Passing a job interview is the most crucial part of anyone’s career. Ambiguity about the possible questions from the interviewer can be even more troublesome for the applicants. If you are pursuing a job in the Administrative Manager position and do not know about the most probable questions in the interview, you are at the right place. This article will provide the most repeating questions with professional answers for the post.
1. Why Are You Interested In this Role?
After completing my graduation, I have always been searching for employment in an Administrative Manager position in a well-reputed organization that can polish my skills. During my studies and professional experience, I have worked hard to enhance my managerial skill. So, after getting the role of Administrative Manager in your office, I will be better positioned to utilize my skills to better the organization side by side, gaining experience to augment my skills further. I am sure that my services will be pretty beneficial for your company.
2. What Are The Roles Of An Administrative Manager?
An administrative manager is a person who is responsible for organizing the administration system of the office and maintaining a smooth workflow. The leading roles of an administrative manager are;
- Supervising the administration team
- Enhance the efficacy of the daily workflow of the office
- Training and team building
- Evaluation of employees
- Looking after the necessary supplies for the office
- Guiding account and finance department in compiling the budget
- Organizing and scheduling the office events
- Assigning projects to the team members and tracking the progress to ensure to meet the schedules
3. What Are the Qualities That an Administrative Manager Needs to Be Successful?
The essential qualities for a successful administrative manager include;
- Effective team building capabilities
- Good leadership qualities
- Equipped with dispute resolution strategies
- Deep and updated knowledge about administrative systems
- Managing meetings
- Building comprehensive plans
- Managing payrolls and training employees to make them capable of working for the organizational goals and objectives
4. What Major Challenges Did You Face During Your Last Role? How Did You Manage Them?
Pandemic has severely impacted each business, and the same thing happened during my last role in the company. When we started working on its physical operations after the pandemic, I felt that most employees were not working effectively in the office due to the lazy routine during work from home. Moreover, employees were not much motivated to work enthusiastically on the projects. So, streamlining the employees to the new work routine was challenging for me. However, I have made a comprehensive plan to track the performance of each employee. I have also introduced a new system of incentives to keep them motivated. In this way, I managed to get them motivated side by side completing the projects before deadlines.
5. Describe Your Daily Routine As An Administrative Manager?
As an administrative manager, my day starts at nine o clock in the morning when I arrive at the office. I begin my work by checking the schedule for the day. Then I remind the concerned employees about the scheduled meetings, seminars, and deadlines for the assigned projects. I then contact the finance and procurement departments to update my records about the budget and supplies of the office. If there is a meeting in my schedule, I attend it. In the second half of the day, I record the employees’ progress reports, and they consult me with their problems. I discuss the viable solutions with them. My day usually ends at 5 pm but depending upon the workload scenario, I sometimes leave the office at six o clock.
6. Describe Briefly About Your Experience?
During college, I worked as the assistant administrative manager in an organization. There I learned about the maintenance of files and records. After graduation, I worked with two multinational companies in the Administrative Manager position. During my job experience, I have performed various roles such as;
- The hiring of new employees
- Training of employees
- Supervising the teams and tracking the progress of each project
I remained in touch with the finance and procurement department to manage the budget and supply of these organizations.
I believe that through my extensive experience, I have gained sufficient knowledge about the role of an Administrative manager, which made me a suitable employee for any leading company.
7. What Kind Of Strategies And Mindset Are Required For This Role?
I believe that the administrative manager is a critical position in any office. An efficient administrative manager must have a mindset of problem-solving. It is also essential that a person in the role must be an excellent organizer to frame a conducive work environment. Similarly, an administrative manager must know strategies that keep the employees motivated to give better performance in the organization. Lastly, an administrative manager must adopt strategies to build confidence among the team members about each other.
8. What Is The Biggest Challenge You Foresee In This Job?
One of the biggest challenges in this job would be knowing about the behavior of each employee. As in every new environment, it took time to know about the attitude and behavior of employees so a better team could be developed. Moreover, I believe that understanding the behavior of each team member made it easy for the administrative manager to make accurate decisions in conflict resolution. However, I think that within a short span, I will conduct one on one sessions with each employee to overcome this challenge effectively.
