7 Skills to Look for When Hiring Office & Business Support Staff

If you’re looking to hire admin staff, don’t limit your search to someone who can organise a diary, answer a phone and use Microsoft Office. The best office and business support professionals bring a much broader mix of skills: they communicate brilliantly, stay calm when priorities change, use good judgement, solve problems and keep going when things get difficult. In a competitive recruitment market, these less obvious qualities can be what separates a good candidate from a genuinely valuable hire.

Why is it getting harder to find the right office support candidates?

You may already know that recruiting for office and business support roles isn't as straightforward as it once was.

You’re competing with other employers for a limited pool of experienced candidates. Salary expectations can vary considerably, while location, office attendance, hybrid working and flexibility can all affect whether someone will consider your vacancy.

Then there’s the problem of skills gaps.

You might find plenty of candidates who have the right job titles on their CV, but fewer who have the combination of technical ability, judgement, personality and resilience your business actually needs.

So, when you finally find someone who looks promising, what should you look for?

Rather than focusing only on qualifications and years of experience, assess the following seven skills.

1.      Can they communicate in different ways?

Good communication is an obvious requirement. But what does it actually mean in an office environment?

Your support staff may need to communicate with a senior director in one moment, a frustrated customer the next and a colleague who needs something explained clearly five minutes later. Look for someone who can adapt their communication style to the situation.

That includes:

·       Writing clear, professional emails

·       Actively listening rather than simply waiting to respond

·       Knowing when something needs a phone call rather than an email

·       Communicating confidently with senior people

·       Explaining information simply

·       Handling difficult or sensitive conversations tactfully

·       Adjusting their tone for different audiences

How can you assess communication skills?

Ask candidates to talk you through a few different situations where they had to communicate in different ways. You could also give them a short practical exercise, such as asking them to draft an email responding to a fictional client or colleague and carry out a phone call. You’ll learn much more from what they actually produce than from a CV claiming “excellent communication skills”.

2.      Do they have the tenacity to see things through?

Tenacity is one of the most underrated skills in office support.

A great administrator doesn't simply complete the tasks that land in their inbox. They notice when something hasn't happened and follow it up.

Perhaps an invoice hasn't been approved. A supplier hasn't delivered something. A senior colleague hasn't provided the information needed for a deadline.

A less effective employee thinks: ‘I've sent the email, so it's not my problem.’ A tenacious one thinks: ‘This still needs sorting. What can I do to move it forward?’

That difference can have a huge impact.

What does tenacity look like?

Look for evidence that candidates:

• Follow up without needing constant prompting
• Don't give up when the first approach doesn't work
• Take ownership of problems
• Chase information diplomatically
• Stay focused when tasks become repetitive or difficult
• Learn from setbacks rather than becoming discouraged

This is particularly valuable when you’re hiring into a busy environment where support staff need to be proactive rather than waiting for instructions.

3.      Can they exercise good judgement?

You don't want an employee who asks you about every minor decision. Equally, you don't want someone who makes important decisions without understanding the consequences.

Good office and business support professionals develop a feel for the difference. They know when to act independently, ask for guidance, or escalate immediately.

This is particularly important for PAs, EAs, office managers, team assistants and customer-facing support staff who may represent your organisation without a manager standing beside them.

What should you ask at interview?

Try a scenario-based question: “Imagine you receive an urgent request from a senior client while your manager is unavailable. You don't have all the information they need. What would you do?”

There isn't necessarily one perfect answer. You're listening for how the candidate thinks.

4.      Are they adaptable when priorities change?

Office support rarely means doing the same thing from 9am to 5pm.

You may start the morning with a carefully planned to-do list and discover by 10am that a colleague is off sick and a client needs something urgently. The ability to reorganise without becoming overwhelmed is hugely valuable.

Look for candidates who can:

·       Re-prioritise quickly

·       Remain clear-thinking when plans change

·       Move between different types of work

·       Learn new systems and processes

·       Work effectively with different managers or teams

·       Cope with periods of increased workload

This matters even more if you're a growing business. The person who works brilliantly in a highly structured environment isn't necessarily the person you'll need when your organisation doubles in size.  A clever way to assess this is by making an unannounced (but previously planned) change within the interview format and seeing how the candidate reacts and responds.

