Interview for office admin - advice!

Vojera

Hey everyone.

I've an interview this week for a position as a receptionist/general office administrator. I've never done this specific type of work before so I'd be grateful if anyone had some tips for me.

The company is involved in engineering/servicing of commercial fittings and my job would be liaising with the service engineers and clients and doing general data entry and office duties.

My previous experience, as I explained in my cover letter and CV, is actually as a scientific researcher, so I spent most of my time doing experiments, but I also looked after the paperwork side of things, e.g. writing reports, writing SOPs, making sure we had all the right paperwork for all the chemicals and GMOs, doing data analysis using Excel. I also have retail experience before that.

I was surprised to get the interview at all, given that admin wouldn't have been the main part of my job and I'm also a bit nervous that I'm not actually able for the job, but I'd like to at least make the most of the interview, even if I don't get it, so that it'll be good experience for the next one.

I don't want to oversell myself to them and make it sound like I can do loads of things that I can't but I don't want to put myself down to them either. Does anyone have ideas of what they're looking for from me or how I can turn my unconventional experience into a unique selling point?

Thanks

MouseTail

I can see why you got the interview, you are a very strong candidate. Good organisational, IT and administrative skills from your research job and customer service experience from retail. That is the exact mix needed for receptionist/admin.

Shalashaska

Maybe they're looking for what you put down on your CV . They wouldn't have called you up if your CV or cover letter didn't stack up against what they are looking for, especially when there are probably hundreds of admin people looking for work at the moment.

What I would suggest doing prior to the interview is to compare your CV against the job specification (if there is one) so you can make a list of the tasks that you have done in your previous role (doing out various documents, dealing with people over the phone and face-to-face, use of IT programs etc.). This will allow you to prepare your key skills that are relevant to the job without the fear of 'embellishing the truth'.

I am actually in the process of moving jobs but was doing something similar where I was responsible for a lot in the office (admin, customer service, digital marketing, IT ... I could go on ). The skills I got there set me up and helped me a lot in the interview for my new job as I was able to sell myself based on my prior experience.

Best of luck in the interview!

Vojera

Thanks so much for the replies. I guess ye're right, they wouldn't have called me if they didn't think I had potential or that I wasn't able for the job. I'll just have to keep that in mind! I think I'm prepared enough so fingers crossed!

dickdeasy

I agree with the previous poster. It seems like there are some things that you did as a scientific researcher maybe complementary to the admin role

I would match up your CV with the job description/specification. For your interview prep create a three column table - skills required in the new job, relevant skills from prior experience, and examples of when you exercised those skills. Be as specific as possible in providing examples.

Without knowing the particulars, you want to convey that you are organized. I recommend bringing an updated copy of your CV to the interview (ideally have some one proof read it for spelling and grammatical errors before hand). Make sure you write a letter/send an email after the interview

And of course the golden rule is to know everything you can know about the company before the interview. If this doesn't come up in the interview, try to demonstrate this when you are given an opportunity to ask questions

Vojera

Thanks for the, dickdeasy.

I've done out that column and I can tick all the boxes and give concrete examples to go with them. They may not be the most conventional examples, but perhaps that will help me to stand out.

I've done a tonne of research on the company and I can answer the stock interview questions with confidence so fingers crossed!

Vojera

Just wanted to let ye know I got the job! So thanks again for your help, obviously you gave me really good advice. Yay

Fridge

Well done! To me, admin is mostly just using your common sense, and I find that normally the main struggle people have is with technology. If you know what you're doing with IT, that's a huge thing out of the way.