r/AdminAssistant

Hello Everyone!! So I'm a recent graduate; it's been about a year, and I've had such a hard time finding a full-time job. I majored in business, so I thought I would go the analyst route, but these four-round interviews have been taking it out of me. However, I've been temping as a receptionist; it's pretty easy, and interviewing for it isn't that difficult.

My question is, if I receive a well-paid offer of 80K+ for a receptionist job should I take it or continue trying to break into business? Like am I going to be stuck as a receptionist and not be competitive enough to interview for other positions? I feel like as a first generation, I owe it to my family to get a 'reputable' job that I suffered through college for

Long story short, I graduated with two bachelors degrees in 2020. I got a job as a marketing manager for a large tech company but was fired shortly after my brother passed away.

I've been trying to rebuild my career and have worked retail and Healthcare (front desk and claims processing). I recently got a job as an administrative coordinator for a tech company which i was really excited about since it lets me get back into tech even though its through an agency. Most of the job is stocking shelves.

My manager keeps getting upset with me. There seems to be a lot of miscommunication. The other day, I tried to be nice by putting away the breakfast she left out on her floor and putting the tray in the sink. She thanked me the next morning but asked that next time I wash the dish too. I thought she meant the next time I want to help out since she explicitly said that she takes care of the 6th floor and I take care of 5th and 7th.

Anyways, I explained to her my thinking and clarified that I'm supposed to take care of whatever is leftover on the 6th floor too.

Today, she asked me to pick out menu items (we do daily lunch catering for employees). I thought she meant that I should pick out my lunch items in advance since I'll be gone on vacation the rest of this week.

Then later on in the day she asks me why I didn't send her a copy of the menu for next week. I told her I interpreted her instructions to mean that I needed to pick out my menu items.

Anyways, she got upset and asked why she would have me pick out my lunch in advance. She got really upset and reiterated that I need to ask clarifying questions like she asked me to.

I've been asking a lot of questions trying to get an understanding for the role. I'm 2 weeks into the job and in a few weeks, she will be going on vacation for 2 whole weeks and will be leaving me to do my job and hers (she's an office manager).

She says she's nervous and needs me to ask more questions which ive been doing all day. But one simple misunderstanding and I feel like I'm back at square one.

I genuinely want to quit because this job is not at all what I expected. My title is administrative coordinator but I spend 6 to 7 hours a day stocking the fridges, pantries, bathrooms, cleaning the kitchens, conference room, and common areas, etc. It's a lot of physical work to the point where my legs ache. I'm barely ever on the computer at the desk, and when I am, she hints that I should be looking around to see what needs to be taken care of like deep cleaning the microwave.

On one hand, I'm frustrated about this being my career after working so hard in college but on the other hand, I want to stick things out to prove that I can do this.

For reference, the job says $25 an hour in seattle with no benefits (ongoing contract with no possibility of conversion according to the company).

Any thoughts or advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance and sorry for the rant.

Hello Everyone!! So I'm a recent graduate; it's been about a year, and I've had such a hard time finding a full-time job. I majored in business, so I thought I would go the analyst route, but these four-round interviews have been taking it out of me. However, I've been temping as a receptionist; it's pretty easy, and interviewing for it isn't that difficult.

My question is, if I receive a well-paid offer of 80K+ for a receptionist job should I take it or continue trying to break into business? Like am I going to be stuck as a receptionist and not be competitive enough to interview for other positions? I feel like as a first generation, I owe it to my family to get a 'reputable' job that I suffered through college for

I’m an experienced Virtual Assistant who helps small businesses and entrepreneurs save time and scale faster. I handle day-to-day operations so you can focus on growth.

What I do (fast, reliable, results-driven):

Administrative support & daily task management

Create clear, actionable reports and executive summaries to support decisions

Email management: inbox organization, fast replies, and professional outreach

Lead generation & customer outreach to grow your sales pipeline

Market research and competitor intel to inform your marketing strategy

Targeted email campaigns to engage prospects and convert leads

Full recruiting support: job postings, candidate screening, interviews, and onboarding assistance

Why hire me:

Dependable, detail-oriented, and focused on delivering the work that actually moves your business forward.

Available now. Message me to discuss your needs or to schedule a 30-minute consultation.

My theory is management are embarrassed to cop to not having done anything about the problem admin.

Hi everyone! I am new to Reddit and this chat. I am currently looking for a receptionist job at any medical office possible near my area of living. I have found it to be incredibly difficult to even get an interview. Could you please give me some tips on how to stand out? Or if I should put anything on my resume? I’ve only worked in retail as I am 19 years old and have just started a working career but I would really love to branch out into the office environment. Feel free to ask me questions as I would love to hear other people’s opinions, suggestions, and ideas. Thank you!

I started a job as an admin assistant at a corporate tech company. It's a contract and apparently the role is meant to forever be a contract.

