Business Administration Skills: Definition And Examples

Updated 30 September 2022

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Business administration is a significant component of managing and running smooth business operations. To assist in administrative duties, especially finance, recruiting and marketing, business administrators require a specialised skill set. Recognising the business administration skills that experienced professionals commonly use in the workplace can ensure a fruitful career. In this article, we discuss what business administration abilities are, provide examples of these skills, outline the steps to improve them and discuss how to highlight them during the hiring process.

What are business administration skills?

Business administration skills are abilities a professional requires for managing a business and ensuring efficient daily business operations. These skills help complete and oversee various daily activities and support the overall business goals and objectives. Employers expect a business administrator to have soft and hard skills. Soft skills are inherent personality traits and habits, while hard skills relate to technical abilities required for a particular job role. These skills are essential in the business sphere because they ensure a company process runs smoothly and without interruptions.

Examples of business administration skills

Here are a few examples of business administration abilities that are essential for a rewarding career:

Communication skills

A business administrator requires excellent communication skills to share, receive and record critical business information. You might require this skill set to communicate effectively with staff and other business stakeholders. An employer expects you to have excellent written communication skills because it helps compose business emails and write reports. This skill set is useful when answering phone calls and face-to-face queries of customers and colleagues.

Computer literacy and technology skills

An employer often expects a business administrator to have computer literacy and technology skills. The ability to use various administrative software is desirable for this role. Knowing how to use a spreadsheet and word processing software helps organise the workplace. These tools help file and store data, schedule meetings and create spreadsheets. Also, being familiar with database management software can be essential for a fulfilling career.

Administrative skills

Using these skills, you can perform data entry, maintain accurate records, develop processes, assist clients and employees and manage business receipts. A business administrator requires excellent administrative skills to ensure business processes run smoothly. Also, employees with excellent administrative skills can support organisational needs.

Organisation

To maintain different aspects of the company and organise the workplace, these professionals require excellent organisation. You can use these skills to schedule meetings, manage files and create business strategies that improve business operations. It might relate to ensuring the physical office space remains clean and organised.

Attention to details

Employers expect a business administrator to have a detailed-oriented outlook. Typically, employees who give attention to details are more capable of completing complex work with little to no errors. Having a keen eye ensures you can find critical errors in the document. It helps to prevent inconsistency and workplace issues.

Critical thinking skills

Critical thinking is a skill that allows a person to analyse information and draw a logical conclusion from it. Critical thinkers can work with groups and work independently to solve issues arising in the workplace. A business administrator requires critical thinking skills to identify and address workplace inefficiency. It also helps in brainstorming new ideas to keep the workplace organised.

Time management skills

As a business administrator is responsible for completing various duties, managing your time is essential. Planning your time to complete your daily tasks, maintaining your calendar and setting proper timeline expectations are part of being a good administrator. Time management skills help professionals complete all their tasks without missing a single deadline. These skills can help you prioritise urgent tasks.

Multitasking

Often, business administrators handle multiple tasks simultaneously. Employers expect these professionals to respond to emails, answer phone calls and handle project requests promptly. Working on more than one task without compromising the quality is an essential business administration quality.

Teamwork

Using their teamwork skills, a business administrator works with other professionals to achieve a common goal. Collaborating with various people with different personalities can help you ensure the smooth running of business operations. Excellent teamwork skills are essential because these professionals might share responsibilities with their team members to achieve workplace goals.

Ability to work under pressure

Working under pressure enables these professionals to excel more effectively in their job roles. Regardless of the circumstances, employers expect these professionals to remain calm and complete their work duties. This skill set helps you meet deadlines and complete all work without compromising the quality of your work.

How to improve your business administration abilities

Use these steps to improve your business administration abilities and excel in your career:

Know everything about the industry. Before deciding to improve your skill set, research common duties and responsibilities to understand the skill required for this role. Staying current with the latest technologies and trends can help you understand skills that require improvement.
Search for an experienced mentor. Consider hiring an experienced mentor who can help you improve skills related to a particular job position. You can even join a professional organisation to search for an experienced business administrator who can guide you to excel in your career.
Continue to learn. One way to improve your business administration abilities is by enrolling in an online training course to improve a specific skill, such as using a particular business administration software. You can even pursue higher education in business administration.
E**xplore volunteer opportunities.** Consider volunteering to work as a business administrator for a local organisation because it helps you apply your business administration knowledge in a practical setting. It can help you explore new ways to use your abilities and develop new skills.
Read business administration books. Educational material and books help build your business administration abilities. Search for books that concentrate on the desired job role.
Practice regularly. Often, you can improve your skills by practising them in your personal life. For instance, you can improve your organisation skills by keeping an efficient record of your financial records.

Skills of a business administration in the workplace

In the workplace, an employee might use their business administration abilities in the following manner:

gathering and organising data
creating and maintaining file systems
responding to client's requests via email or phone
performing market research
developing solutions for client concerns

How to highlight your business administration abilities

When applying to a job position, try to emphasise skills aligned with the job requirement. Showing your skills helps an employer understand why you are a suitable candidate for the job position. You can highlight your administration skills in the following ways:

1. On a resume

To exemplify your skills, create a separate section for your skills. In this section, include skills in a bulleted list. You can even use adjectives to show your hard and soft skills. Focus on including skills mentioned in the job description to show the employer that you qualify as a business administrator. It also makes your resume applicant tracking system compliant.

You can include these skills as a part of job responsibilities under the work experience section. Often, many candidates mention their key skills in the resume summary section. As the resume summary is the first thing an employer notices, you can attract their attention by highlighting your strongest skills.

2. In a cover letter

A cover letter allows you to introduce yourself to the employer. Explain each relevant skill you possess. Provide real-life examples of how a particular administration skill helped you excel in the workplace. Wherever possible, provide examples of projects you worked on that relate to the position you are seeking.

3. During a job interview

Your job interview allows you to share in-depth examples of how business skills helped you excel in your previous job roles. Tell employers how your skills helped you achieve success and talk about times when you experienced a challenge and how you used these administration skills to overcome it. Interviewers might ask hypothetical problems or give fictional scenarios to test your administration skills. Focus on preparing for commonly asked skill-related questions to show employers you can use these skills to complete your job duties.