The key skills needed for admin roles in 2021

Administrative roles form the backbone of businesses, so establishing yourself as an effective and reliable admin professional will take you far in your career. As hiring for these roles continues, we’re sharing the most in-demand admin skills for the year ahead, along with prompts to get you thinking about how you can demonstrate these to future employers.

Excellent communication skills have never been more essential. You’ll be expected to have sterling written communication – you need to be comfortable in dealing with a range of written correspondence and express yourself clearly, with no room for misinterpretation. Strong verbal communication is also crucial, and that level of importance has only been highlighted while teams have been working remotely. Although people are feeling Zoom-ed out, it will sometimes be necessary to speak up on a group call, so practice speaking succinctly to ensure that you’re being heard and understood.

What examples can you draw on that demonstrate your great communication skills? How did those skills make a difference in those situations?

In an admin role, you’ll likely be managing multiple tasks at once, with varying priorities and competing deadlines. Being organised not only concerns keeping on top of your workload, but also ensuring that systems are orderly too, meaning you’ll need to keep calendars up-to-date, archive emails appropriately and save documents in a logical way. You might create a daily to-do list to keep yourself on track or set up recurring reminders on dates you need to process invoices, for example.

When have your organisational skills been put to the test and how did they help you pull through a challenging period?

It goes without saying that to fulfil your job requirements, you’ll need to be adept at using Microsoft Office or similar suites. Experience with systems that are common to businesses, like customer relationship management systems, will help too, so that employers can count on you to hit the ground running in a new role. The last year has forced companies to introduce new kinds of technology, so if you’re a quick learner and consider yourself to be technologically savvy, that could really help you to stand out from the competition in 2021.

Come up with three recent cases of using technology effectively, or suggestions you’ve proposed to improve a company’s technological capabilities.

Admin employees are heavily relied on, as they form the foundation of any business – they keep the cogs of the wheel turning. With that in mind, consider the extent to which your colleagues depend on you to get things done. You’ll show your value as a dependable character if you keep calm under pressure, remain unflappable when problems need to be solved, and can be trusted as a safe pair of hands.

Listen out for colleagues’ appreciation of your work in the form of verbal feedback, but better still, keep a record of any emails that sing your praises. Asking a trusted colleague to write you a LinkedIn Recommendation will demonstrate to future employers the value you can offer.

If you’re ready to start a new admin role, Brook Street is here to help. With offices spread throughout the country, we have hundreds of temporary and permanent admin job opportunities available across a range of industries. Our experienced consultants are on hand to match your experience and skillset with suitable roles.

View all our job opportunities and apply for a role today.