Creating an Effective Administrative Assistant Job Description [+ Free Template]

Writing a strong job description is a key step in hiring the perfect administrative assistant for your small business. It should include the role’s details, requirements, and compensation, as well as information about your company’s culture and application process. Explore the five steps below to ensure the administrative assistant job description you create clearly outlines your expectations—for the benefit of future hires and current employees alike.

To help you with the process, we created an administrative assistant job description template for you to download and modify to fit your company’s needs.

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Step 1: List Position Details

The first part of the job description includes items that are specific to the administrative assistant position. This information is normally listed at the top of the page as a bulleted list or in a box. The most common details are listed below:

• Title: This is the role’s complete job title. Examples include personal assistant, virtual assistant, administrator, receptionist, office manager, and executive assistant.
• Department: Identify the department that the employee will work in. Common departments for administrative assistants include Human Resources, Operations, and Administration.
• Classification: This designates whether the position is full time, part time, seasonal, or temporary and if the job is exempt or nonexempt. Due to the low pay nature of many administrative assistant roles, they are typically nonexempt, meaning they are eligible for overtime.
• Compensation: Indicate the salary or hourly band and range for the position.
• Reports To: List the job title that this position reports to. It is good practice to list just the position and not the name of the manager as this is subject to change.
• Direct Reports: Identify whether this role has any positions reporting to them (i.e., an administrative manager who has aides). You can either put a yes or no designation if you think your organizational structure may change, or you can list the positions by name.

Step 2: Indicate Job Responsibilities & Requirements

This section describes the tasks that your company expects a person in this role to complete. This means thinking about who the administrative assistant is aiding and why. Will the job be most focused on general employees, executives, clients, or customers? Do you need someone who is remote or on-site? Will they be managing office tasks such as supplies and inventory?

List a general overview of some of the duties that the person will perform. Common tasks include:

• Answering phone calls on the company’s main line
• Being the first point of contact for potential clients at the front desk
• Creating presentation decks and taking meeting minutes
• Setting up “All-Hands” meetings, conference calls, and other events
• Planning annual employee appreciation day

Your company’s needs may change between the time that you create a job description and when you post a job opening, so you should focus on basic requirements that apply to all administrative assistants. Examples include:

• Minimum X years of experience worked as an administrative assistant or a related position
• Minimum education requirement
• Microsoft 365 skills (e.g., Word, Excel, PowerPoint)
• Verbal and written communication skills
• Experience setting up meetings and conference calls
• Experience in event planning
• Note-taking skills

Step 3: Mention Company Culture

Introduce your company culture in this brief section. While good company culture has key components, you should mention what makes yours unique.

Some examples include:

• Company size (small or large)
• Company work process (collaborative or individual)
• Company office’s environment (traditional and structured or fun and unconventional)

This will go a long way in ensuring that you find future applicants who want to work and add to your current culture. It will also be helpful in case you decide to turn your job description into a job posting. Don’t make the mistake of leaving out things potential employees might want to know, such as career advancement opportunities and work–life balance.

Step 4: Identify Compensation & Benefits

Compensation is a necessary component for administrative assistant job descriptions. This is needed to make sure future and current employees are being paid within the same range and within your budget parameters. According to Salary.com, the median salary for administrative assistants is $42,710, which amounts to $20.53 per hour. This amount may not include additional income, such as bonuses and overtime pay.

Employee benefits are also a necessary component of job descriptions. You should include the healthcare and wellness benefits, time-off policy, remote work policy, and retirement options if applicable. If your benefits are dependent on employees working full time, you should mention it here as well.

Step 5: Indicate Instructions on How to Apply

While this is not a necessary section, including instructions on how to apply will help you repurpose your job description as a job advertisement quickly. Companies can use a third-party job board like Indeed or LinkedIn, encourage candidates to apply on their websites, or ask applicants to email their job applications. For clarity and simplicity, this information should be standard among your jobs, so you should be able to use it on all job descriptions.

Bottom Line

An administrative assistant job description is a comprehensive document that lists job details, duties, and requirements expected of the position. It also includes information on compensation, benefits, and your company culture. With all these in place, an effective job description will help you hire the right administrative assistants for your company in the future.