Administrative Assistant test
Summary of the Administrative Assistant test
This Administrative Assistant test evaluates a candidate’s skills and ability to support your business, organize processes, and handle communications between various stakeholders. It helps you recruit talented administrative assistants who increase your company’s day-to-day efficiency and organization.
Covered skills
Verbal reasoning and written communication
Organization and time management skills
Attention to detail
Problem-solving and critical thinking
Reading comprehension
Business acumen
Use the Administrative Assistant test to hire
Administrative assistants, executive administrative assistants, project coordinators, team support, HR assistants, secretaries, customer service representatives, and office managers.
About the Administrative Assistant test
The Administrative Assistant test gauges a candidate’s ability to communicate with internal and external stakeholders, manage their time, and organize workloads. The test also appraises their attention to detail and problem-solving ability through critical and independent thinking skills.
Skilled administrative assistants ensure your teams work together effectively and maintain consistent communication channels. They also uphold internal business processes and make sure staff adheres to organizational best practices.
Our administrative assistant skills test helps you leave resumes behind and make objective, data-driven hiring decisions. Look forward to hiring keen administrative assistants who can support your organization, improve your processes, and enhance productivity.
Our admin assistant skills assessment assesses abilities in these key areas:
Organization: Review how a candidate handles physical organization, such as documents and files, as well as personal organization, like time management
Communication: Measure how well an applicant communicates with stakeholders and teammates, including how they express themselves and comprehend others
Accuracy: Assess a candidate’s attention to detail, analytical skills, and ability to maintain error-free records
Business acumen: Evaluate an applicant’s knowledge of professional practices, such as how to take notes, when to send an email, when to discuss an issue, and how to navigate company culture and internal hierarchies
Check out our administrative assistant practice test for an actionable example of the main types of pre-interview questions candidates face during the hiring process.
The test is made by a subject-matter expert
TestGorilla’s tests are created by subject matter experts. We assess potential subject-matter experts based on their knowledge, ability, and reputation.Before being published, each test is peer-reviewed by another expert, then calibrated using hundreds of test takers with relevant experience in the subject.
Our feedback mechanisms and unique algorithms allow our subject-matter experts to constantly improve their tests.
Liam K.
Research Director and Program Evaluator Liam has spent 15 years in leading administrative roles, working for 13 companies across 12 sectors including fundraising and development, fintech, recruitment, not-for-profit organizations, research, higher education, and museums and heritage.
Liam has been described as a Swiss army knife of skills and experiences, bringing the analytical skills developed during his PhD to help companies find that extra organizational edge.
Reliability: Cronbach’s alpha coefficient = .62
Face validity: Candidates rated this test as accurately measuring their skills (average score of 4.05 out of 5.00).
Criterion-related validity: Candidates with higher scores on this test received higher average ratings from the hiring team during the selection process (r = .23, N = 646).
For an in-depth look at interpreting test results, please take a look at our Science series articles: How to interpret test fact sheets (part 1): Reliability, and How to interpret test fact sheets (part 2): Validity.
For an explanation of the various terms, please refer to our Science glossary.
Reliability and validity | Sufficient data available | Analyses and checks conducted | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|
Reliability | ✔ | ✔ | Acceptable |
Content validity | ✔ | ✔ | Acceptable |
Face validity | ✔ | ✔ | Acceptable |
Construct validity | ✔ | ✔ | Acceptable |
Criterion-related validity | ✔ | ✔ | Acceptable |
Group differences | |||
Age differences | Pending | Pending | Pending |
Gender differences | ✔ | ✔ | Acceptable |
Ethnicity differences | Pending | Pending | Pending |
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Why are general administrative skills important to employers?
Administrative skills like organization, communication, and accuracy help your business operate smoothly.
Employees with solid admin skills manage schedules neatly and keep dates in sync to increase efficiency and avoid calendar clashes that cause delays and strained relationships. They also handle document management, ensuring you have a paper trail.
Administrative assistants are the foundation of an efficient office, supplying their organizations with a mixture of hard skills and impactful interpersonal skills. For example, strong empathy and cultural alignment help them understand situational appropriateness during high-stakes meetings or internal conflicts between stakeholders.
Using an administrative assistant assessment test shows you these skills first-hand. Candidates may write “Expert organization” on their resumes, but you can’t prove they can communicate clearly or manage sensitive situations without data-driven tests.
Click&Boat, an online boat rental company, knew this when it adopted TestGorilla talent assessments. It now uses skills tests to hire customer care agents, an administrative-heavy role. This results in employees who are 30% more productive than the rest of the team and experts in boosting customer satisfaction.
What job roles can you hire with our Administrative Assistant skills test?
Our administrative clerk test discovers sharp admin hard and soft skills for a wide variety of administrative roles:
Administrative assistants: Administrative assistants use a mixture of interpersonal and software skills to handle complex databases and communicate with important stakeholders. This enables managers and leaders to focus on growing the business.
Executive administrative assistants: Precise organizational skills and communication let executive assistants assist with meetings, messages, and travel arrangements for key company executives.
Secretaries: Attention to detail and reading comprehension enable secretaries to use office software to process accurate forms, keep inventory of essential supplies, and manage business reports
Project coordinators: Administrative tests show how well project coordinators monitor project management and progress, write reports, and schedule important project meetings.
Team support staff: Team support members perform many administrative duties, such as handling paperwork and providing customer support, using a mixture of problem-solving, attention to detail, and interpersonal skills.
HR assistants: Strong organization and communication enable HR assistants to manage new hires, schedule appointments, and maintain employee records
Customer service representatives: Business competency helps customer-facing roles process orders, solve complex problems, and answer customer questions.
Office managers: Their administrative abilities enable them to manage administrative systems, implement business processes, and coordinate work between departments.
Create a multi-measure assessment: 4 tests to pair with the Administrative Assistant test
A well-designed Administrative assistant examination should gauge a variety of skills and traits. This is called multi-measure testing, and it’s why we allow up to five multiple-choice tests in one assessment.
Pair our admin assistant test with the following four tests to get a holistic view of candidates’ knowledge and hire better employees:
Attention to Detail test: Measure a candidate’s ability to filter information, check for consistency, and compare statements. Admin professionals must regularly process reports and manage databases, making this ability vital.
Communication test: Evaluate how a job seeker uses professional, clear communication skills. Our skill test for administrative assistants gauges this on a basic level, but it’s a good idea to assess it in more detail separately.
Microsoft Excel test: Review how an applicant manages and analyzes data in Microsoft Office Excel spreadsheets. This computer skill is considered a foundational admin skill. Also, consider adding the Microsoft Word test.
Culture Add test: Discover alignment between a candidate’s values and your company’s while encouraging fresh perspectives and behaviors. It is key to an administrative assistant’s ability to apply business practices and react appropriately.
FAQs
View a sample report
The Administrative Assistant test will be included in a PDF report along with the other tests from your assessment. You can easily download and share this report with colleagues and candidates.
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