Administrative Assistant Job Description and Skills

Administrative Assistant Job Description and Skills

Administrative assistant job description: what the role involves, the skills and competencies to assess when hiring, and how to test candidates.

Administrative


6

mins

Administrative Assistant Job Description and Skills

Administrative assistant job description: what the role involves, the skills and competencies to assess when hiring, and how to test candidates.

Administrative


6

mins

/

Support Assistant

About the role

A Support Assistant job description covers answering staff queries, distributing mail, maintaining records, and managing office supplies and vendor contacts. The role keeps departments running smoothly by keeping information, materials, and vendor relationships organized and reliable. Hiring managers should assess administrative support, written and verbal communication, time management, and AI fluency.

A Support Assistant handles day-to-day administrative work for staff and visitors, working with different departments across the organization. The role is also called Administrative Assistant or Office Admin Assistant. Core duties include:

  • Support. Responding to queries, distributing mail, and providing general support to staff.

  • Records. Organizing, scheduling, and updating records and databases, and assisting with regularly scheduled reports.

  • Supplies. Managing office supplies and liaising with vendors.

What are the essential Support Assistant skills?

The essential skills are administrative support, written and verbal communication, time management and multitasking, Microsoft Office proficiency, and AI fluency.

Skill

Why it matters

Bryq assessment and level

Administrative support

Scheduling, records, mail, and supplies are the core of the job.

Administrative Support (intermediate)

Written and verbal communication

Staff queries and vendor contacts depend on clear messages.

Interpersonal Skills (intermediate)

Time management and multitasking

Many small tasks compete for attention each day.

Time Management (intermediate)

Microsoft Office proficiency (Word, Excel, PowerPoint)

Documents, records, and reports are built in these tools.

Microsoft Office (intermediate)

AI Fluency

AI tools now support routine administrative tasks.

AI Fluency (functional)

The core of the job is scheduling, updating records and databases, distributing mail, and managing supplies. Communication ties this work together, because the Support Assistant answers staff queries and liaises with vendors. Time management keeps many small tasks on track.

Levels are a starting point. Bryq lets you set the level each role needs.

Which nice-to-have skills help a Support Assistant stand out?

Customer service, email and calendar management, spreadsheet data maintenance and reporting, and vendor liaison and relationship building add value but are not needed on day one.

  • Customer service. Helps when serving staff and visitors.

  • Email and calendar management. Speeds up daily handling of messages and schedules.

  • Spreadsheet data maintenance and reporting. Supports recurring reports and clean records.

  • Vendor liaison and relationship building. Keeps supply orders and vendor contacts running well.

Use these skills as tie-breakers between candidates who are equally strong on the essentials. Never screen out candidates who can learn them on the job.

Which competencies predict success as a Support Assistant?

The essential competencies are Communication and Empathy.

  • Communication. Central to answering queries and coordinating across departments.

  • Empathy. Brings a warm, helpful manner to staff and visitors.

Optional competencies are Learning Agility, which helps with new systems and processes, and Leadership Potential, which shows who may later guide others.

What AI skills does a Support Assistant need?

A Support Assistant should use AI fluency to draft, summarize, and organize routine office work safely and accurately.

AI writing and summarization tools are increasingly used for routine administrative tasks, so staff should prompt them well and check the outputs. Confidential staff and visitor information requires careful and safe use, and unchecked AI output can introduce errors in emails and records.

  • Drafting. Drafting and polishing routine emails, notices, and replies to staff queries, then reviewing them for accuracy and tone.

  • Summarizing. Summarizing meeting notes and turning them into action lists or draft sections of regularly scheduled reports.

  • Records and vendors. Using AI to clean up, categorize, and check records or spreadsheet entries and to compare vendor quotes for supply orders.

How do you assess Support Assistant candidates with Bryq?

Bryq measures all the essential skills and traits for a Support Assistant in one integrated candidate profile: cognitive ability, personality traits, soft and hard skills, including AI fluency. Bryq builds an ideal profile for the role and matches candidates against it.

All Bryq assessments are validated by I/O psychologists. Profile Fit is independently bias-audited under New York City Local Law 144 (code4thought, April 2026). The AI Fluency Assessment is built on peer-reviewed and subject-matter expert research. A person makes every hiring decision.

