Telephone Do's and Don'ts for Administrative Assistants

by Alex A. Kecskes

As an administrative assistant, one of your key functions is to handle telephone calls with poise, efficiency and professionalism. Your job is to help your boss manage his or her time by fielding calls and keeping unnecessary interruptions to a minimum.

Sometimes, you'll have to deal with persistent callers who claim they "must speak" to your boss. At this point, you'll need to determine if the caller is someone who your boss needs or wants to talk to. This often requires skill and tact because you don't want to offend the caller. Try to keep your tone of voice neutral and don't be overly apologetic or you'll give the impression that they have a point and pass the call through.

One way to smooth things out ahead of time is to communicate with your boss about which calls or callers he or she would want you to put right through and which callers can be put off. If a caller has tried several times to get through, offer to call the person back to say whatever your boss needs to say to the caller.

Ideally, you should arrange to meet with your boss for 10 or 15 minutes every morning to go over the day's calls. It also helps to find out about any important meetings, travel plans, presentations or guests that your boss has scheduled for the week. This will give you a heads up should people call about these matters.

In the final analysis, you must be both polite and assertive. Let your boss know that you can handle a variety of calls, but do ask him how he or she would like you to handle telephone intruders.

Check out this series of Phone Etiquette Videos from Tracy

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