Introduction
Employee selection is focused to evaluate resumes of applicants for essential requirements which include review analytical skills besides academic credentials. Through aptitude test, elimination of those lacking analytical skills is possible within minimal prejudice or biases. Thus, this paper discusses the different elements of recruitment and selection process of an administrative assistant for the Abu Dhabi Trading Corporation.
Job Analysis
Questionnaire
Job analysis offers an explicit review of the roles, skills, responsibilities, and duties of a prospective candidate during the process of selection. In the case of recruitment of an administrative assistant for the Abu Dhabi Trading Corporation, a questionnaire is designed with twenty questions on the qualifications, skills, duties, and responsibilities of the required candidate (Andreadis, 2009). The questionnaire is designed to capture the aspects of personal details, past work experiences, educational qualification, and special skills that the prospective administrative assistant might poses (Sostrin, 2013). The questionnaire is attached in appendix 1.
Job analysis interview
Reflectively, “by promoting the principles of specialisation, standardisation, and predictability in organisations, classical theorists were essentially attempting to minimise the occurrences of misunderstandings” (Sostrin, 2013, p.116). The scope of the role of an administrative assistant for the dynamic Abu Dhabi Trading Corporation requires a candidate with skills in administration and documentation, besides possessing a business degree or diploma in administration. The candidate must have an experience of at least two years to qualify for the job (Korkki, 2012). The answers are in the questionnaire attached in appendix 1.
Job description
Managing the daily operations
The administrative assistant will have the duty of managing the daily in operations in the operations manager’s office.
Providing the administrative roles
The administrative assistant will have the responsibility of providing the administrative roles in the operations manager’s office. The roles will include being the secretary.
Planning the duties and responsibilities
The administrative assistant will have the role of planning duties for the clerks within the operations management office.
Tracking the performance
The administrative assistant will have the responsibility of tracking the performance and report submission among the clerks in the operations management office.
Briefing the operations manager
The administrative assistant will have the responsibility of briefing the operations manager of the concerns and success of each stage of the business.
Registering the complains
The administrative assistant will have the duty of registering complaints of the other clerks and customers before passing the same to the operations manager.
Office support
The administrative assistant will perform office support duties for the operations manager supervisors in order to ensure effective and efficient operations in terms of scheduling events.
Secretarial duties
The holder of this position is charged with the responsibility of assisting with daily communication, messaging and faxing, maintaining office documentation, provide receptionist services, and handling business correspondence.
Office accounts role
From time to time, the successful candidate will be drafting internal memos, compiling contact lists, handling petty cash, coordinating with team leaders in arranging live meetings, and acting as the secretary during the official meetings (Rudman, 2010).
Documentation role
The office holder will also be responsible for creating and modifying documents such as invoices, reports, memos, and letters using word processing, spreadsheet, dataset, and other presentation software.
Person specification
Team leadership and strong personality
The successful candidate must be a team leader capable of completing a wide range of activities within the stipulated time. Therefore, this job requires cognitive testing through the task-based job analysis. This test provides the company with an opportunity to foresee personality, approaches, and psychological behaviour to determine an applicant’s fitness with the existing personnel, especially for the sensitive and strategic administrative assistant job.
Integrity and reliability
The candidate must be of great integrity, reliable and able to work under pressure (Andreadis, 2009). Knowledge of Microsoft office applications, report writing, record keeping, problem solving, and effective communication skills are extremely important for this job description.
Self discipline and accuracy
The candidate must also show the ability to work under minimal supervision, prioritise workloads, and pay attention to detail when executing duties.
Education skills
A preferred candidate should possess a Bachelor Degree in Business/Office Administration or at least a diploma is a relevant field. Besides, the Bachelor Degree, the candidate should have a two year experience in accounting or bookkeeping.
Relevant experience
The candidate should possess a minimum of five years of relevant work experience in reputable and busy organizations. The candidate should have clear knowledge of office equipment, procedures, and operation (Parry and Wilson, 2009).
Other qualities
The candidate must exhibit a confident posture and the initiator trait in presentation and answering questions. The candidate must show a strong aptitude in terms of teamwork, future plans, motivation, learning curve, dominancy, and managing stress.
Recruitment plan
In order to get the best candidate for the administrative assistant job, the following recruitment plan will provide guidance. The recruitment will be carried out via the company’s website and two daily newspapers.
The company’s website
The company’s website will save time for the recruitment team. Besides, recruitment via the website is absolutely free. The company will be in a position to monitor the number of applications streaming on the website.
Two national newspapers
The two national newspapers will attract applicants from across the country since they have wider reader base. Besides, the company will appeal to the potential candidates since people have confidence in information printed on national newspapers.