9. How Do You Stay Motivated At Work?
Firstly, working in a management position is my passion, so I enjoy the job that keeps me motivated all the time. Secondly, higher management’s appreciation and incentives are other sources of my motivation in the office. Moreover, I rely on self-evaluation to daily assess my performance. Tracking and keeping a record of my performance has allowed me to take little steps every day to enhance my skills. So, these strategies are the primary sources of my motivation.
10. Describe A Time You Failed In This Role And The Lesson You Learned?
Last year, our team in the organization was handling numerous projects. Due to too many commitments, I could not conduct the training sessions for new employees. As a result, these employees did not complete the assigned tasks to meet the client’s deadlines. From experience, I learned that team building and proper training are crucial for a successful administrative manager. From that time onwards, I paid more attention to the training of new employees so they could handle the work more efficiently.
11. Why Do You Feel You Are Qualified for This Role?
As I have already explained, I have extensive work experience in the administrative manager position. Throughout my work experience, I have been continuously enhancing my knowledge and skills to make me a better administrator. Moreover, I have learned to handle the project under extreme pressures and deadlines, which makes me qualified for the role. While having experience of working under stress has enabled me to take on the tasks on hand in difficult times. Therefore, I believe that I have all the necessary abilities that make me a qualified candidate for this role.
12. Share with Us Your Greatest Achievement
I have achieved numerous milestones throughout my work experience. During the last three consecutive years, I have received the best employee award from the company. However, my most outstanding achievement is that I have always resolved a conflict among my team members very effectively, and my members remain satisfied with my leadership style. They have confidence in my conflict resolution capabilities and feel free to discuss their issues with me. My leadership and managerial qualities kept them motivated, and consequently, I have never failed to meet the deadlines or schedules of our work.
13. What are Your Strategies for Conflict Resolution at Workplace?
I think, in every organization, conflicts emerge based on disagreements among employees frequently. I perceive that the conflicts provide a better opportunity to take input from the team members about the job at hand. As far as my strategies to resolve the conflict are concerned, I have always adopted effective communication strategies to resolve disputes. Active listening, investigating the issue, and involvement with each party are my critical steps for conflict resolution in the organization.
14. Can You Please tell us About Your Certifications Related to the Role of Administrative Manager?
Unfortunately, I have not attained enough certifications related to the role due to my busy schedule and workload. However, I have done three introductory courses necessary for a professional administrative manager. These courses are;
- Certified Administrative Management Professional (CAMP)
- Human Resource Management Program (HRMP)
- Project Management Professional (PMP)
I have utilized the knowledge attained through these management courses at my daily duty in the office, enabling me to become an efficient administrative manager.
15. How do you Manage the Confidential Data of the Organization?
An administrative manager has numerous sensitive and confidential data of the company. As an administrative manager, I store the confidential data files in a secure locker. I do not give unauthorized individuals access to these files or my personal computer. If someone insists on getting access to the company’s confidential information, I always consult the higher management, and only upon their approval do I provide the confidential data.
16. What are Your Strategies for Handling Multiple Tasks?
For an effective administrative manager, the task organization is the most imperative element for success. I do planning on a weekly basis to prioritize the upcoming projects and tasks. Then I strictly follow the plans, with a little bit of flexibility in it. Moreover, I have purchased office scheduling software that helps me manage and organize multiple tasks on a daily basis.
17. How do You Manage Organizational Communication?
Effective communication is inevitable for building a conducive work environment in any organization. I pay keen interest in the inputs from my team members, and I always keep them updated about any decision-making about the work. Moreover, I encourage my office members to discuss their issues with me. In this way, I always try my best to manage organizational communication in an effective way.
18. How Did You Handle a Difficult Client?
In my last position, a client came to my office and said that he had some reservations about the project that he had been assigned to the company. The behavior of the client was too much aggressive. But I remained calm throughout the conversation and actively listened to his complaints. Then, I asked one of my managers to note down the client’s suggestions for future action on the project. The client was satisfied with my dealing and openly discussed his suggestions that helped us deal with the project.
19. Which Office Management Software Do You Use?
I have professional capabilities to use most of the Microsoft Office Suite. I am an advanced Word, Powerpoint, Excel, and Outlook user. I also have intermediate skills in using planning, project management, and budgeting software.