Support Assistant (Administrative Assistant) job description template

Copy and paste this template, then replace the text in square brackets. To write or rewrite your own, use Bryq’s free job description AI skill, which works in Claude, ChatGPT and Copilot.

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Support Assistant

About [Company name]

[Add a short description of your company.]

About the role

We are looking for a Support Assistant to join our administrative team and support staff and visitors day to day. You will work with different departments and handle a variety of administrative tasks. Your work keeps information, materials, and vendor relationships organized and reliable.

Responsibilities

  • Respond to queries, distribute mail, and provide general support to staff.

  • Organize and schedule work, and update records and databases as required.

  • Assist in preparing regularly scheduled reports.

  • Manage office supplies and liaise with vendors.

  • Provide excellent customer service to staff and visitors.

Qualifications

  • Proven experience as a Support Assistant, Administrative Assistant, or Office Admin Assistant.

  • Excellent written and verbal communication skills.

  • Strong organizational skills with the ability to multitask.

  • Proficiency in MS Office, in particular Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.

  • High school degree.

  • Additional qualifications as an Administrative Assistant or Secretary are a plus.

Skills and competencies we look for

  • Administrative support, including scheduling, records, mail, and supplies

  • Clear written and verbal communication

  • Time management and the ability to multitask

  • Microsoft Office skills in Word, Excel, and PowerPoint

  • Comfort using AI tools safely and accurately in everyday work

  • Communication and empathy when serving staff and visitors

Working with AI

  • Use AI to draft and polish routine emails and notices, then review them for accuracy and tone.

  • Use AI to summarize meeting notes, check records, and compare vendor quotes, and verify the output before relying on it.

What we offer

  • [Salary range]

  • [Benefits]

  • [Work location and arrangement]

Equal opportunity

[Add your equal opportunity statement.]

Frequently asked questions

A support assistant needs administrative support, written and verbal communication, time management and multitasking, Microsoft Office proficiency, and AI fluency.
Communication and empathy matter most. They help the role answer staff queries, work across departments, and serve visitors with a warm, helpful manner.
AI tools are increasingly used to draft emails, summarize notes, and check records. Support assistants should prompt them well, check the output, and protect confidential information.
Bryq combines Profile Fit with skills assessments for administrative support, communication, time management, Microsoft Office, and AI fluency. It matches candidates against the ideal profile for the role.
No. Customer service, Outlook, and deeper Excel skills add value but are not required at entry. Use them as tie-breakers between equally strong candidates.
A support assistant needs administrative support, written and verbal communication, time management and multitasking, Microsoft Office proficiency, and AI fluency.
Communication and empathy matter most. They help the role answer staff queries, work across departments, and serve visitors with a warm, helpful manner.
AI tools are increasingly used to draft emails, summarize notes, and check records. Support assistants should prompt them well, check the output, and protect confidential information.
Bryq combines Profile Fit with skills assessments for administrative support, communication, time management, Microsoft Office, and AI fluency. It matches candidates against the ideal profile for the role.
No. Customer service, Outlook, and deeper Excel skills add value but are not required at entry. Use them as tie-breakers between equally strong candidates.
A support assistant needs administrative support, written and verbal communication, time management and multitasking, Microsoft Office proficiency, and AI fluency.
Communication and empathy matter most. They help the role answer staff queries, work across departments, and serve visitors with a warm, helpful manner.
AI tools are increasingly used to draft emails, summarize notes, and check records. Support assistants should prompt them well, check the output, and protect confidential information.
Bryq combines Profile Fit with skills assessments for administrative support, communication, time management, Microsoft Office, and AI fluency. It matches candidates against the ideal profile for the role.
No. Customer service, Outlook, and deeper Excel skills add value but are not required at entry. Use them as tie-breakers between equally strong candidates.

You can explore more job profiles on Bryq.

Assess your next Support Assistant with Bryq

Book a demo to see how Bryq helps you assess skills, competencies, and AI fluency for every Support Assistant candidate.

Author

The Bryq I/O Team

Bryq’s I/O Psychology Team is a group of industrial-organizational psychologists who design and validate the science behind our assessments. They write about what research says on hiring, skills, personality, and performance, and how HR leaders can apply it to make fairer, evidence-based decisions.

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