Recruitment department details
Recruitment activities
Selection process
After reviewing the resumes of the candidates, short listing will be carried out and final list submitted to the HR manager. The HR manager and his team will conduct an interview to select the final candidate among the short listed (Korkki, 2012). The interview will be conducted by a committee of ten employees drawn from the HR department. The proposed checklist is summarized in the table below.
Orientation timetable
After the right candidate has been selected, he/she will undergo an orientation process to familiarize him/herself with the company’s rules, regulations, and work policies. The orientation will be a one day activity conducted by various officials of the Abu Dhabi Trading Corporation as summarized in the table below (McKay, n.d., par. 4).This timetable will act as a guide in ensuring that the new employee is fully oriented into the Abu Dhabi Trading Corporation. The orientation date will on Orientation will be on 22/06/2014.
References
Andreadis, N. (2009). Learning and organizational effectiveness: A systems perspective, Performance Improvement, 48(1), 5-11. Web.
Korkki, P. (2012). Administrative assistants on the workplaces frontline. Web.
McKay, R. (n.d). Readers respond: The real life of a human resources assistant. Web.
Parry, E., & Wilson, H. (2009). Factors influencing the adoption of online recruitment, Personnel Review, 38(6), 655-673. Web.
Rudman, R. (2010). Getting the right people: Effective recruitment and selection today. Auckland: CCH New Zealand, Limited. Web.
Sostrin, J. (2013). Beyond the Job Description. New York, NY: Macmillan. Web.
Appendix 1
Interview questionnaire
We have designed this questionnaire to assist us to obtain information concerning duties and responsibilities that will give us a clear understanding of your job for purposes of job analysis, job description and person specification. The data from this questionnaire will be used for the purpose of recruiting a new administrative assistant in our company. Please answer all the questions accurately and honestly providing only the information related to the duties and responsibilities of your job.
Personal Details
- Name Prof./Dr./Mr./Mrs./Ms: Mr. Mohamed Mursi (Administrator at the National Bank of Abu Dhabi)
- Organization: National Bank of Abu Dhabi
- Job title: Administration Assistant
- Department: Administration
- Contact: (Insert contact)
- Gender: Male
- Qualification: Bachelor Degree in Business Management
- Please indicate how long you have been in this position: Three years
Job description
- Describe in brief the basic purpose of your job.
- Assisting with daily communication, messaging and faxing, maintaining office documentation, providing receptionist services, and handling business correspondence.
- Highlight the most important duties and responsibilities that entail your job in the order of importance.
- a. Office documentation
- b. Communication management
- c. Receptionist duties
- Please indicate also any other duties you may perform from time to time when assigned
- Recording minutes during meetings.
- Does your job entail any supervisory responsibility?
- Yes.
- State those that directly fall under the job as it is.
- a. Coordinating documentation with company clerks
- b. Supervising the maintenance duties in the administration department
- Who do you report to?
- I report to the operations manager
- What should be the salary scale for a new employee in this position?
- About AED 3, 000 per month. The AED 3,000 is the standard salary that most companies offer.
- Describe the complexity of tasks that this position entails.
- This position requires the occupant to be ready to work under pressure and be very keen on details to avoid instances of filing wrong reports.
- What is the role of this position in motivating other workers?
- The occupant of this position has the duty of passing information to other workers in the most efficient way possible.
- Please are there any important information that will enable us understand this position more? Briefly summarize them below.
- The occupant of this position must be dynamic, flexible, and very social person. The person must exercise self control and disciple since he or she handles very sensitive documents.
Person specification
- What should be the minimum formal education requirement for a new employee?
- A diploma degree in Business Administration
- What should be the minimum work experience for a new employee? Indicate in terms of years.
- Two years
- Briefly highlight the relevance of this level of experience.
- Two years of experience are enough to equip the occupant with basic communication skills and the ability to work in a business organization.
- Are there any specific skills required for this job?
- Computer skills
- State any interpersonal skills that may assist the holder of this post in executing his/her duties.
- Effective communication and socialization skills
- How long would it take to train-on-job a new employee after recruitment? Please justify the length of time.
- Two weeks. The two weeks will form part of the induction.
- Who do you report to and how frequently? Please indicate the nature of the report and the method of reporting.
- I report to the operations manager after every week. I brief the manager about the administrative logistics of the company. The mode of reporting is always face to face meeting.
- What is the level of personal contact with other stakeholders?
- Secondary level, especially during the monthly meetings
- Is teamwork an important factor in the delivery of duties in this position?
- Yes. Teamwork makes it easy to consult and create flexible reports
- What qualities should the holder of this position have to enable him/her motivate others at work place?
- The holder of this position should be open to consultation and welcoming since he or she forms the link between other clerks and the operations manager.