20. How Do You Manage the Procurement Process of the Office?
Procurement and inventory management is the primitive part of the administrative manager’s role. I have prioritized the items according to their use and needs. On the basis of the frequency of the use of each item and records of the inventory, I order the new items when needed.
21. What is Your Greatest Strength?
As an administrative manager for the last three years, I have learned to work effectively in a team and build a good team. I would say that employee care is one of my greatest strengths. My dedication and passion for my team members have enabled me to resolve the employees’ issues. Moreover, I have always tried to build a team, where each member has a more profound understanding of all other team members.
22. What is Your Greatest Weakness?
When I’m fully involved in the detailed work of a project, my greatest weakness has been keeping every team member informed regarding project progress updates. I’ve been attempting to be more active in spreading information to the team by making it a habit to review all of my current tasks at the end of each working day and send any applicable updates. This habit of updating each individual regarding the updates of the projects is time-consuming and sometimes impacts the progress of the projects. I am currently working to devise methods to delegate the duty to my managers so that they can give updates to the team members.
23. Why Do You Want To Leave Your Current Position?
As mentioned earlier, I remained the best employee of the year continuously in the last position in my previous company. Still, there are three main reasons for leaving my current job. Firstly, I see that there are not many more learning opportunities in the company. I usually encounter repeating tasks daily without any new challenges that can further polish my skills in my current position. Secondly, the company’s higher management is not that much open to involving the employees in the decision-making process.
On the contrary, I believe in a democratic style of leadership. I want to work in an environment where higher management would be more open to discussing the issues related to decision-making. Lastly, the company is unable to meet my salary demands. Therefore, these three reasons have made my mind about leaving my current position.
24. Where Do You See Yourself in Five Years?
Being part of your company will be an excellent opportunity for me to enhance my managerial skills further while working in a professional environment. In the next five years, I perceive that I will be a leading administrative manager of your company, having more incentives than my current position. Moreover, I will be well equipped with updated knowledge and skills that will benefit the company and my own growth.
25. How Do You Handle the Stress?
As an administrative manager, I believe that one must always control their nerves to handle the stress. I always remain calm in a stressful environment, so it could not affect my progress. Furthermore, I stay proactive in timely planning to avoid any stressful incident. In my opinion, stress always provides a new learning opportunity for an administrative manager. Working in a stressful environment is challenging, but it also equipped me to tackle the situation effectively. For example, in my previous role last year, our company had taken a bulk of projects, and it was exhaustive to work on multiple tasks simultaneously. But throughout these days, I remained calm and motivated and tried to do proactive planning to meet the deadlines.
26. What Is Your Opinion Regarding Office Management Software?
In terms of efficiency, the software will help you in every aspect of your organization’s operations. It can help you monitor your employee’s daily time records, the development of projects, the number of hours the project participants have put into it, and the projected length of time needed for the project’s completion.
27. You Have To Set Up An Office From Zero. What Will Be On Your Checklist?
To set the office set up and running smoothly in no time, I would start with the following:
- Coffee: Without coffee, an office will not run smoothly. When people arrive in the morning and there is no coffee, their day maybe starts with disappointment and their work will suffer. A big tub of something strong is best.
- Desks and Chairs: Once people have had their coffee they will no doubt want somewhere to sit down.
- Paper and pens: Whatever work an office does, you can bet that there will always be a need for paper and pens. Even offices which work mostly on computers will always need pens and paper for writing things down. Blue or black pens look professional and white paper is the easiest to read from. Don’t forget these office stationery suppliers as they can be an invaluable source of ink cartridges and other office supplies
- First Aid Box: Without this, you could be inundated with paper cuts and splinters with no means to treat them in a first aid capacity. Visitors to your office will also appreciate how you look after your staff and be happy thinking that they will be treated similarly.
- Office Sign: The most important item for the new office is a sign. Without this customers or people coming for meetings may not be able to find you. This could be a major problem for your business.
28. What Are The Advantages Of Time Tracking Software Used In Offices?
Time tracking software serves as a great tool for use in many business enterprises around the globe. With its meticulous features intricately working to make the business run much smoother, accuracy, efficiency, and productivity are generated.
