First jobs · 2 min read
Office assistant practical tests in Kenya: filing, scanning and a handover exercise
Practise organising fictional records and explaining a missing document without exposing confidential information.
Office support roles can cover scanning, arranging meeting rooms, tracking correspondence and maintaining records. In November 2026, IPOA described Office Assistant II and Clerical Officer II roles with different duties and qualifications. Check the live careers page and deadline; a job title alone does not establish eligibility. The exercises below are written by work.ke. They are not IPOA's actual recruitment test.
Exercise 1: label three fictional files
Imagine you have three meeting documents: an invitation, an agenda and approved minutes. Choose clear filenames that include the meeting date, document type and version, for example 2026-11-05-agenda-v1.pdf. Follow the employer's naming rules if they differ. Check that a file opens before marking it complete.
Exercise 2: investigate a missing page
You scanned a three-page letter but the resulting PDF has two pages. Do not invent or recreate the missing page. Check the paper original and the scanner settings, rescan using authorised equipment and notify the person responsible if the page is still missing.
Exercise 3: record a handover
Write a three-line note: “Agenda saved; invitation ready for review; minutes not yet approved.” This separates finished work from a pending decision. In real employment, use the organisation's approved system and share files only with authorised people.
What to show an interviewer
Describe a genuine occasion when you organised a school activity, handled an approved record or helped a team prepare a meeting. State which tasks were yours. If you use examples in a portfolio, use fictional names and documents.
For any vacancy, confirm qualifications, location, deadline and application method with the employer. IPOA says it does not charge fees during recruitment. Do not pay a person who claims they can arrange a job.