Administrative Assistant
A person, whose work consists of maintaining calendar, files, operating telephones, typing letters and other clerical functions. Some focus on planning travel, scheduling meetings, and expediting routine emails. Administrative assistants may act as project leaders or office managers and undertake complex tasks including, managing budgets and doing bookkeeping, maintaining websites, and making travel arrangements. An administrative assistant might manage all the administrative details of running a high-level conference or arrange the catering for a typical lunch meeting. Often executives will ask their assistant to take the minutes at meetings and prepare meeting documents for review. Administrative Assistants are often called upon to handle big projects such as setting up special events, creating a procedures book, or handling office moves. While part of the work will likely be handled by the assistant them-self, the assistant will also be coordinating the work of others involved in the project. Most administrative assistant duties will fall somewhere among these generalized job duties. That doesn’t mean you won’t see more extensive duties that fall outside of these.
The “Other Duties” clause found in almost every administrative job description can include anything from a last minute bank run, to working on a company-wide committee, to making sure everyone filled out an updated W-4. And, yes, it includes getting coffee. The job description should be viewed as being whatever is needed to help the employer get their work done.