ExamopotamiaWhy test administrative assistants before hiring?
Admin roles attract a lot of applicants with broadly similar experience, so CVs rarely help you choose. What matters is judgement: which task comes first, what to do after emailing the wrong person, how to handle two managers who both want something now. These are hard to judge in an interview, where everyone says they are organised. A short scenario test gives every candidate the same situations and scores them the same way.
What this template covers
- Prioritising: deadlines, impact and clashing requests from two managers.
- Scheduling and meetings: finding a time with shared calendars, and writing useful minutes.
- Email and data handling: reply-all habits, misdirected emails and disposing of confidential papers.
- Budgets and policy: spotting an overspend and handling a travel request outside policy.
- Office basics: file naming that sorts by date, a SUM formula and Mail Merge.
How to run it well
Use all twelve questions with a 15 minute time limit and a pass mark around 70%. Turn on random order for questions and options. For a junior role you could drop the three hardest scenarios; for a senior office manager, keep them and add more about budgets and suppliers.
The mix is mostly single-choice scenarios, with one multiple-select question on meeting minutes and one true/false. When you read results, check the data-handling questions as carefully as the overall score. Someone who would quietly delete a misdirected email is a risk, however good they are with a calendar.
Who this test is for
Use it for administrative assistants, office administrators, team secretaries, office juniors and admin apprentices. It also works for school and practice administrators, and as a baseline check when you move existing staff into admin roles. Results also show where a new starter needs training, for example on data handling, so their first weeks can be planned around real gaps rather than guesses.
Make it yours
Add questions on the tools you actually use, such as your calendar, document storage or expenses system. Include your own file naming rules and your approval limits for purchases. If the role supports a particular team, such as HR or sales, add two or three questions about the documents they handle every week, such as contracts, timesheets or purchase orders. Questions built from your own paperwork are the quickest way to see who will settle in fast.