your employer brand and conveys a positive image. An active social media channel is helpful if you want to build a talent pool waiting for an opportunity to join your organisation. Recommended activity includes posting news, expert opinions, updates, and industry insights.

Our tips and advice for implementing a successful social media hiring strategy include:

Marketing yourself first
Joining industry networks and groups
Engaging with respondents and nurturing discussions
Using advanced search tools and Recruiter Lite on LinkedIn
Using Twitter’s advanced search tool and direct messaging
Building activity on your company’s Facebook page and encouraging engagement from current employees, turning them into business advocates

We explore finding qualified employees through social media further in our articles Social Media Hiring Strategies For SMEs and Job Advertising On Social Media.

On Job Boards

Whether your new hire is your first hire or your hundredth, advertising on the top job boards is essential if you want to be hiring the right candidates in an acceptable timeframe. You can post admin jobs on one job board, or many using an Applicant Tracking System. Job board resellers help you advertise your administration job across multiple general, geographical, and niche job sites using their integrated ATS software, minimising the hassle and time of developing leads and hiring a good worker.

Top Job Boards:

Niche Job Sites:

Aggregator Job Sites:

Geographical Job Sites:

You can advertise your job on these job boards today.

Reducing Administration Staff Hiring Costs And Time: Recruitment Companies & ATS

Reducing Hiring Costs For Job Advertising New Projects

Budgets, deadlines, and administration require careful consideration whenever you instigate the recruitment process. To get the best results, you may decide to work with a recruitment agency with a UK wide focus, a global recruitment partner, or niche recruitment agencies.

We discuss agency fees and recruiters in these two articles; How To Avoid High Recruitment Agency Fees and The Pros And Cons Of Having A Recruiter On Retainer.

Fixed Cost Recruitment

Fixed-cost recruitment allows you to hire at a flat fee governed by the level of service and functionality you desire.

The success of fixed-cost recruitment depends on the company offering the service, the methodologies they deploy, and their expertise and knowledge of your industry or sector. You will need to determine which actions you need assistance with to use flat-fee recruitment successfully.

Four steps to leveraging fixed cost recruitment to hire administration staff:

Place ads across leading job boards
Search CV databases and social media channels
Headhunt and shortlist new candidates
Receive interviewed and qualified candidates

Useful resources:

Applicant Tracking Systems

Automatic Tracking Systems can significantly reduce the costs of hiring administration staff by creating efficiency. Candidate, vacancy, and advert management fall within the software’s parameters.

Team access creates a unified place to work, helping you build a seamless hiring process and candidate experience.

Five steps to centralising recruitment with ATS:

Find staff online
Review candidate scores
Distribute personalised messages to a large candidate pool
Automate responses
Direct candidates to application forms

To explore all the features and benefits of Automatic Tracking Systems, read Centralising Recruitment With ATS.

Screening Job Seekers & Conducting Interviews

Screening And Interviewing Administration Staff

Before your interview process commences, you need to shortlist applicants by reviewing their CVs or resumes. Indications that you have an admin candidate worth interviewing include:

Quantifiable evidence of past achievements and skills
The individual has steady career progression
The candidate is not job-hopping
The CV is free from spelling and grammatical errors
The candidate has the relevant experience, knowledge of admin principles, and specific skills to meet the job requirements

Decision-makers and hiring managers need to be prepared to deliver a consistent interview experience. It helps to ask the same interview questions to each prospect, to aid candidate scoring. Ensure anyone who has candidate contact is on the same page and understands the brand’s vision, values and opportunities. Interviews should be challenging, supportive, positive, and engaging.

Video interviews are an increasingly popular recruitment solution, saving on resources and speeding up the recruitment process. Video sharing, shortlisting, and feedback from hiring and line managers ultimately generate more successful outcomes. If your firm has not conducted a video interview before, read How To Conduct A Remote Interview.

Our article Defining Your Interview Process, discusses interview questions, avoiding unconscious bias & other employment law issues, and interviewing tips.

Presenting A Job Offer & Onboarding Administration Staff

When you have finished interviewing candidates and believe you have the right person for your admin role, you will need to present an offer and onboard the part or full time employees:

Making An Employment Offer

The process of presenting the offer to administration professionals varies depending on what has occurred before. If you don’t already understand the individual’s current earnings, expectations are better managed over the phone. Phone offers should be confident but be prepared to make changes if the individual’s circumstances have changed. Reaffirm that the candidate is happy with the offer, clarify their acceptance, and proceed to a formal written offer, in the same way you would for any company employees.

A formal offer letter from your firm can be conditional (dependent on a background check, etc) or unconditional and should include:

Job title
Candidate name
Your conditions – i.e., this offer is made subject to…
Official start date, time, and location
Probationary period
Offer terms
Candidate actions and acceptance instructions – i.e., signed copy of job offer
Terms and conditions of employment (issued within two months of the start date)

You can read further on Presenting A Job Offer here.

Onboarding Admin Staff

The onboarding process should support the worker as they become part of your team.

Actions for onboarding administration staff might include:

Creating an employer identification number
Presenting the individual with an employee handbook
An office tour, introducing the person to their manager, team, and senior executives
Informing the person of the communication methods and exactly what type of software to use in the new role
Presenting clear responsibilities and duties
Defining new role expectations, standards, and performance indicators
Gathering feedback from new staff

How To Recruit Administration Staff FAQs

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Here we answer your admin hiring questions.

Where can I advertise jobs?

Hiring managers can post jobs on/in:

1. General job boards
2. Niche job boards
3. Geographical job boards
4. Local newspapers
5. Social networking sites

What are the steps in the hiring process?

Hiring process steps include:

1. Assess admin needs and write a job description and advert
2. Leverage social networks and staff referrals
3. Post jobs on job boards
4. Use a fixed cost recruitment strategy
5. Present an employment offer

Why is company culture important?

Employees want to work for companies with the same values and beliefs.

How To Hire Administration Staff

Preparing To Recruit Administration Staff: Your Employer Brand & Company Careers Page