Anyways, this is my first admin assistant job but I'm wondering if the expectations are normal for the role. I spend most of the day on my feet. Since the company offers lots of free perks like free lunch, snacks, drinks, hygiene products, etc. I spend hours, if not most of my day, on my feet making sure all pantry and fridges across 3 floors are fully stocked, cleaning the kitchens, making sure all men/women/unisex bathrooms are also fully stocked with hygiene products like toothbrushes, combs, mouthwash, chapstick, body lotion, etc.

Anyways, I was hired less than 3 weeks ago and my manager, the office manager, is going to Europe for 2 weeks in September. She's going to be leaving me to do both her and my job and today she told me she's nervous to leave me alone. I asked why and she said it's because ive said I'm going to do something and then I don't. I asked her if she could think of something I needed to do off the top of my head and she told me that I didn't wash the fruit bowl on her floor last night. This week after she left a few days ago, she had left pastries out on a dish for new hire breakfast on her floor. I decided to put away the pastries in to go containers and put the dish in the sink. She thanked me for doing that but told me I needed to wash the dish next time too. I assumed she meant the next time I wanted to help out, i didn't know it was my responsibility to clean up the kitchen on her floor too since she previously told me I'm only responsible for floors 5 and 7 while she takes care of the 6th floor.

I've been really exhausted both physically and mentally from this job. My legs ache and I am relatively healthy. But I'm expected to be on my feet pretty much all day. Of i ever have down time to check emails, my manager will tell me that if I feel that I've been sitting too long then I should be cleaning.

I'm kind of sad because I really thought I'd be learning a lot more since this is an admin position but really it just feels like all I do all day is stock kitchens and clean up after the employees.

Anyways, I'm just wondering if this is normal and also would like any advice on how to recover from this.

Edit: for reference i am in corporate headquarters in a mid sized city where we have about 600 employees. I am paid $25 an hour with no benefits since I'm working through an agency.

Thanks in advance.

Hi everyone! I have a 15 minute phone interview with DaVita tomorrow for an Administrative Assistant role and I can’t seem to find anybody else’s experience with them anywhere, have you ever worked for them? What’s your experience? And also, what are the hours? My local clinic opens at 4:30AM and closes at 5:30PM Monday through Saturday, what would my shift be like for an admin assistant? What should I know to ace the interview? I really want the job but I’m scared i won’t get accepted because I haven’t had administrative assistant experience before, only 10+ years customer service. Please help!

started a new admin job about 3 weeks ago and I constantly feel like I’m doing nothing.
I technically know what my responsibilities are, but the problem is that I don’t really know how to turn those responsibilities into actual day-to-day tasks yet. Nobody is telling me “do this, then this, then this,” and I don’t have enough experience with the job to recognize by myself what needs to happen and when.
For example, I have responsibilities related to things like SharePoint/information and access management. I understand generally what I’m responsible for, but I don’t yet have that internal knowledge of “when X happens, I need to do Y.” So sometimes I finish something and then genuinely don’t know what I’m supposed to be doing next.

It leaves me feeling weirdly exhausted while also feeling like I accomplished nothing all day. I’m starting to question whether I’m doing enough or whether my coworkers think I’m just sitting around doing nothing.
For people who have experienced this: is this normal during the first few weeks/months of a new job? At what point did you start being able to see for yourself what needed to be done instead of needing someone to give you specific tasks?

Hi! So I’m a 23 yr old stepping into my first corporate job it’s not that big but I’m going to be a research/ admin assistant at a big research institute linked with a big hospital in downtown Toronto. I wanted to know from people who have worked roles like this before if they would have any tips or advice for me. I really wish to grow within the organisation.
Some things the job requires and I have are good organisation skills as well as I’m able to be proactive and not just wait for instructions and try to figure things out on my own. On the research side, they expect REB submissions and getting together grant documents etc.
If anyone would have any advice on how I can grow from this role within this same research institute/ hospital, please let me know. Additionally, any tips on how to actually maintain a relationship with your supervisor/ manager and PIs/ scientists would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you so much for taking the time to read this and for all your advice :)))

People Ops / HR folks — I’d love to hear how you organize your shared HR inbox!

Our HR team works out of one shared inbox, and we’re receiving around 50 emails a day across all kinds of topics — benefits, payroll, onboarding, employee questions, leave, HR requests, etc.

I’m looking for ideas on how to organize it so the team can easily see:
🗂️ What topic/category each email is about
👤 Who is currently handling/responding to it
⏳ What still needs a response or follow-up
✅ What has already been resolved
🚨 What needs urgent attention
🎨 Whether a color-coding or labeling system could help
I’d love to hear **what has actually worked for your teams** — especially if you manage a shared HR/People Ops inbox with multiple people responding.
Do you use folders, labels, categories, color coding, assignment rules, **Outlook** features, a ticketing system, or something completely different?
**What’s your system, and what would you absolutely recommend (or avoid)?**

I have an interview coming up as an apprentice admin/receptionist for a private health centre, private in the sense that people are referred there rather than walking in any time, still NHS run. It's only open weekdays and 9 to 5. It's a level 3 apprenticeship and my only prior work experience has been as a bartender which they know from my CV and cover letter.

