Summary
The full-time administrative assistant will perform all administrative and office support activities to support multiple managers and administrative supervisors. His/her duties will include answering and responding to telephone calls promptly and accurately according to our agency’s services, receiving visitors in the lobby, all word processing duties, including Outlook, Excel and Word, electronic and paper filing, faxing, scanning and managing schedules and setting appointments for upper administrative staff. Other software skills may be required, including PowerPoint, data entry and light database management including running weekly reports, some Internet research, as well as solid written and verbal communication skills between staff and clients, as well as other stakeholders. Personal qualities include but are not limited to: integrity, courteousness, flexibility and team-oriented attitude.
Minimum qualifications include: High School Diploma/ preferably A.A. or A.S.
Light accounting duties (spreadsheets, QuickBooks a plus); Microsoft Office Suite; some presentation software skills, data entry and filing.
Use your promo and get a custom paper on
"Anti-discrimination Laws Related to Employment".
Illegal Questions
Question 1: Where are you from originally?
It is illegal to discriminate against a potential employee on the basis of country of origin or family nationality. This is akin to racial discrimination and prejudice because someone is foreign born or has foreign born parents.
Question 2: Are you married? Do you have a wife/husband?
It is illegal to show bias for or against a candidate based on marital status. Some demanding jobs prefer to hire people who are single and have fewer competing elements in their personal lives. This is a form of discrimination and it is illegal. Questions around marital status and length, as well as gay marriage, are not allowable.
Question 3: Do you have children?
It is unlawful to ask a candidate if they have children. Like the previous question, some employers prefer to hire young and/or single people because employees with children have competing needs and duties. People with families generally need higher salaries to provide the basic necessities for their children and command higher wages.
Question 4: Where do you live? What part of town do you live in?
It is illegal for an (potential) employer to ask where a person lives. Residence is not a question that interviewers can ask. These types of questions can be socio-economically related to where and what neighborhoods people reside in or the commute distance to work. Some employers prefer people who are closer to work so that there are fewer issues with arriving on time and availability. However, it is illegal to ask about residence and use it as a qualifying category for employee candidates.
Question 5: Do you go to church? Which church do you belong to? What faith do you practice?
Questions such as these are illegal to ask at a job interview. Discrimination based upon religion is unconstitutional and strictly prohibited by EEOC law. Likewise, interviewers are not allowed to ask related questions regarding what holidays or religious events the candidate observes or if they need time off for particular holidays.
Question 6: Are you planning on starting a family soon?
Questions based upon familial status are not permissible in a job interview. The fact that some women want to start a family at a given time in the future has been the basis for non-hire and is a gender-biased form of discrimination.
Question 7: Have you ever been arrested?
It is legal to ask about convictions, but not about arrest records. There are cases where people have been wrongfully arrested, or when charges have been dropped and did not result in conviction.
Question 8: Have you ever collected worker’s compensation?
It is illegal for employers to ask about this type of claim and have used it to deny employment to candidates who have had a previous accident and to discriminate against them by deeming that they may be involved in a future accident and thus present a liability to the work environment.
Question 9: Do you have any physical disabilities?
It is illegal to discriminate against physically handicapped individuals.
Question 10: Are you divorced or separated?
It is unlawful to ask about someone’s marital status. Value-based judgments regarding a person’s marital status are to be avoided during the hiring process.
Legal Interview Questions
1. What is your academic background/qualifications?
It is legal and appropriate to ask about a candidate’s educational background to assess whether or not they are qualified for a particular position
2. What prior job experience do you have in this field?
It is appropriate and lawful to ask about a potential employee’s experience to ascertain whether or not they are qualified to perform the job duties and functions.
3. How many years of work experience…?
Instead of an age related questions, it is more appropriate to ask how many years does the candidate have working in a similar or related capacity.
4. Have you ever been convicted of a felony?
It is legal to ask about convicted crimes but not whether or not a person has been arrested.
5. Did you complete your degree?
It is allowable to determine the level of academic achievement of a particular candidate especially if that is a requirement of the job.
6. Are you able to begin work promptly at start-time? (for a given shift/hours of operation)
It is permissible to discern if a candidate is able to begin work without any complications or if they are willing to relocate for a given position.
7. Are you able to lift 25 lbs and bend over to move office equipment?
Instead of measuring or asking about a person’s individual health status, the interviewer is allowed to ask if the potential employee can perform certain physical, on-the-job tasks.
8. Are you willing to travel for work?
It may be part of the job duties to attend special events, projects, or work in other offices.
9. Do you have a legal right to work?
This question is permissible, and is the lawful way to ask about employment eligibility.
10. Do you have proper certification for this job?
In case of specialized duties, such as bookkeeping/accounting in the case of the administrative assistant position, it is legal to determine if the candidate has the necessary training to fulfill the job duties.
- United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. (2013). “Discrimination by Type.” Retrieved from http://www.eeoc.gov
