Administrative professionals wear many hats. They can have a multitude of duties that range from scheduling meetings to documenting bank deposits, handling mail, or making social media posts. While the position is technically a support job, administrative professionals are a vital part of any business. Administrative workers are multitaskers with the ability to split their focus between several tasks at a time. This type of work might seem hectic, but if you find the prospect of doing something different every day appealing, administration might be the right fit for you. With the rise of cloud-based collaboration software and video conferencing applications, it’s become increasingly easy for administrative professionals to operate from anywhere. There’s a wide array of abilities that fall under the umbrella of administrative assistant skills. Assistants need great soft skills, like communication, to interact with clients as well as hard skills to handle any technical aspects of the job. Communication skills Strong emotional intelligence Organizational skills Time management skills Problem-solving skills A capacity for learning new skills quickly Bookkeeping skills Experience with Microsoft Office Work Independently Technology skills Big-picture thinking A good administrative worker needs to be able to operate autonomously, as there’s always something to do. Let’s say you’re an administrative assistant for a membership-based nonprofit. One of your many duties is to manage the membership database. Every day, you have to check to see if any membership forms have come in by mail or submitted electronically. Because this is a daily task, successful administrative professionals learn how to be proactive about this work from the start. When you’re first starting, ask for a set of responsibilities. Depending on the length of your contract, designate which ones will need to be completed on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis. From there, you can prioritize what needs to be done when without having to go back with questions. Administrative assistants should be able to use different types of software, browsers, and applications. For example, you might have to manage a client’s customer relationship management (CRM) software. CRM software helps businesses find leads and keep track of customer information and history. Another great skill to have is the ability to see the larger picture. Although you might be focusing on smaller tasks during your day to day, these tasks give you a strong pulse on your client and how their organization operates. You can provide valuable feedback should problems arise because you’ll be familiar with how the team works together.