Any advice from people who work similar jobs or in similar environments?

We work with a lot of offices on their pantry, coffee, and snack setups, and we’ve noticed the ones people actually like usually aren’t the ones with the biggest budgets.

It’s usually pretty simple:

People get asked what they actually want. A quick Slack poll, a suggestion doc, or even just paying attention to what’s gone in a week vs. what’s been sitting there forever.

There’s a decent mix... Going 100% healthy doesn’t seem to work any better than having a pantry full of junk food. People want options.

The logistics matter too. We’ve seen office managers juggling Costco runs, coffee, snacks, deliveries, and multiple vendors on top of everything else. It’s a lot to keep track of.

The ones people seem to enjoy most make the pantry feel like part of the office, not just a place where snacks get restocked.

For the office managers/admins here, what have you seen work well? And what sounded good at first but ended up being more trouble than it was worth?

I’m a beginner VA with no previous VA experience, but I do have around 6 months of professional work experience (although it wasn’t really related to being a VA).

I’ve always been pretty anxious when starting a new job. When I started my first job, I remember being so scared that I wasn’t good enough, that I wasn’t doing things correctly, or that they might eventually let me go because I wasn’t meeting expectations.

Now I’m experiencing the same thing again as a VA. 😭 I’m currently in my second week, and I mainly handle admin tasks. I’m still learning the systems, processes, and how everything works, but I constantly find myself wondering, *“Am I actually doing a good job*?” or *“Am I doing enough*?”

I’m too scared that they might just let go of me anytime :((

I know it’s probably normal to feel this way when you’re new, but I’d really appreciate some advice from experienced VAs.

What helped you become confident and good at your job when you were just starting out? What do you wish you knew during your first few weeks/months as a VA?
Honestly, any advice would be greatly appreciated! 🥹

Is this....normal? Apparently I started at an extremely chaotic time. A lot of angry patients. It is a small medical practice. It sounds like my predecessor quit because of overwork and low pay ($17/hr). I don't work with anyone other than my boss, basically. I have no coworkers to ask questions.

I was trained for like 3 days, and now I am being completely left alone. My boss is leaving the country tomorrow for an entire 2 weeks and leaving me without help. The patients are unbelievably mean, and I've already gotten serious threats over things that I had nothing to do with. When I told my manager, she just laughed. I should be used to this because I worked retail for years and got all sorts of threats every day, so idk why I am so shaken up.

But my biggest problem is I feel like nobody is telling me how I am actually supposed to do my job, and now every time I ask a question, I get attitude, and the answer is always vague or doesnt apply to whatever context applies. I am afraid to ask questions at this point even though I NEED to because I am not fucking around with people's medical care. She knows this is my first medical office job.

I hyperventilated and cried for my whole lunch break yesterday in my car after a bunch of namecalling/harassment/threats from a patient, and getting snapped at and then cold-shouldered by my boss all day.

Is this a normal first-week experience? Am I too sensitive? I don't think I've ever had a job where they expected me to know everything after a single week, but hey, maybe the patients are right and I am actually a dumb bitch. 🙃

I'm an admin officer working the front desk at an accounting firm. Recently, I've noticed some employees coming in late and leaving early and it seems quite unfair to me knowing that others from their team are taking the grunt of their jobs. Since I work closely with HR, I thought of making a suggestion to use time and attendance software so that we can monitor employee attendance better. What would be a good software to recommend for a mid-sized office of about 100 employees?

Hi everyone!

I'm a fresh graduate, and I really want to become an Admin Virtual Assistant, but honestly, I have no idea where to start.

I've been watching random videos on YouTube, but I feel overwhelmed because there are so many resources. I don't know which skills I should learn first or what the actual roadmap looks like.

I just wanted to ask those who are already working as Admin VAs:

• If you were starting from zero again, what would you learn first?
• Are there any YouTube channels, free courses, or modules that you highly recommend?
• What tools or software should I focus on first? (Google Workspace, Microsoft Office, Canva, Excel, CRM, etc.)
• How did you improve your skills before getting your first client or job?
• Where did you apply for your first VA job? (OnlineJobs.ph, Upwork, LinkedIn, agencies, etc.)
• Do you think it's better to apply immediately while learning, or should I build my skills first?

I'm willing to put in the time to learn, I just don't know where to begin. I'd really appreciate it if you could share your experiences, tips, or even the roadmap you wish someone had given you when you were starting.

Thank you so much!