Apprenticeship as an administrative assistant

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What does an administrative assistant do at the University of Kassel?

Image: Paavo Blåfield

As an administrative assistant, you will determine facts and apply legal regulations, advise students and/or customers of the university administration, and carry out administrative tasks in a service- and customer-oriented manner as well as according to aspects of economic efficiency.
You will also gain sufficient knowledge to handle personnel or financial matters. The use of modern information and communication systems is now standard in the training.

During your training as an administrative assistant, you will learn how a state administration works and what the legal basis for administrative action is. Since this is a dual training program, you will get to know the day-to-day work in the practical part of the training, whereas the theory will be taught in the vocational school.

During your apprenticeship as an administrative assistant, you will go through various departments and areas in order to really get to know the tasks and structure of the university administration. In this respect, your daily routine will be different from time to time during your training and you can already find out during your apprenticeship in which area you would like to work later. Of course, this also makes your apprenticeship all the more interesting and varied.

For example, in the Human Resources and Organization department, you will learn how new personnel are selected and hired. In the Finance department, you will learn about financial accounting and post invoices. And in the Study and Teaching department, you'll learn how student administration works. So you'll be working with people a lot, which always requires a certain amount of stress and frustration tolerance. You should also be able to deal with dissatisfied customers and not take criticism personally. Friendliness, a respectful manner and strength of character are therefore qualities that you can use in your training as an administrative assistant.

When does the training as an administrative assistant at the University of Kassel begin and where does it take place?

The training starts on 01.09. of a year and takes place in the departments of the central university administration, in a departmental administration and the university reference office of the University of Kassel. In addition, an internship at a municipal or city administration is planned.
The theoretical training is covered by the vocational school (Friedrich-List-Schule Kassel) and by the Hessischer Verwaltungsschulverband, Verwaltungsseminar Kassel.

At the time you start your training, you should have a secondary school leaving certificate (Realschulabschluss). Your grades in German, English, politics, economics and mathematics should be at least "satisfactory" or better.

As an administrative assistant in the university administration, you usually have flexible working hours. This means that you can determine the start and end of your working hours yourself within certain parameters.

Training as an administrative assistant lasts three years.

In the second year of training as an administrative assistant, you will take your intermediate examination in the areas of "Training company, work organization and office management processes", "Budgeting and procurement" and "Economic and social studies".

At the end of your training, you will take the final examination in the areas of "Administrative business­management", "Human resources", "Administrative law and administrative procedures" and "Economic and social studies".

At vocational school, you will learn the theoretical knowledge corresponding to your field of specialization in job-specific subjects. This includes, for example, how different charges arise and how you calculate them. You will also receive general education classes such as economics and social studies.

A monthly training allowance is paid in accordance with Section 8 (1) of the Collective Agreement for Trainees of the State of Hesse (TVA-H BBiG). This currently amounts to

  • 1,126.85 EUR in the 1st year of training.
  • 1,181.43 EUR in the 2nd year of training.
  • EUR 1,23151 in the 3rd year of training.

Administrative assistants must be able to work carefully and accurately, and need analytical skills. This is important in order to be able to prepare evaluations or understand facts. They must also be willing to learn. Reliability, commitment, sociability, a sense of responsibility, diligence and discretion as well as PC skills are also welcome qualities in this profession.

Emely, trainee as administrative assistant at the University of Kassel in an interview

What do you deal with in your training?

In practice, I mainly deal with staff personnel matters, such as processing absences or maintaining current personnel master data. In the department, I handle, among other things, promotion procedures and help with the planning and organization of events. Going through the various departments always makes the working day in the administration varied.

Portrait picture
Emely in conversation

In addition, I am also involved in the youth and trainee representation, which gives me the opportunity to participate directly.

I learn the theory of the job at vocational school and at the administrative seminar. There we deal with the necessary legal principles and how local, state, federal or church administrations work. In addition, we work with the programs Word and Excel.

Why did you decide on an apprenticeship and this one in particular?

After graduating from high school, a secure future was particularly important to me. Since I always liked to work independently in school and often dealt with laws through the PoWi-LK, I discovered the profession of administrative assistant for me.
The apprenticeship also gives me a good practical basis for further studies, as well as other opportunities for professional development.

What would you like to pass on to others?
I would like to convince you that studying at a university is not the only option! An apprenticeship as an administrative assistant at the University of Kassel is very extensive and interesting. By going through many areas and departments, you will gain a lot of knowledge. In addition, you learn and work with many different people. This makes it easier to find out during the training in which area you would like to work later.
You should enjoy working with computers and the various legal principles.
So if you are interested in learning a lot of new things and have a good grasp of things, the training as an administrative assistant is just right for you!

Application period

Unfortunately, the current application deadline has passed.

Ask yourself beforehand if you ...

  • you like to work with numbers.
  • you appreciate regular working hours.
  • you find it easy to stick to plans and deadlines.

Or if ...

  • you would prefer to work outside all the time.
  • patience is not one of your strengths.
  • you have difficulty concentrating on the same task for a long time.

Go link of this page: https://www.uni-kassel.de/go/ausbildung-verwaltungsfachangestellter