Published Date: 26th April 2023.
Administrative Professionals Week, which runs from 23-29 April, is an opportunity for us to celebrate and recognise the hard work of administrative employees around the world. Here at Beyond Recruitment, we know & understand the vital role played by Executive and Personal Assistants, Administrators, Data Entry professionals and Receptionists to assist in the smooth running of the business.
Administrative and customer support roles are often the engine that keeps an organisation running. Your contribution to process efficiencies, maintaining the status quo and adding untold value to day-to-day operations is immense.
And in these busy roles, we know there is never a dull moment! Within our own National Corporate Support Team at Beyond Recruitment, efficiency is key. We are extremely busy and without this essential skill the team would struggle to keep up with the fast-paced nature of the business.
So, we wanted to share our experiences and help ensure Administrative and Business & Corporate Support professionals continue to thrive!
A Willingness to Acquire Knowledge
A key skill as an administrative professional is embracing change and being willing to learn new processes and systems. This helps not only in your own professional learning and development, but also provides the opportunity to implement new ideas that improve productivity.
From a recruitment perspective, future employers are always looking for examples of how candidates have made real impact on behalf of their business. By constantly keeping up with new systems and technological advancements, and showing an ability to adapt to change, administrative professionals are also setting up their own future careers.
Listening Closely
Active listening is a key skill for anyone and the best way to absorb information. In a busy work environment, it can be all too easy for briefs to be misinterpreted or for administrative professionals to not have time to ask follow-up questions.
Make sure you’re clear if you don’t understand the instructions. You’ll end up saving yourself, and your supervisor, a lot of time and frustration.
Taking Time to Read Instructions
Read emails closely and take a step back to really understand what is required before taking any action. This can be difficult with so many emails coming into your inbox, but unfortunately, we can all be prone to skim-reading a task and then realising there is a key detail missing afterwards.
As with our tips above, make sure you’re 100% clear on what is being asked and take a moment to clarify with any questions.
Being Well Organised to Help Productivity
Being organised is a key element to driving efficiency and help productivity. We suggest establishing systems and processes for repeat tasks so you can deal with high volumes in an effective manner. Consistency can be key here too, so you could look at creating templates to streamline tasks you receive regularly e.g. meeting requests, diary management, data entry input.
Play around with different tools that can help you manage and prioritise your task list. This could be within your email system, writing a “to do” list on a notebook or using a task management tool.
Communicating Clearly
Communication and collaboration is key for a team to deliver effectively to the business. As an administrative professional, it’s important to communicate clearly and concisely within your team and to the broader team and stakeholders across the company.
This extends to written communications, so try to ensure your emails are carefully constructed so that they are clear and easy to read. If they flow well, people will want to read them and will easily understand what is required.
Working Smarter
Continually reviewing the way you work and looking for efficiencies is the best way to work smarter. You should never feel stagnant and instead be ever changing. When you are working smarter, you improve efficiency and you are able to drive a higher level of productivity from the same amount of input – or even less.
Taking Care of Yourself
Managing your mental health is critical to your overall wellbeing. Make sure you take regular breaks away from your screen, stretch your body and get in some steps by walking around the office or pop outside.
Making sure you eat well throughout the day also contributes to your mental and physical health, so prioritise a proper lunch break regardless of how busy you are. Try to stay away from the vending machine, and instead focus on fresh wholefoods when possible.
How Do You Stay Efficient?
Are you working as efficiently as you can – we would be interested to hear what else you might suggest to ensure you are working smarter and as efficiently as you can possibly be.
If you’re an administrative professional, we’d like to take this opportunity to say Happy Administrative Professionals Week. Thanks for all the effort and dedication you put into your work – it doesn’t go unnoticed and truly makes a difference.
If you would like to learn more about how Beyond Recruitment can help you to find a new Administrative or Business & Corporate Support role, get in touch with the team today. Our specialist team of Recruiters can talk you through the roles currently available and help you plan out your next step.
