Become an Administrative Assistant

To prepare students for entry-level employment as an administrative assistant.

Upon completion of the program, students will be able to:

• Use computers for various applications, such as for file management and word processing
• Demonstrate how to interact with others in a professional and ethical manner
• Write business documents such as emails, memos, forms, charts, calendars, and presentations
• Describe how to maintain and manage office procedures, such as scheduling appointments and making travel arrangements
• Demonstrate office finance concepts and procedures

The advantages of learning at home; types of study materials; types of examinations; accessing and using the features of our website; determining what kind of learner you are; establishing a study schedule; using study tips; preparing for and taking examinations.

Introduction to the field; the secretary's role in the workplace; necessary skills and abilities; workplace trends and opportunities; professional organizations.

Dressing professionally; building a support network; developing skills and a career portfolio.

Setting up a time-management program; handling work overload; setting priorities and goals; effective stress-management strategies.

Preparing for a foreign position; working for a United States firm in a foreign country; working for a foreign company in the United States.

The importance of interpersonal skills; oral communication skills; interfacing with others.

Communicating with your supervisor and coworkers; being professional; telephone communications; handling postal and electronic mail.

Assessing your company's travel needs; developing a working relationship with a travel agent; planning a meeting.

Alphabetical and numerical filing systems; confidential files; financial files; filing equipment.

Updating records systems; controlling stored records; electronic records management; classification of records.

Whole numbers; fractions; decimals; percents and percentages; calculating income; gross pay versus net pay; hourly wages.

LAN and WAN; wireless transmissions and image systems; cellular phones, pagers, and videophones; personal computers.

Policy manuals, procedure manuals, and job description manuals; emergency procedures; using zip code directories and libraries; using the Internet.

Descriptions of punctuation marks and the purpose of each; using punctuation to properly document research sources; rules of capitalization.

A description of the parts of a sentence; how to use the parts of speech to write effectively; subject-verb agreement; use of the active voice; effective use of modifiers; producing correct, polished writing for business; common grammatical problems.

Writing complete, correctly structures sentences and unified, coherent paragraphs; sentence length and variety; avoiding run-ons and fragments; constructing organized paragraphs.

Using particular patterns of organization, content and language to most effectively convey a specific idea to a specific audience; revising, editing and proofreading.

Composing clear, courteous and complete messages; formatting and etiquette for letters, email, memos and forms.

Supplement: Introduction to Writing

Using clip art, lines, borders, drawing tools, charting tools, and watermarks; applying effective design principles and desktop publishing techniques. Features of the Web; navigating the Web; accessing and sending email; basic research tools and search engines.

Office finance concepts; income; expenses; the computer and office finances; banking procedures.

Recruiting, interviewing, selecting, evaluating, and terminating employees; legal and medical issues; privacy issues.