5.      Do they have commercial awareness?

You don't usually need an administrator with an MBA! But you do want someone who understands that their work has an impact on the wider organisation.

Commercially aware support staff think beyond the immediate task. They might:

·       Question whether a recurring cost is still necessary

·       Notice an inefficient process

·       Understand the importance of responding promptly to a client

·       Recognise when a delay could affect another team

·       Consider the customer experience when making decisions

·       Understand confidentiality and reputational risk

This is where the distinction between doing a job and adding value becomes particularly important. Look for curiosity and initiative in responses to behavioural interview questions.

6.      Can they build relationships without losing professionalism?

Office and business support roles are typically more people-focused than many realise. That requires relationship-building skills.

But there's an important distinction between being friendly and being effective at building professional relationships.

You want someone who can be approachable while maintaining boundaries. Someone who can deal with a demanding stakeholder without becoming defensive. Someone who can build trust with colleagues while still being prepared to say, “I'm afraid that's not possible by that deadline.”

Look for:

·       Emotional intelligence

·       Empathy

·       Tact

·       Confidence

·       Professional warmth

·       The ability to manage different personalities

·       Discretion

This can be difficult to assess from a CV, which is one reason interviews need to explore behaviour and real examples rather than simply career history.

7.      Are they resourceful enough to work things out?

Finally, look for resourcefulness. Technology changes. Processes change. People leave. Systems go down. Nobody remembers where the document was saved.

The strongest support professionals don't immediately stop when they encounter something they haven't seen before. They investigate. They search. They ask the right person. They look at previous examples. They work out what needs to happen next.

Resourcefulness is especially valuable when you are hiring for an SME, start-up or growing business where there may not be a procedure manual for everything.

Ask candidates: “Tell me about a time you had to solve a problem but didn't know how to do it initially.”

A strong answer should show initiative and a willingness to find a solution rather than simply explaining why the problem wasn't their responsibility.

Which skills should you prioritise when you hire admin staff?

Not every role needs exactly the same combination.

Notice that all the skills we’ve listed are not technical. This is because you need to distinguish between essential skills and skills that can be taught. For example, you may be able to train someone on your CRM system within a few weeks. It is much harder to teach someone to take ownership, communicate well or exercise sound judgement if they don't naturally demonstrate those qualities.

What should you do if you find a candidate with the right skills but not the perfect experience?

Don't automatically reject them. This is particularly important when candidate availability is tight. If someone has excellent judgement, communication, tenacity and adaptability but has only used different systems to the ones you use, ask yourself whether the technical gap is genuinely important and could you train them.

Often, the best hire is the person who has the right capacity to learn and succeed, rather than the person who has already done exactly the same job somewhere else.

How can you improve your chances of attracting these candidates?

Finding the right skills is only half the challenge. You also need candidates to want to work for you.

When you hire admin staff in London and across the UK, consider whether your vacancy is competitive on:

• Salary
• Location
• Hybrid or office-based working
• Working hours
• Flexibility
• Career development
• Benefits
• Company culture
• Employer reputation
• The quality of the recruitment process

Candidates are assessing you just as much as you're assessing them.

What should you look for when interviewing office support candidates?

Before your next interview, use this simple checklist.

Look for evidence of:

☐              Clear and adaptable communication
☐              Tenacity and follow-through
☐              Good judgement
☐              Adaptability
☐              Commercial awareness
☐              Relationship-building skills
☐              Resourcefulness
☐              Ownership and initiative
☐              Appropriate professionalism
☐              A genuine willingness to learn

Then ask yourself one final question: Would I trust this person to make my working day easier?

That may be the most useful test of all.

The best office and business support professionals don't simply complete tasks. They anticipate problems, create structure, communicate effectively and give the people around them confidence that things are under control.

Looking for the right person rather than simply another CV? Find out how Love Success can help you hire office and business support staff.