- Management can connect their time tracking system to an accounting system to keep an accurate and on-the-dot look at everyone’s timetable and schedule. A late or absent employee can be easily deduced from his or her salary the corresponding penalty for tardiness and absenteeism. Through this, data management becomes easier as correct invoicing and payroll processing are automatically created.
- It provides easy access for management to view employee progress in assigned projects. A complete report on the status of the project and the competence of the employee can be supplied by this software.
- Online viewing of project assignments anytime and anywhere can also be done. It makes necessary revisions, updates, and corrections of statuses in any part of the world possible.
29. You Have To Purchase A Printer For The Office. What Points Will You Consider While Purchasing?
Given the size of the investment, it is important to make sure that I buy the best for the budget provided to me. My tip would be doing not just buy the printer with the largest number of functions if many will not be used. In the same vein, it is unwise to buy the cheapest model available, as replacement and upkeep costs may make it ultimately more expensive than its higher-priced counterparts.
One of the first and basic decisions to make, and one that can have a huge impact on cost, is whether the office needs a black and white or a color printer. Colour printers tend to be significantly more expensive both in initial investment as well as long-term costs such as replacement ink. If the bulk of in-office printing comes in the form of text documents and memos, opting for a black and white printer may be the best choice.
30. How Do You Manage Office Supplies At The Office?
- Have various department heads determine on an annual basis approximately what they will need for supplies. Then, as much as is humanly possible, have them live within that budget. You’ll be amazed how much waste is eliminated that way.
- Always purchase in bulk and with regular vendors on board.
- Keep a tight control on inventory and require employees to visit the supply room and make specific requisitions for their needs, I encourage them to make better use of the supplies you provide.
- I encourage the employees to make more efficient use of office supplies. I recently started a bonus for employees who use it efficiently. I was able to reduce the supply by 8%.
31. What Are Your Views About Seeking Help From Others?
While it is important that I have to be confident in my actions, it is also important that I can ask for assistance when necessary. I should not be the only one responsible for the company’s success and be able to seek advice and help from others when it benefits the working to do so. No one expects an administrative manager to be all-knowing, so willingness to ask for advice or assistance is a critical skill for my position.
32. Do You Work Well In A Team Environment?
Yes, I do enjoy working with team members as it keeps the work environment healthy. I believe that team building is very important for any job so that you have each other’s back on tough days too.
33. Why Are Offices Shifting To Document Management Software From The Traditional Method?
The traditional method had a few major disadvantages. Retrieving documents often becomes difficult if the person who was in charge of the file cabinet is away. With the paper filing software, every single document can be located in only five seconds with a keyword search and mouse click! A turbocharged search engine and scientifically developed paper filing system will never let you lose a file no matter how huge your database is. The paper filing software based on numerical indexing can also be used across a network and not just with one individual computer. Access to sections of documents can be controlled based on security and administration checks as well. You can set different levels of accessibility for different users.
34. What Is Office Scheduling Software?
Office scheduling software is an office management tool that allows employees to reserve office desks, workstations, meeting rooms, conference rooms, parking spaces, and office equipment. Small to large organizations are transitioning to desk booking, and open floor plan spaces to accommodate the growing need for team collaborations, spark individual creativity, and increase overall employee productivity. By using reservations software, employees can have the ability to move freely throughout the office and choose the spaces they can work best for their tasks at that given moment.
35. In Your Experience, What Are The Advantages Of Using Office Scheduling Software?
I have worked with one such software and I do believe in its power when it comes to management.
- Site administrators can create tiers of access so that only specific groups of employees can make reservations on prime office spaces such as conference rooms or meeting rooms.
- Employees can schedule their day at the office in advance or on the spot
- Both employees and administrators can monitor the real-time availability of desks, cubicles, office spaces, parking spots, and equipment.
- You can create and invite team members to meetings, events, and conferences using Outlook, Office 365, and MS Exchange integrations.
- Users can include room or desk equipment needed for the tasks when they make workstations and meeting room bookings.
- Users will receive email and text notifications of their reservations, changes in the tickets, and reminders before their check-in time.
Conclusion
Be confident and smile as you give your interview. These 25 questions are surely going to help in acing the first round of interviews as administrative Manager. Good luck!
